UIS Cox Children’s Center earns national NAEYC accreditation for high-quality

The University of Illinois Springfield’s Cox Children’s Center has earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children. NAEYC accreditation is the mark of high-quality for programs.

Less than 10 percent of all child care centers, preschools, and kindergartens nationally achieve this recognition. NAEYC accreditation is a rigorous and transformative quality-improvement system that uses a set of 10 standards that are based on the latest research on the education and development of young children.

The Cox Children’s Center was established in 1970 and has held NAEYC accreditation since 2002. The center is a resource for university students, faculty, staff, alumni and community clients. The programs are designed to provide early childhood care and education for children 6 weeks to 12 years of age. The center also serves as a site for practicum experiences for university students seeking hands-on learning in the field of early childhood education.

“Maintaining our NAEYC accreditation status is imperative in our goal of providing model early care and education to children and families,” said Stacey Gilmore, director of the UIS Cox Children’s Center. “NAEYC accreditation helps staff develop a shared understanding and commitment to quality. It helps families recognize quality and be assured that children are receiving a high-quality, research-based education that will prepare them for future success.”

To earn NAEYC Accreditation, the UIS Cox Children’s Center 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.

“Pursuing NAEYC accreditation is a rigorous process that we voluntarily engage in to meet the highest program standards for quality early learning,” said Gilmore. “I’m very proud of my team and the hard work they’ve put into achieving this goal.”

In the 30 years since NAEYC accreditation was established, it has become a widely recognized sign of high-quality early childhood education. More than 7,000 programs are currently accredited by NAEYC.

For more information, contact Stacey Gilmore, director of the UIS Cox Children’s Center, at 217/206-6610 or shemb1@uis.edu.