Photo: Kate Samp for Strategies for Children
Today we offer congratulations to the family child care providers in Massachusetts who earned accreditation or reaccreditation from the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) in the third quarter of 2011 – July 1 to September 30.
Kathy Modigliani, who runs the Bay State-based Family Child Care Project, remembers noticing the positive impact going through the accreditation process had on center-based teachers. Why not do something similar for family child care providers? Today NAFCC operates the only nationally recognized accreditation system established specifically for home-based family child care providers. Modigliani led its development between 1995 and 1999, when she was based at Wheelock College in Boston.
NAFCC accreditation has standards in five content areas: relationships, environment, developmental learning activities, safety and health, and professional and business practices.
“There have been many studies that have shown that accredited providers offer a significantly higher quality of care than others,” Modigliani noted in an interview last year.
In going through the accreditation process, Modigliani observed, early educators put into practice what they learn in college courses or Child Development Associate (CDA) training. “To motivate providers to put what they are learning into practice is something accreditation is important for,” she said. “I really think accreditation for both centers and homes is a critical piece in the Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) because it assesses what is happening in the program.”
Congratulations to the six family child care providers in Massachusetts who earned NAFCC accreditation or reaccreditation in the third quarter of 2011:
Boston
- Dorchester: Daisy Ramos
- Hyde Park: Dalila Montes
- Jamaica Plain: Melania Flores
- Roslindale: Mencia Quinonez
Lowell: Sandra Zapata
Worcester: Jocelin Jimenez-Guxman
Eye on Early Education focuses on the twin goals of ensuring that Massachusetts children have access to high-quality early education and become proficient readers by the end of third grade.
It is great to hear of these six home-based programs becoming accredited.
I remember when NAFCC was developing the national standards. Focus groups of parents were organized all over the country to assure that the standards would be acceptable in different family cultures. As a result, I think
it’s an excellent set of standards, and it’s a great accomplishment to implement them in the field of practice. My congratulations to the six proviiders and to Kathy Mo.