October 2022- St. Dominic’s TORCH preschool in the Bronx has 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 proud to have achieved accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young children (NAEYC),” said Ethel Rosally, TORCH principal. “This lets families know that children in our program are getting the best care and early learning experiences possible. St. Dominic’s TORCH has been an NAEYC accredited program since 2010.”

To earn NAEYC Accreditation, TORCH 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 6,000 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 have committed to a process that takes time, energy and dedication to complete,” states Alissa Mwenelupembe, Senior Director Early Learning Program Accreditation. “TORCH has demonstrated their commitment to young children and their families.”

For more information about NAEYC Accreditation, visit the NAEYC website.