Association for Early Learning Leaders: Resources and Support for Excellence in Early Childhood Education
The Association for Early Learning Leaders (AELL) stands as a cornerstone for professionals dedicated to providing high-quality early care and education. Formerly known as the National Association of Child Care Professionals, this 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization has been serving childcare directors, owners, and administrators since 1984. AELL's mission is centered around strengthening the knowledge, skills, and abilities of early care directors, owners, emerging leaders, and other early learning professionals to ensure quality child care programs for young children. The association strives to promote leadership development and enhance program quality, impacting the lives of children, families, and child care providers across the nation.
Commitment to Excellence and Leadership Development
AELL is committed to excellence by promoting leadership development and enhancing program quality through the National Accreditation Commission’s standards. The association aims to create and promote connections between members and professionals in early childhood networks and organizations. These connections are aimed to create collaborative and meaningful networks for all members. AELL recognizes that directors' responsibilities are broad, the skills required to manage a program are diverse, and time is a limited resource.
Professional Development Opportunities
One of the Association’s primary functions is to provide professional development opportunities to strengthen the leadership skills of child care administrators and enhance the quality of early care learning programs. To assist members in creating and expanding their strengths in leaderships and to enrich the quality of early learning programs, AELL offers a variety of learning and support opportunities that are easy to access. These include:
Webinars
Free administrative and accreditation webinars are designed to accommodate the busy schedule of directors, providing education and insight into all aspects of directing an early care and education program. Sessions by experts from around the country focus on leadership, administration, training, business practices, legal issues, program quality, and resources.
Wednesday Webinars are designed to accommodate the busy schedule of directors providing education and insight into all aspects of directing early care and education programs. Sessions by experts from around the country focus on leadership, administration, training, business practices, legal issues, program quality, and resources.Resource webinars are an opportunity for our vendor members to share solutions to your common challenges such as parent communication, playground needs, and curriculum. During these webinars, presenters are given permission to share their products.
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Webinars are held on Wednesdays at 12pm or 1pm CT. All live webinars are recorded and made available to webinar registrants. Participants will receive an administrative training certificate the next day following the live webinar in addition to the webinar recording link. Webinar recordings are available to everyone but AELL members have the exclusive opportunity to earn training certificates for past viewed webinars.
A certificate for administrative training hours will be issued to those who attend webinar training. In order to receive a training certificate for a past Wednesday Webinar recording, you must be a current Standard Plus member of AELL. Only current AELL Standard Plus members are eligible to earn training certificates and have access to all of our webinar training archives.
Accreditation Support
The Association for Early Learning Leaders upholds the standards of the National Accreditation Commission for Early Care and Education Programs. The accreditation process involves several key phases:
Self-Study: During the self-study phase, parents, staff, and administrators evaluate the program’s strengths and weaknesses. They base their evaluation on the National Accreditation Commission Standards. Programs have a minimum of six months and a maximum of two years to complete the Self-Study and request an onsite visit. The Self-Study remains effective for two years from your enrollment date.
Validation Visit: The Validation Visit, or onsite visit, comes next. Programs should request a Validation Visit only after making all improvements and meeting National Accreditation Commission Standards. Before conducting a Validation Visit, the AELL must verify certain requirements through the Validation Visit paperwork.
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Accreditation Decision: After the Validation Visit, the program awaits an accreditation decision. This process can take up to four months. Early Childhood Education professionals with extensive expertise review all documentation. These experts specialize in child development, program administration, and early childhood research.
Annual Reports and Compliance: Accredited programs must submit annual reports during the four-year award period. These reports inform the National Accreditation Commission of improvements made throughout the year. Programs document activities conducted to maintain ongoing compliance with Standards. Accreditation Commission representatives may conduct unannounced visits at any time during the award period. Representatives determine whether programs uphold Commission Standards. The Commission may schedule these visits randomly or in response to evidence of non-compliance. Programs also must keep current contact information on file with the Commission.
Resources Overview
The Association for Early Learning Leaders is here to provide professional and valuable resources to strengthen the leadership skills of child care members, other professionals, and national early childhood organizations. AELL provides various professional resources. These resources include, but are not limited to, free weekly training webinars, a comprehensive ongoing quality improvement system that recognize the diversity within programs, and quarterly trade journals to impact the quality of the early childhood industry.
Online Store
Purchasing organizational merchandise through our online store has never been easier! Shop for items like: Association Merchandise, National Accreditation Commission Merchandise, National Accreditation Commission Services, Various Vendor Services
Tools of the Trade
Members access free tools including downloadable administrative tools, fillable forms, parent articles, and teacher tips, ready to incorporate into your next newsletter or staff meeting. Members get full access to our valuable resources.
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Community Blog
Promote and create meaningful collaborative connections among members. Our community blog provides the opportunity to learn and connect with early learning leadership. Posts will provide insight on: Leadership, Administration, Business Practices, Legal issues, Accreditation & Program Quality.
Vendor Listings
Early Learning Leaders’ collaboration with Vendor Members ensures leaders in the field of early care and education access to the latest resources needed to provide quality programs for children. This collaboration is not an endorsement but gives access to choices for you to explore. Our vendor partners include manufacturers, producers, and distributors of early learning products and services.
Addressing Challenges in Subsidy Funding
Across the country, child care programs are facing growing uncertainty in the subsidy funding landscape. Delayed payments, increased audits, and high-profile fraud investigations are creating understandable concern-often fueled by rapidly changing headlines and incomplete information. AELL provides resources to navigate these challenges.
One example is the live Zoom training which is grounded in a simple but powerful principle: perspective prevents panic. By focusing on facts, context, and preparation, this session is designed to help child care owners make informed decisions rather than reactive ones.
The training covered:
- What’s changing in subsidy funding and why it matters now
- How to reduce risk through stronger documentation and internal controls
- How to prepare for increased oversight without fear, panic, or guesswork
- Cash-flow planning strategies to help your program remain stable if payments are delayed or frozen
This is a preparation-focused training designed to help you stay steady, informed, and in control during uncertain times.
Rebranding for a Connected Future
In 2012, The National Association of Child Care professionals implemented a rebranding campaign which included changing their name to the Association for Early Learning Leaders. The rebranding campaign strives to provide a well-connected organization which allows thoughts and ideas to be shared freely in order to create strong relationships and increase learning.
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