OSU Child Development Lab earns NAEYC Accreditation
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Oklahoma State University’s Cleo L. Craig Child Development Laboratory has achieved a new five-year term of accreditation from National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Less than 10 percent of all child care centers, preschools and kindergartens nationally acquire this recognition.
The Child Development Lab is housed in the College of Human Sciences and serves as a learning lab for early childhood education students and other program areas across campus.
“The College of Human Sciences is proud of our almost century-old CDL and of the high standards that this accreditation demonstrates,” College of Human Sciences Dean Stephan Wilson said. “The difficult and demanding work is met with dedication by our staff and modeled for our Early Childhood Education students as part of their education.”
To earn NAEYC Accreditation, OSU’s Child Development Lab (CDL) 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 10 program standards, and hundreds of corresponding individual criteria.
The accreditation decision cites the CDL’s “outstanding efforts” and commendations, or a 100 percent pass rate, on nine standards, and a 96 percent pass rate on one standard. CDL director Dianna Ross says the remarkable results represent a team effort.
“The accreditation is a result of the efforts and hard work of families, staff, students and faculty. The results reflect the importance of our mission and vision of the program, department, college and university and we are proud to be a part of this legacy at OSU,” Ross aid.
“It is no accident that we have this wonderful environment where students from multiple disciplines can gain knowledge and develop skills and children can learn and benefit from the experiences,” says Sissy Osteen, head of the Department of Human Development and Family Science. “The high standards upheld by everyone associated with the Child Development Laboratory are a responsibility they hold dear.”
In the 30 years since NAEYC Accreditation was established, it has become a widely-recognized sign of excellence in early childhood education. NAEYC promotes high-quality learning for children birth through age 8, by connecting practice, policy and research, and its accreditation is a rigorous and transformative quality improvement system that uses a set of research-based standards.
“NAEYC-Accredited programs bring our definitions of excellence for early childhood education to life each day,” said Kristen Johnson, senior director of Early Learning Program Accreditation at NAEYC. “Earning NAEYC Accreditation makes OSU’s Child Development Laboratory an exemplar of good practice for families and the entire community.”
NAEYC is the world’s largest organization working on behalf of children. For more information about NAEYC accreditation, visit the NAEYC website.