ChildCare Conversations with Kate and Carrie
Oct 8, 2026 · 32 min · 14 segments
Send us Fan Mail Is **accreditation** just another checklist—or can it actually help your early childhood program grow? Selena McNeely joins Kate…
Kate Woodward YoungHostSo let's start with, I'm gonna talk about one question that I know I often hear from owners and directors, and we've got folks all over the globe that are listening, and the biggest one is why? Why should a program even consider an accreditation or some sort of quality stamp?
That's a great question, right? So one of the things I've said to thousands of people over the years is ask 10 people what quality early learning is, and you will get 11 answers.
So the reason that most people would, uh, pursue accreditation is usually there's some sort of intrinsic value here, um, whether it's the next feather in your cap, or there's some sort of very real revenue resource associated with it, or you're just trying to kind of position yourself, um, you know, ahead of your nearest competitor.
So oftentimes what attracts people is hard for me to articulate because everybody comes in, um, you know, under their own motivation.
But usually speaking, it's because it's that really that, it's that next level up, right? You're, you're, "I'm really, really good at basic health and safety.
I'm knocking licensing out of the park, and now I'm looking to knock quality out of the park as well." And the best way to prove you're knocking it out of the park is through accreditation.
It's probably because my kids were very much into, um, Emeril Lagasse when they were kids and, you know, they were always kicking it up a notch.
And so [laughs] um, a- and as somebody who definitely raised gold star children, I think there, I can see some real validity for programs that just wanna be able to say, "I have that, that next level." And so if somebody is trying to figure out whether or not it's the right thing for them, maybe they're trying to figure out where to even start, like we've mentioned at the beginning, there is more than one, one way to skin an apple, right?
You know, like there's, there's definitely different types of accreditation and different types of programs.
How does somebody even start to figure out which one do I go with, whether or not I should? What are some questions that maybe a program might wanna ask themselves?
So let's start with, I'm gonna talk about one question that I know I often hear from owners and directors, and we've got folks all over the globe that are listening, and the biggest one is why? Why should a program even consider an accreditation or some sort of quality stamp?
That's a great question, right? So one of the things I've said to thousands of people over the years is ask 10 people what quality early learning is, and you will get 11 answers.
So the reason that most people would, uh, pursue accreditation is usually there's some sort of intrinsic value here, um, whether it's the next feather in your cap, or there's some sort of very real revenue resource associated with it, or you're just trying to kind of position yourself, um, you know, ahead of your nearest competitor.
So oftentimes what attracts people is hard for me to articulate because everybody comes in, um, you know, under their own motivation.
But usually speaking, it's because it's that really that, it's that next level up, right? You're, you're, "I'm really, really good at basic health and safety.
I'm knocking licensing out of the park, and now I'm looking to knock quality out of the park as well." And the best way to prove you're knocking it out of the park is through accreditation.
It's probably because my kids were very much into, um, Emeril Lagasse when they were kids and, you know, they were always kicking it up a notch.
And so [laughs] um, a- and as somebody who definitely raised gold star children, I think there, I can see some real validity for programs that just wanna be able to say, "I have that, that next level." And so if somebody is trying to figure out whether or not it's the right thing for them, maybe they're trying to figure out where to even start, like we've mentioned at the beginning, there is more than one, one way to skin an apple, right?
You know, like there's, there's definitely different types of accreditation and different types of programs.
How does somebody even start to figure out which one do I go with, whether or not I should? What are some questions that maybe a program might wanna ask themselves?
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