Posted on April 10, 2001 at 4:40 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Child Development Center has been granted re-accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

The NAEYC is the nation’s oldest and largest organization of early childhood professionals dedicated to improving the quality of early childhood education. As of October 1, 2000, only 7,545 early childhood programs in the nation have received accreditation from the NAEYC.

Programs seeking accreditation undergo an intensive self-study, collecting information from parents, teachers, administrators and classroom observations. The process also includes on-site visits by early childhood education professionals trained by NAEYC.

The UAB Child Development Center, located at 1113 15th Street South, has 85 children, ages 6 weeks to 5 years old. The center, which was first accredited in 1998, has a staff of more than 20 full-time teachers.

“We feel very honored to have been re-accredited,” said the center’s director Roxanne Palmer, “and we feel that the NAEYC accreditation process is invaluable to establishing a quality child care center. … We have a dedicated, professional staff. Our desire is to nurture and educate young children, and act as a support for working parents.”

 The UAB Child Development Center was established in 1994 under the direction of Kathleen Martin, Ph.D.