The National Association for the Education of Young Children has accredited the Associate in Applied Science degree in Child Development/Early Childhood Education at Brookhaven College. This recognition acknowledges the program's alignment to the NAEYC Standards for Professional Preparation.
The NAEYC sets national standards agreed on by experts in the early childhood field for both learning programs for young children and for program that prepare early childhood educators. To earn the higher education accreditation, programs must provide evidence of the quality preparation students receive.
"We feel affirmed to have earned accreditation status; the process really allowed us to reflect and process that we ARE a quality program," said Johnny Castro, lead child development faculty member. "The Dallas early childhood education community can feel confident we are holding ourselves accountable that students in our program have a full understanding of the principles of child development and early childhood education."
Only nine other community colleges in Texas have earned this NAEYC accreditation. The process requires a self-study and site visit with peer review. The initial accreditation, from March 2017 to 2019, is granted with conditions and after the two-year period the NAEYC can accredit the program for up to seven years.