OURPROUDHERITAGE
One area of focus in the early 2000s was“ reinventing” NAEYC accreditation. Regular articles in Young Children beginning in November 2000 detailed the process and sought input as a commission deliberated for two years. Based on its recommendations, the Board established the Council for NAEYC Accreditation to provide governance oversight and appointed a second commission to develop new program standards and revised accreditation criteria. Once again, regular articles in Young Children kept members and others informed and were one of a variety of mechanisms for gathering feedback. The new program standards were adopted in 2005, and work began on revising the accreditation criteria and assessment procedures.
2006 – 2015
The decade from 2006 to 2015 continued the focus on standard setting and expanded policy and advocacy efforts. Revised accreditation criteria and new assessment procedures for programs for young children were implemented in 2006. During that same year, the Early Childhood Associate Degree Commission( now the Commission on the Accreditation of Early Childhood Higher Education Programs) was established to recognize associate degree-granting programs that demonstrate meeting the NAEYC professional preparation standards. Policy and advocacy efforts were expanded during this decade, with greater emphasis on supporting state advocacy efforts, especially related to professional development and early childhood workforce initiatives( NAEYC 2009).
In early 2010, Dr. Ginsberg left NAEYC, and former NAEYC President( 1992 – 1994) Dr. Jerlean Daniel was appointed executive director. During her tenure, a National Dialogue explored the relationships between Affiliates and the national association to better define their roles and responsibilities( Simmons 2011). A new global initiative offered support to countries seeking to expand early childhood systems and encouraged reciprocal learning across nations. In 2012, a revised position statement on technology and interactive media was adopted jointly with the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’ s Media at St. Vincent’ s College( NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center 2012).
In 2013, Dr. Daniel retired, and Rhian Evans Allvin was appointed executive director and later chief executive officer. With extensive input from Affiliates and the membership, the Board adopted a revised mission statement and new strategic direction. These documents focused more specifically on promoting early learning for every child and building a strong, effective early childhood profession.
2016 – 2025
As part of implementing the strategic direction and reflecting the results of the National Dialogue, a new, simplified Affiliate structure was launched. Instead of joining the previous local, state, and in some cases regional affiliation structure, members joined at least one Affiliate that had met key indicators of organizational capacity. A common logo and branding system for NAEYC and its Affiliates were also implemented. These changes were adopted as Board policy based on recommendations from the Affiliate Council( Simmons 2015).
In 2016, NAEYC’ s Higher Education Accreditation system expanded to serve baccalaureate and graduate degree-granting programs( as opposed to the program recognition previously offered by other national accreditation bodies).
Related to policy and advocacy, Early Ed for President was launched as NAEYC’ s first nonpartisan electoral advocacy campaign. After the 2016 election, this transitioned into the America for Early Ed campaign. The campaign worked to align policies with the latest research showing the importance of early learning and the benefits of fully investing in educators and their complex work
16 Young Children
Spring 2026