TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The University of Alabama Child Development Laboratories recently received re-accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Located in the UA College of Human Environmental Sciences (HES), Child Development Laboratories serves 43 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 5 years.

The laboratories are designed to provide a model program for children; to be an observational site for UA students taking courses in early childhood development; and to be used by faculty in the college’s department of human development and family studies (and researchers around campus) to conduct studies on the development of young children.

Out of approximately 19,000 programs seeking accreditation from the NAEYC, only 8,176 programs in the U.S. serving 705,798 children have received the designation that is valid for three years.

“The heart of NAEYC accreditation focuses on the child’s experiences,” said Dr. Peggy Jessee, professor of human development and family studies in HES and director of UA Child Development Laboratories.

“The process carefully considers all aspects of a program including health and safety, staffing, staff qualifications, and physical environment. The greatest emphasis, however, is on the children’s relationships with the staff and how the program helps each individual child grow and develop intellectually, physically, socially and emotionally.”

NAEYC accreditation began in 1985, with the first program accredited in 1986. NAEYC is the nation’s oldest and largest organization of early childhood professionals dedicated to improvement of quality early childhood programming.

Programs seeking accreditation undergo a self-study, collect information from parents, teachers and administrators, and document classroom interactions. The program is then visited by a NAEYC-trained early childhood professional to validate the program’s self study results. A team of national experts who grant or defer accreditation views all information.

For more information about NAEYC visit www.naeyc.org/.