Quote:
Originally Posted by New2Keller
I guess I just worked at a school that took accreditation very seriously. We prepped for months straight before our visit from them and constantly had meetings to assure that all aspects of our center were meeting the expectations of NAEYC.
It is very true though that many preschools are just a stepping stone for their employees while finishing school to be an elementary teacher.
In general, I would see brand new/expensive equipment and facilities as a red flag. If they are spending all of their money on that... how much is left to hire high quality teachers for your children?
I hope I don't offend anyone. Being a mom and former preschool teacher, it's just a very passionate subject for me
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I'm guessing you are refering to my remark about it being basically simple if you understand it well? The key is understanding it. If you don't have that knowledge then it does take long hours and hard work.
The first time we went through acreditation we were changing our whole center from the previously acceptable way of doing things to the 'newer' way and it indeed was a complex change. However, the second time we went through it was a breeze since we were already at that level. This was many years ago when NAEYC was first beginning it's focus on accreditation. Even the mentors were sometimes unsure of what certain expectations translated into, so that gave us many a wrong turn to get where we needed to be at the time. Once we understood the process as a whole and the philosophy behind it all, no problems at all. It's very much a life style change and once you make it through the change, it's very simple to maintain.
I understand where many people take issue with it and making if far more difficult than it really is. We lost a long term very good staff during that time as she disagreed with the philosophy completely.
For example, one thing expected was to serve lunch family style - meaning serving food in bowls and letting chidlren serve themselves from the bowl. Previously children were given sectioned plates with set amounts of food already served up. To her that was a nightmare. Yet like any other lifestyle change, once we got used to it we had children as young as 18 months able to serve themselves some things and 2 year old pouring their own milk. (with tiny pitchers of course)
She quit soon after the transition began and a few years later had no choice but to adapt to those very same changes since it was becoming prevalent in the profession. Doing so, she admitted it really did make her job easier doing those things she had objected so heavily to before.
We hired another gal that came from Primrose who also, as it turns out, thought quite differently than how we did things under accreditation. She even came in and observed for 4 hours prior to being hired, so that she saw how it all worked. Yet she only made it through half of a day before she walked out on us. Her 'issue' was that we were denying snack to kids. Um, no, not even close. We had open 'center' time in which they could choose among all the choices in the room, including snack. All things were available to the kids for that hour or so, and they could choose when and where to go. At the snack table there were enough seats for 6 kids at a time and if it was full they waited until one became available - a routine they all were used to doing. So when a child didn't go straight to snack and then decided they wanted it right then....and the table was full.....they got upset that they had to wait a few minutes until a space was empty. She considered that denying a child snack. No, that's learning to take turns, be patient and natural consequences for choosing to go elsewhere first. Of course she got her snack, just a few minutes later than when she wanted it.
She also felt we should force all children to do art whether they wanted to do so or not, which went against the philosophy. All kids are encouraged, but not required to participate in all centers.
She neither understood nor agreed with the philosophy in general. So if you have a center facing that from many staff, then it will certainly be difficult to achieve without some very hard times.
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Starting a home daycare
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