The NDSU Center for Child Development has earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children.

NAEYC Accreditation is a rigorous and transformative quality-improvement system that uses a set of 10 research-based standards to collaborate with early education programs to recognize and drive quality-improvement in high-quality early learning environments.

"We're proud to have the mark of quality from NAEYC, and to be recognized for our commitment to reaching the highest professional standards" said center director Deb Habedank.

To earn NAEYC Accreditation the Center for Child Development went through an extensive self-study and quality-improvement process, followed by an on-site visit by NAEYC Assessors to verify and ensure that the program met each of the ten program standards, and hundreds of corresponding individual criteria. NAEYC-accredited programs are always prepared for unannounced quality-assurance visits during their accreditation term, which lasts for five years.

More than 6,000 programs are currently accredited by NAEYC. Less than 10 percent of all child care centers, preschools and kindergartens nationally achieve this recognition. The NDSU Center for Child Development has demonstrated their commitment to young children and their families.