National accreditation and its role in early education: An analysis of Florida’s Gold Seal Quality Child-Care program and licensing standards

Abstract

This article reports on the first Florida statewide assessment of the Gold Seal Quality Care program, accreditation, and the relationship with licensing violations. This study analyzed the differences between the Department of Children and Families Gold Seal–Accredited facilities and nonaccredited facilities by comparing the facilities and the number of class violations a facility received for noncompliance of licensing standards from 2007 through 2010. Class I violations in all 4 years were not statistically significant; however, the p-value for Class II and III violations in all 4 years was p < 0.05; therefore, we concluded that accreditation does make a difference in relation to Class II and III violations and that accredited programs are of a higher quality than nonaccredited programs.

Standar Alat Bermain dan Kualitas Satuan PAUD

“…Akreditasi adalah kegiatan menilai layak atau tidaknya sebuah program pada satuan pendidikan berdasarkan kriteria yang telah ditentukan (Badan Akreditasi Nasional Pendidikan Non Formal, 2014). Standar akreditasi sendiri meliputi pelaksanaan metode dan kurikulum baik dari segi kualitas ataupun kuantitas (Kim, 2014), sehingga capaian perkembangan anak dapat terpenuhi dan anak-anak tersebut akan memiliki kesiapan yang lebih matang (Winterbottom & Jones, 2014) untuk ke jenjang pendidikan selanjutnya. Penilaian akreditasi sendiri juga dapat diartikan dengan penilaian lingkungan untuk mengembangan pengalaman dan perkembangan anak (Layzer & Goodson, 2006) sehingga aspek-aspek dalam setiap standar akreditasi menjadi perhatian penting dalam penilaian kualitas dan mutu sekolah (Winterbottom & Jones, 2014).…”