Local Childcare Center Earns Second Accreditation

The first day of school at the Bermuda Dunes Learning Center started on a good note: The center got reaccredited for the next five years. It is the only private childcare center in the Coachella Valley to do that twice in a row.

“It’s an 18-month study where you thoroughly look at different parts of your program: the curriculum, the teaching staff, the adminstration, the relationship with families,” explained Gayle Clark, the center’s executive director.

Out of ten categories, the learning center earned a perfect score in more than half of them. The accreditation is from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The learning center first became accredited in 2005. The second accreditation is good through 2015.

“It takes lots of leaps and bounds to get there,” said Monica Burton, who teaches two-year-olds. “There’s a lot that goes ino that [accreditation], and it really raises quality of childcare.”

The accreditation process is intense. It may include surprise inspection visits, which the learning center encountered a year and a half ago.

“We came out and scored a 91%,” said Clark. “It validated that what we were doing was good.”