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 second quarter of 2012 – April 1 to June 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 notes.
In going through the accreditation process, Modigliani observes, 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 says. “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 five family child care providers in Massachusetts who earned NAFCC accreditation or reaccreditation in the second quarter of 2012:
Boston: Teresa Bautista (Dorchester), Margarita Acevedo (Jamaica Plain), Elsa Ortiz (Jamaica Plain)
Chelsea: Maria Bernal
Worcester: Zarrina Stolakis
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.
Thank you for this piece.
No one has ever funded the big-buck study that would be required to show the scientific relationship between NAFCC Accreditation and high-quality child care. Several studies have found a strong correlations, but their sample sizes of accredited providers has always been so small that the results do not come out statistically significant.
But the anecdotal evidence is very strong and many states have made NAFCC Accreditation a meaningful step in their FCC QRISs.
Massachusetts has historically been one of the weakest states in supporting FCC, but our new Department of EEC under Sherri Killins has made major steps in inclusions of this important sector of our delivery system, e.g. eligibility for Scholarships and UPK grants.
But in the MA QRIS system, NAFCC Accreditation is a weak benchmark. I have heard that this is because of the lack of a research base. My work includes in-depth interviews with FCC providers, and I have seen first-hand the major quality improvements providers go through to prepare for Accreditation and the transformation of their self-image into professionals doing their best.
I would like us to increase the value of FCC accreditation in the QRIS, and greatly appreciate you planting this seed. Your Kathy Mo.
Congratulations! It is a statement of the professionalism of so many of our Family Child Care Providers. I hope you each have time to celebrate this accomplishment.