Latest news from our Accreditation Chair, Scott Fearrington:

     As many of you know, for over a year the National Afterschool Association (NAA) has been evaluating its role with respect to accreditation of afterschool programs.  The desire to advance accreditation in light of increased quality discussion in the field, while simultaneously looking at sustainability issues for NAA led the NAA Board of Directors to consider a partnership for the delivery of program accreditation.  After much discussion and based on different fingdings, the NAA Board of Directors has made the desision to transfer the process of accreditation of afterschool progrms to the Council of Accreditation (COA)--with NAA serving as an advisor to ensure that the expertise of the field remains connected to the accreditation process.

    COA is a non-profit organization with a 30 year history of working in the accreditation field.  It currently serves 7 million children in 1800 organizations.  COA has an annual budget of more than $10 million and a full time staff of 70.  It  has more than 1000 volunteers from the field who serve on standards panels, site review teams and accreditation decision committees.

   NAA is proud to be working with such a distinguished organization as COA in its quest to continue to promote quality in the afterschool field.  For more information please visit the naaweb.org website and find out the dynamics of the process.

 

As of April 30,  North Carolina has 15 school-age care programs that have been awarded NAA Accreditation. NAA Accreditation now lasts for four years, rather than the previous three years.  There are nearly 500 accredited programs in the United States and abroad and 411 trained endorsers which include the eight we have in North Carolina.

 

Programs take steps to adhere to specific standards of "best practices" in school age care for children and youth between the ages of 5 to 14.  The standards for quality are organized into six categories: Human Relationships; Indoor Environment; Outdoor Environment; Activities; Safety, Health and Nutrition; and Administration.

 

The most recent Endorser Refresher Training took place: during the NAA Annual Conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  One was offered March 12 and two on March 13, 2008.

Reminder:  NAA Endorsers must attend a refresher every two years.

Congratulations to the following programs with current accreditation status:

 
2005 Accredited Sites:  
* Estes Hills After School Program, Chapel Hill (June)
* Pope Air Force Base After School Program (Sept)
* Rodriguez School-Age Services, Fort Bragg (Dec)
* Seymour Johnson Air Force Base School-Age Program (June)
* Wonderful for Kids School-Age Services, Fort Bragg (Nov)

 

2006 Accredited Sites:

*Ephesus School Age Care, Chapel Hill (June)
* McDougle School-Age Program, Chapel Hill (Jan)
* Scroggs School-Age Child Care Program, Chapel Hill (April)

 

*Rashkis School Age Care Program, Chapel Hill (Jan)

*Glenwood School Age Care Program, Chapel Hill (Mar)

*Carrboro School Age Care Program, Carrboro (Mar)

*Frank Porter Graham SAC Program, Chapel Hill (April)

*Seawell School Age Care Program, Chapel Hill (May)

 

Excellent job and Congratulations to you all for your hard work and dedication!