Partners in Development Foundations’s Ka Paʻalana Earns National NAEYC Accreditation March 13, 2018
Program recognized among the top in the nation by earning accreditation.
(KAPOLEI, HI) – Partners In Development Foundation’s (PIDF) Ka Paʻalana Homeless Family Education Program located in Kapolei has once again earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)—the world’s largest organization working on behalf of young children.
NAEYC Accreditation is a rigorous and transformative quality-improvement system that uses a set of 10 research-based standards to collaborate with early education programs to recognize and drive quality-improvement in high-quality early learning environments. “We are so honored that our program has been recognized by the NAEYC as one that delivers an educational experience for our keiki that is of the highest quality. It is what every child deserves,” said Kathleen Fong, Ka Pa‘alana Curriculum and Program Administrator.
To fulfill PIDF’s mission of inspiring and equipping families and communities for success and service, Ka Pa‘alana provides comprehensive family education programming for homeless/at-risk families with young children on the Leeward Coast and Kakaʻako on O‘ahu, and East Hawai‘i Island. Annually, the program serves about 500 children ages birth to five and their caregivers by preparing children for school, equipping caregivers to be their child’s first and most important teacher, and empowering adults to not only move toward self-sufficiency but to give back to their community.
To earn NAEYC Accreditation, Ka Paʻalana’s HOPE Shelter site 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 ten 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.
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 child care 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 Ka Paʻalana an exemplar of good practice for families and the entire community.”
For more information about NAEYC Accreditation, visit the NAEYC website.