Acknowledgement from NAEYC

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has acknowledged Dr. Janet Mattern, an associate professor in FSU’s Department of Educational Professions, with a letter of recognition for her scholarly volunteer service.

Mattern has provided service, scholarly work and national leadership to NAEYC and the early childhood field. Over the past year, she has been a peer review team chair in NAEYC’s Accreditation of Early Childhood Higher Education Programs system. Because of the contributions of Mattern and her colleagues, NAEYC has conducted program reviews that have resulted in the accreditation of degree programs at 166 institutions through fair and thorough reviews of their ability to meet national standards.

Mattern’s review of early childhood degree programs has involved a considerable time commitment and collaboration with colleagues at other institutions toward a thoughtful scholarly evaluation of programs relative to the standards put forth by NAEYC and the early childhood field. The observations peer reviewers make regarding a program’s evidence of meeting standards are extremely important and often high stakes. Mattern accepted the additional responsibility and workload associated with being a team chair, and her expertise has been instrumental in guiding this important work.