{"id":19658,"date":"2025-03-31T09:09:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T19:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/?p=19658"},"modified":"2025-03-31T09:28:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T19:28:06","slug":"ka-paalana-program-achieves-prestigious-naeyc-accreditation-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/ka-paalana-program-achieves-prestigious-naeyc-accreditation-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Ka Pa&#8217;alana Program Achieves Prestigious NAEYC Accreditation+ Status\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Partners in Development Foundation (PIDF) is proud to announce that their <a href=\"http:\/\/pidf.org\/kapaalana\/\" title=\"\">Ka Pa\u02bbalana<\/a> program has earned the distinguished Accreditation+ status from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), marking a significant achievement in early childhood education excellence in Hawaii.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A Milestone Achievement<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Accreditation+ designation represents the highest level of quality recognition in early childhood education, awarded only to programs that demonstrate exceptional standards in teaching practices, curriculum, family engagement, and administrative policies. Ka Pa\u02bbalana\u2019s Hope Preschool Site, which serves as a model for all their preschool sites, joins an elite group of early childhood education programs nationwide to receive this honor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" src=\"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09629-1400x933.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19659\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09629-1400x933.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09629-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09629-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09629-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09629.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This achievement reflects our unwavering commitment to providing high-quality educational experiences for children and families experiencing homelessness and other challenging circumstances,&#8221; said Kasey Popken, Project Director of Ka Pa\u02bbalana. &#8220;We are honored to be recognized by NAEYC for our dedication to excellence in early childhood education.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About NAEYC Accreditation+<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naeyc.org\/resources\/pubs\/yc\/winter2024\/re-envisioning-naeyc-accreditation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NAEYC Accreditation+ system<\/a> sets professional standards for early learning programs and helps families identify high-quality programs for their children. The re-envisioned NAEYC accreditation process is based on the commitment to continuous quality improvement, lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and feedback from the field.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To earn NAEYC Accreditation+, Ka Pa\u02bbalana went through an extensive self-study and quality-improvement process, followed by on-site visits by NAEYC assessors to verify program quality. The program was evaluated on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naeyc.org\/defining-recognizing-high-quality-early-learning-programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ten program standards<\/a> and dozens of corresponding individual criteria to determine its level of excellence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Impact on Families and Communities<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ka Pa\u02bbalana&#8217;s focus on serving homeless, at-risk, and <a href=\"https:\/\/unitedforalice.org\/hawaii\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ALICE<\/a> (Asset-Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families makes this continued achievement particularly significant. The program provides comprehensive services including preschool education, parent education, and family support services through its innovative mobile preschool and Family-Child Interaction Learning (FCIL) model.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" src=\"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09508-1400x933.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09508-1400x933.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09508-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09508-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09508-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DSC09508.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Achieving Accreditation+ status validates our approach to serving Hawai\u02bbi&#8217;s most vulnerable keiki and their families,&#8221; said Terry Nakamura, Vice President of Operations of Partners in Development Foundation. &#8220;It demonstrates that high-quality early education can and should be accessible to all children, regardless of their living situation or economic circumstances.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Moving Forward<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With this recognition, Ka Pa\u02bbalana reaffirms its commitment to providing high-quality education and family support to communities in Leeward O\u02bbahu, West Hawai\u02bbi Island, and Maui. Project Director, Kasey Popken shared that, \u201cAll sites will continue to incorporate culturally responsive practices and innovative approaches to address the unique needs of homeless and at-risk families in Hawai\u02bbi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about Ka Pa\u02bbalana, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/pidf.org\/kapaalana\/\" title=\"\">pidf.org\/kapaalana\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Partners in Development Foundation (PIDF) is proud to announce that their Ka Pa\u02bbalana program has earned the distinguished Accreditation+ status from the National Association for the Education of Young Children&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":19662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[536,535,537,129,128,195,255],"class_list":["post-19658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ka-paalana","tag-accreditation","tag-accredited","tag-accredited-preschools","tag-early-childhood-education","tag-fcil","tag-ka-paalana-2","tag-naeyc"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19658"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19673,"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19658\/revisions\/19673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pidf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}