The National Association for the Education of Young Children Standards and Accreditation Criteria

The National Association for the Education of Young Children Standards and Accreditation Criteria was created to enhance the experiences of young children in Early Childhood programs as well encouraging positive outcomes. These standards start from birth through Kindergarten and correlates with developmentally appropriate practice. The standards are separated into 10 Standards according to criteria and specific educational personnel, such as the children, teachers, communities and administrators. The mission of NAEYC is to provide children with the best Early Childhood programs that focus on child development with the right educational resources. Standard 6 focuses on the educational programs employment of teaching staffs that are qualified and committed to promote learning and development for children. Standard 6.A.02 is a professional standard which focuses various methods that teachers must demonstrate when working with children, infancy through Kindergarten. There are a few methods that teachers must demonstrate in a classroom, the one I will be looking at is “C. Encourage and provide children with a variety of opportunities for learning.”
In the Young Children May 2012 issue, it states “Strategic placement of materials in learning centers can encourage prolonged engagement and enhanced learning opportunities throughout the year.” One of the ways teachers can encourage provide learning opportunities is creating centers that are child-centered where they can role play, build, create, pretend and work on their motor skills. The centers are uniquely created with specific materials but children should be encouraged to integrate one center with another. Learning centers are a great place include lessons the teacher may have gone...

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...s using “progress” and “growth” for others to understand how children are learning. Parents are not around during center time, and they may think a block center is only made for playing. However, a teacher can open a parent’s mind to the learning opportunities by incorporating learning standards into the center, parents can have an idea of how their child is learning through center time. Incorporating the learning centers with the curriculum supports the standard because teachers are creating learning opportunities outside of lessons. This encourages children to learn more and show interest of class lessons and topics in a child-centered environment. It helps reinstate what children learn, and they can put it into practice at the centers. Learning opportunities that are integrated into centers supports Standard 6. A. 02.C., providing children with the opportunities.