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Photo by Tom Fuller
Jo Doan, Lead Program Assistant at the Thomas J.P. Jones Child Development Center, works with two toddlers from the Little Wonders group comprised of children aged six weeks to 18 months. |
The child development center at White Sands Missile Range has earned re-accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
According to the center’s director, it is the tenth time WSMR has successfully undergone the time and labor intensive process, but the first under new, more stringent guidelines from the NAEYC.
“I’m very proud of all the staff for the time they put in, both on and off the clock,” said Dolores Lopez, director of the Thomas J.P. Jones Child Development Center. “They stayed late, came in weekends and put in many extra training hours to create the required portfolios. And now they are working hard to maintain them.”
According to the NAEYC website, since its founding in 1926, the association has become the world’s largest organization working on behalf of young children. With over 100,000 members, it is dedicated to improving the well-being of children and focuses on the quality of educational and developmental services for all children up to the age of eight.
To achieve the accreditation, WSMR’s CDC volunteered to be measured against the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards.
The topics include relationships, curriculum, teaching, health, assessment of child progress, teachers, families, community relationships, physical environment, leadership and management.
Lopez explained that the new standards require a portfolio be kept on each child, every classroom and all programs. The information contained within the portfolios includes photographs of the subject, miles stones and observations. “All of material is evaluated at the time (the NAEYC representatives) come in. They pull all those out and go through them page by page,” Lopez said. “The CDC staff took additional training, often stayed open late and revamped the classrooms to make them more child-sized and welcoming to the children and their parents.”
“Getting ready for the reaccreditation was more time consuming than hard,” said Jo Doan, Lead Program Assistant who works with children from six weeks to 18 months in age. “We had to get the materials and classrooms ready and put our portfolios together for the children. This is an ongoing process all year.”
Under the new NAEYC guidelines, the accredited institution may undergo a no-notice visit by the national organization accreditation team, so the standards must be maintained throughout the four-year term of the accreditation.
In addition to the NAEYC guidance, Lopez said the WSMR facility must also adhere to Army standards.
“This re-accreditation is very significant, because it lets the families know that they have a place where they can bring their children for quality child care,” Lopez said, “It also shows we are willing to go the extra mile to help and offer what the families need in order to make things work for the community.”
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