St. Vincent Early Learning Center earns national accreditation

February 20, 2020

Special to The Message

Evansville’s St. Vincent Early Learning Center has earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children.

“We’re proud to have earned the mark of quality from NAEYC for the third consecutive time since 2010, and to be recognized for our ongoing commitment to reaching and maintaining the highest professional standards,” said St. Vincent ELC Executive Director Valerie Bostick.

To earn NAEYC Accreditation, St. Vincent ELC went through an extensive self-study and quality-improvement process, followed by an on-site visit by NAEYC assessors to verify and ensure that the program met each of the 10 program standards and hundreds of corresponding individual criteria. NAEYC-accredited programs are always prepared for unannounced quality-assurance visits during their accreditation term, which lasts for five years.

Youngsters from St. Vincent Early Learning Center Rooms 2 and 6 recently extended their ongoing learning on community by visiting, volunteering and donating to the soup kitchen at Evansville’s St. Anthony of Padua Parish, located across the street from the center. Earlier, St. Vincent ELC had a canned-food drive, and the students helped distribute the food collected. Submitted photo

In the 30 years since NAEYC accreditation was established, it has become a widely recognized sign of high-quality early-childhood education. More than 7,000 programs are currently accredited by NAEYC – less than 10 percent of all childcare centers, preschools and kindergartens nationally achieve this recognition.

“NAEYC-accredited programs bring our definitions of excellence for early childhood education to life each day,” said Kristen Johnson, senior director of Early Learning Program Accreditation at NAEYC. “Earning NAEYC Accreditation makes St. Vincent Early Learning Center an exemplar of good practice for families and the entire community.”

Founded on the values of the Daughters of Charity, St. Vincent Early Learning Center is an accredited early childhood education and care center that starts all children on a pathway to lifetime success and coordinates programs and services to help their families thrive. For more information, visit www.stvincentearlylearningcenter.org or like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/StVincentELC.