Early Learning Program and Higher Education Accreditation Databases Now Available for Public Use

NAEYC’s two accreditation systems – Early Learning Program Accreditation and Early Childhood Higher Education Accreditation - play important roles in the early childhood field by supporting and recognizing programs for meeting national standards with regard to quality early learning and care and preparing effective early childhood educators. As such, NAEYC maintains unique repositories of data regarding the early learning experiences of children in thousands of programs across the nation and on military installations around the world as well as information regarding the formal preparation of early childhood professionals through higher education.

This data about programs’ characteristics and quality is used internally by NAEYC to inform continuous improvements to the accreditation systems, to better understand the features of quality early learning programs and professional preparation programs, and to inform NAEYC’s policy work. With generous support from the Heising-Simons Foundation, NAEYC has now created accreditation databases that are accessible to researchers and others who want to utilize the data in their own research to advance the field’s knowledge about quality early learning and professional preparation.

Summary of Available Higher Education Program Accreditation Data

The data is pulled from accredited programs’ Annual Reports and Self-Study Reports. It includes program information such as the number of students enrolled in and graduating from programs, and demographics of students and faculty. The database also includes qualitative data on programs’ field experiences, resources and governance, programs of study, mission and conceptual framework, faculty and students, and academic and non-academic supports for students. To view the data points available in the Early Childhood Higher Education Accreditation Database, please access the data dictionaries.

Summary of Available Early Learning Program Accreditation Data

 This data comes from hundreds of programs that received accreditation site visits. Data include several hundred individual item ratings, scores for NAEYC standards, assessment data of individual classes, staff qualifications, selected program demographics, and accreditation outcome. To view the full set of data points available in the Early Learning Program Accreditation Database please access the data dictionaries. 

Researchers in higher education institutions, non-profits, and state agencies are eligible to apply to access the accreditation databases. View a sample application and Data Use Agreement. Please contact Mary Harrill, [email protected], with any inquiries and to obtain and submit an application.