http://www.ed.gov/

U.S. Department of Education

The mission of the Department of Education is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. It engages in four major types of activities:

1. Establishes policies related to federal education funding, administers distribution of funds and monitors their use.
2. Collects data and oversees research on America's schools.
3. Identifies major issues in education and focuses national attention on them.
4. Enforces federal laws prohibiting discrimination in programs that receive federal funds.

NATIONAL CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION

http://www.nccanet.org/

The Mission of National Child Care Association is to promote the growth and safeguard the interest of quality early childhood care and education focusing on licensed, private providers of these services. 

Since 1975, as a professional trade association, NCCA has been the voice of the licensed, private early childhood care and education community.

The National Association of Child Care Professionals

http://www.naccp.org/

The National Association of Child Care Professionals

The nation's leader among associations serving child care owners, directors, and administrators. The organization's goal is to improve, enhance and strengthen the credibility of the people who lead the child care industry by providing membership services and benefits. NACCP is the only association exclusively dedicated to child care management without regard to a center's tax status and corporate sponsorship.

Click here to learn more about NACCP's
Executive Seminar at Sea 2011

National Association of Child Care Professionals Code of Ethics

The National Association of Child Care Professionals is an association of people who are leaders in the field of early care and education.  As an association, we believe that child care is a profession and that it is our responsibility as professional women and men to lead our centers in an ethical manner.  Recognizing that the association is a vital link in this process, we determine to govern our individual centers as follows:

1.   To maintain the ethical standards of the National Association of Child Care Professionals to more effectively serve our children, their parents, and the field.

2.   To continually remember that ours is a service industry.  We are committed to providing quality child care to our children and their families, and we place this service above personal gain.

3.   To conduct our business in a way that will both maintain goodwill within the field and build the confidence of parents, the community, and fellow professionals.

4.   To cooperatively work with parents and faithfully deliver the kind of service promised to them, whether orally, in writing, or implied.

5.   To charge a fair tuition that will enable us to pay a fair living wage to the director and staff at our centers.

6.   To maintain the appropriate child-to-staff ratios that will ensure provision of quality service to our children and their families.

7.   To hire qualified individuals and to train them to work within the guidelines of this code of ethics.

8.   To avoid sowing discontent among the employees of competitors with the purpose of embarrassing or hindering their business.

9.   To avoid possible damage to a competitor’s image by purposefully misleading parents, members of the community, or fellow professionals.

10. To support the policies and programs of our association and to participate in its regional and national activities.

11. To conduct ourselves at all times in a way that will bring credit to our association and the child care field.

The privilege of membership in the National Association of Child Care Professionals is granted to those who make a professional commitment to the field of child care.  In turn, the resources of this association are dedicated to assisting members in areas of professional growth.

National Institute of Child Health & Human Development

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/
National Institutes of Health Eunice Kennedy Shriver
National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
The NICHD was initially established to investigate the broad aspects of human development as a means of understanding developmental disabilities, including intellectual and developmental disabilities, and the events that occur during pregnancy.  Today, the Institute conducts and supports research on all stages of human development, from pre-conception to adulthood, to better understand the health of children, adults, families, and communities.

National Association for the Education of Young Children

http://www.naeyc.org/

NAEYC's mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources (NAEYC Bylaws, Article I., Section 1.1).  

Vision Statement

NAEYC's efforts are designed to achieve these ends:

• All children have access to a safe and accessible, high quality early childhood education that includes a developmentally appropriate curriculum; knowledgeable and well-trained program staff and educators; and comprehensive services that support their health, nutrition, and social well-being, in an environment that respects and supports diversity.
• All early childhood professionals are supported as professionals with a career ladder, ongoing professional development opportunities, and compensation that attracts and retains high quality educators.
• All families have access to early childhood education programs that are affordable and of high quality and actively participate in their children's education as respected reciprocal partners.
• All communities, states, and the nation work together to ensure accountable systems of high-quality early childhood education for all children.

National Association for Family Child Care

http://nafcc.org/

he National Association for Family Child Care is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting quality child care by strengthening the profession of family child care.

The goals of the Association are:

• To strengthen state and local associations as the primary support system for individual family child care providers.
• To promote a professional accreditation program which recognizes and encourages quality care for children.
• To represent family child care providers by advocating for their needs and collaborating with other organizations.
• To promote the diversity of the family child care profession through training, state and local associations, public education, and Board membership.
• To deliver effective programs through strong organizational management.

National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center

http://www.usda.gov/fundinglapse.htm
 NCCIC site is no longer available

The National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC), a service of the Office of Child Care, is a national clearinghouse and technical assistance (TA) center that provides comprehensive child care information resources and TA services to Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Administrators and other key stakeholders.

Try this:http://childcare.gov/

Child Care Aware

http://childcareaware.net/

Child Care Aware© is the nation's most respected hub of information for parents and child care providers. A program of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), Child Care Aware® helps families learn more about the elements of quality child care and how to locate programs in their communities. 
Child Care Aware also provides child care providers with access to resources for their child care programs.

 high-quality videos, parent information, child care 101 news, and a resource to find high-quality child care in your area. Child Care Aware is a program of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies. Another resource is a toll free number for assistance.

P B S Kids

PBS Kids  is a site for children. There are games and fun activities based on all the children's programming that PBS has for kids. What a wonderful concept to be able to introduce kids to entertainment thats interesting and educational. Because for children learning can be fun! And with the benefit of the World Wide Web they can now participate beyond the shows and learn more with reinforcements.
And it's free to those of you who already have the Internet and Cable. Why not take advantage of this site...http://pbskids.org/