NAA Offers Accreditation Training

Are you ready to improve and evaluate the overall quality of your program? Ready to take another step toward National Accreditation? Then you need to consider NAA's new Accreditation Training Program.

Training topics include: The NAA Standards, the ASQ self-study process, and the Accreditation process (ARQ).

First, you'll gain a greater understanding of NAA's Nationally Recognized Standards for Quality School-Age Care. The Standards provide a baseline of program quality and the reassurance that programs are committed to providing each child with a unique growth and leaning experience. The Standards are used to assess programs applying for NAA Accreditation and describe the best practices in afterschool programs for children and youth between the ages of 5-14.

Second, you will review the Advancing School-Age Child Care Quality (ASQ)-the self-study process-and the importance of each of the five steps that lead to quality program improvement. The ASQ Process includes:

• Preparing the program community for improvement and selecting the ASQ Team
• Preparing the ASQ Team
• Gathering the necessary information
• Creating the action plan
• Taking action!

You will develop strategies:

• For introducing ASQ to stakeholders and staff.
• To encourage community advocates.
• To help achieve staff members' commitment to quality improvement.

Finally, participants will learn The Seven Steps in NAA's Accreditation process (ARQ), essential knowledge to help understand and navigate through the system. The seven steps to Accreditation are:

1. Introduction to Quality (Quality Standards)
2. Self-study (ASQ)
3. Accreditation (Guide to Accreditation)
4. Intent to Submit (Letter of Intent)
5. Application Submission (The Application review and processing)
6. Endorsement Visit (Endorsers, visit, reports, and review)
7. Continual Improvement (Continual compliance and interim reports)

Understanding the steps to Accreditation may seem daunting at times-this training will help you understand each step and be comfortable with the language of Accreditation. For more information, please contact Peter Howe at 617-894-9021 or via E-mail at phowe@naaweb.org.