Center for Applied Research

The Center for Applied Research was launched by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in fall 2010. Its purpose is twofold: (1) to ensure that the work of NAEYC is based on the best available research, and (2) to communicate research with early childhood professionals engaged in practice and policy work. This entry describes the history and role of the center.

Research has long been a critical component of NAEYC’s accreditation standards as well as its position on developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and its journal, Young Children. Although research has been present in the work of NAEYC since the organization’s earliest days, by the early 2000s there was growing awareness that its importance needed to be noted, especially within the context of ...