ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan’s Family Housing Child Development Center was granted accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the nation’s largest organization of early childhood educators. This recognition has only been awarded to about 5 percent of early childhood programs nationwide.

The Child Development Center underwent an intensive self- study based on information from parents, teachers, and administrators. A team of childhood professionals trained by NAEYC evaluated the self-study results during an on-site visit to the center.

” One of the things the NAEYC people observed about our center is that it’s such a wonderfully diverse environment for the children to experience in early childhood,” said Su-Fen Lin, director of the center.

Many of the children’s parents are students from all over the world who are pursuing academic programs. The Child Development Center provides a wide range of services to support those parents such as parent and child play groups, an after school program and summer camp.

” The program always strives to provide the best quality. It’s important student parents feel comfortable leaving their children here while continuing their education,” said Lin.

The NAEYC evaluators commented the children were happy and comfortable in their environment and that interaction between the children and teachers was impressive.