NAEYC Accreditation
Country Day is very proud of its Accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world’s largest organization of early childhood professionals. The school received its initial Accreditation in 1988 and has maintained its high quality program status through submission of annual documentation and an extensive re-accreditation process every five years.
For all age levels, Country Day School has adopted the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct that expects all faculty and staff to:
- Appreciate childhood as a unique and valuable stage of the human life cycle
- Base our work on knowledge of how children develop and learn
- Appreciate and support the bond between the child and family
- Recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of family, culture, community, and society
- Respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual (child, family member, and colleague)
- Respect diversity in children, families, and colleagues
- Recognize that children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on trust and respect
Country Day School's most recent re-accreditation cycle was completed January 2018. The process began with an extensive self-study to determine how well the school met over 400 NAEYC criteria which addressed all aspects of the school's program including: teacher qualifications and on-going development, teacher/child ratios, teacher/child and teacher/family relationships, curriculum, physical environment, health and safety, and leadership and management.
In this process teachers and administrators compiled portfolios to document how the school met the criteria, completed self and program evaluations, and made improvements based upon the findings from the self-study. CDS families were included in this collaborative effort by completing surveys reflecting their experience at CDS.
After submitting these reports and documentation to NAEYC, the school hosted a validation visit from NAEYC trained assessors in January 2018. A thorough review of the visit observations was conducted by a national commission of experts in early childhood education who grants accreditation to programs such as Country Day School. In this latest review, CDS received exceptionally high ratings ranging from 91 to 100+% .
In order to maintain our accredited status, the school is required to submit annual reports to NAEYC. CDS is subject to unannounced visits by assessors at any time. Our current accreditation runs through April , 2023.