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The Early Childhood Education program at �鶹Ӱ��nical Community College anticipates it will gain several benefits from earning their full accreditation status.

The program became fully accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, or NAEYC, last fall.

Since then, the upgraded status has led to the program partnering with more organizations including top-notch child care programs and community agencies, according to Cathy Collie-Robinson, Early Childhood Program Director at �鶹Ӱ��.

It also was a reason the program was the first in North Carolina chosen to participate in a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill project that’s aiming to better prepare early childhood education professionals around the state.

The accreditation currently lasts until Fall 2023.

“We hope to see an increased visibility and awareness of our program, increased awareness of the importance of early childhood education, and an understanding from the community of our program’s commitment to quality and improved outcomes for our students,” Collie-Robinson said.

Before last fall, the �鶹Ӱ�� program had been accredited with conditions from the NAEYC since Fall 2016. To even apply for that, the program had to undergo a self-study process beginning in 2015 where it had to make sure it would meet the accreditation requirements.

“To earn full accreditation, we had to improve all key assessments — major course assignments — and grading rubrics within the conditional accreditation process and report on specific data to show improvement,” Collie-Robinson said.

�鶹Ӱ�� is one of more than 150 institutions in 30 states to have an accredited program, according to the NAEYC.