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Our daycare is not, but there's only one daycare in my whole town that IS accredited! And since they have a waiting list that is almost 2 years long, we went with a licensed in-home daycare, instead.

Ours is, and is only one of two in our town. And ours has a 2 year waiting list too!

Our daycare is NAEYC accredited, and that was very important to us.

All the teachers there have to have minimum educational requirements (either have received their BA/BS or are working towards it; with the majority being degrees in early childhood education), which was a really big deal to us. Education, exploration and art are worked into every age group on a daily basis – even infants. There are also “rules” with how caregivers interact with children – i.e., bending down to speak to them at their level vs. towering over them, no yelling/shouting across the room, giving special personal time to each child every day, and meals are served sort of "family style" with everyone sitting around a table to foster social interaction. Even though LO is just an infant and doesn't eat solids yet, she gets to sit with the "big kids" at the table (like 9-12 months old) and watches them eat, which facinates her.

It might sound mean but, frankly, I don’t want to pay $1400/month for some 18-20 year old with no higher education (and maybe not even a hs diploma) to watch my kid full time – I would rather have teachers who are clearly invested in caring for children as a career, not just a job until something else/better comes along. I certainly don’t think the accreditation is the end-all of being able to tell the quality of a center (or in-home care), but the accreditation requires more than what most states require of a caregiver so I prefer it.