Our NAEYC Accreditation Journey

Woods Hollow has been NAEYC accredited since 1996.

In 2005, NAEYC rebuilt its accreditation system from the ground up — many more criteria to meet, and an entirely new process to learn. Woods Hollow was one of the first accredited centers to renew under it.

That made us trailblazers. There was no one ahead of us to show how it was done, and much of the guidance was still being written. We decided to move forward and learn along the way, creating our own journey.

We were deliberate about collaboration — with other centers, and with each other across our program. We designed and built Classroom and Program Portfolios from scratch, and they went on to serve as models for other centers. Our goal was twofold: to recognize and celebrate what we were already doing well, and to reach for the best possible outcomes across all ten standards.

It was genuinely challenging. We made mistakes and had setbacks. But over time, we started noticing something — the classrooms were changing, and so was the center as a whole. We could see the outcomes of our effort in the quality of our program.

In November 2007, Woods Hollow earned NAEYC accreditation under the new system, with very high scores across all ten standards and in the classroom observations. We achieved it together, and we are still proud of it.

We celebrated with cake and champagne at our December 2007 staff meeting, where Promega CEO Bill Linton joined us to congratulate the team and thank them for what the accomplishment meant for children, families, and the community.

Today, programs going through accreditation have far more to draw on — NAEYC now offers tools, guidelines, videos, and webinars that build understanding of why accreditation matters. You can learn more at naeyc.org/academy.

Woods Hollow continues to meet NAEYC's standards and criteria, submitting an annual report each year to demonstrate it. We were proudly re-accredited in 2022.