Difference between State licensing standards vs NAEYC Accreditation standards?

Answer 1

Each state requires licensed childcare facilities (home or center) to meet minimum standards to ensure the safety of the children in the care of the people at the facility, ranging from minimum qualifications of staff to cleaning regulations to specific supervision and environmental standards that HAVE to be met, or there are legal ramifications.

NAEYC accreditation is more rigorous, requiring such things as targeted curriculum planning and having a certain percentage of staff with Early Childhood Education degrees of some sort. It means that a site is really striving to perform best practice in a child-oriented environment, and that a center really is working on pre-school skills, rather than being 'just a daycare.'