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Preschool coordinators urge district to opt out of Step Up to Quality and pursue NAEYC accreditation
Summary
Preschool leaders told the board that changes in state law (HB 96) make Step Up to Quality optional for licensed preschools; Orange Early Childhood plans to maintain or seek NAEYC accreditation and recommends district preschools do the same instead of Step Up to Quality.
District preschool leaders on Sept. 29 recommended opting out of Ohio’s Step Up to Quality process following changes under House Bill 96 and instead pursuing or maintaining accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Maria Hill, preschool coordinator at Orange Early Childhood (OEC), said OEC has been NAEYC accredited for almost nine years and is planning to reapply in 2026. Christine (a preschool coordinator/lead) told the board that NAEYC is a national, research‑based accreditation with more than 400 criteria across 10 standards; she said ‘‘only about 10% of preschool programs in the entire country actually achieve this accreditation.’’
Presenters told the board that recent changes to Step Up to Quality make it primarily directed at programs that receive state funds (for example, public preschool or programs receiving ECE grants). Because the district’s preschool programs do not receive those particular funding streams, presenters said they believe Step Up to Quality would not serve the district’s needs as directly as continuing with NAEYC standards.
Board members asked whether neighboring preschools were likely to follow suit; presenters said some nearby programs plan to remain with Step Up to Quality while others may opt out. The presenters said opting out would render a program ‘‘unrated’’ under the Step Up system unless the program later chose to reengage.
The presenters said they will continue pursuing evidence collection and a site visit as part of the NAEYC application timeline and welcomed district support.
