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Penn State World Campus | Human Development and Family Studies Programs

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Principles of Child Development and Learning and Implications That Inform Practice

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NAEYC’s guidelines and recommendations for developmentally appropriate practice are based on the following nine principles and their implications for early childhood education professional practice.

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Building Strong Family-Teacher Partnerships | Waterford.org

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Learn how to build family-teacher partnerships in your school, from building communication strategies to alleviating barriers.

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Observing, documenting, and assessing each child's development and learning are essential processes for educators and programs to plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of the experiences they provide to children. Assessment includes both formal and informal measures as tools for monitoring children's progress toward a program's desired goals. Educators can be intentional about helping children to progress when they know where each child is with respect to learning goals. Formative assessment (measuring progress toward goals) and summative assessment (measuring achievement at the end of a defined period or experience) are important. Both need to be conducted in ways that are developmentally, culturally, and linguistically responsive to authentically assess children's learning. This means that not only must the methods of assessment, both formal and informal, be developmentally, culturally, and linguistically sensitive, but also the assessor must be aware of and work against the possibility of implicit and explicit bias, for example through training, reflection, and regular reviews of collected data.

Effective assessment of young children is challenging. The complexity of children's development and learning-including the uneven nature of development and the likelihood of children fully demonstrating their knowledge and skills in different contexts-makes accurate and comprehensive assessment difficult. For example, authentic assessment takes into consideration such factors as a child's facility in each language they speak and uses assessors and settings that are familiar and comfortable for the child. When standardized assessments are used for screening or evaluative purposes, the measures should meet standards of reliability and validity based on the characteristics of the child being assessed. When these standards are not met, these limitations must be carefully considered before using the results. Using assessments in ways that do not support enhancing the child's education is not developmentally appropriate practice. Yet, decisions regarding assessment practices are often outside of the control of individual educators (also see Recommendations for research, page 31). When educators are aware of inappropriate assessment practices, they have a professional ethical responsibility to make their concerns known, to advocate for more appropriate practices, and, within their learning environment, to minimize the adverse impact of inappropriate assessments on young children and on instructional practices.

The following practices for observation, documentation, and assessment are developmentally appropriate for children from birth through the primary grades.

A. Observation, documentation, and assessment of young children's progress and achievements is ongoing, strategic, reflective, and purposeful. Educators embed assessment-related activities in the curriculum and in daily routines to facilitate authentic assessment and to make assessment an integral part of professional practice. They create and take advantage of unplanned opportunities to observe young children in play and in spontaneous conversations and interactions, in adult-structured assessment contexts as well as when children are participating in a group activity and doing an individual activity. Observations, documentations, and the results of other formal and informal assessments are used to inform the planning and implementing of daily curriculum and experiences, to communicate with the child's family, and to evaluate and improve educators' and the program's effectiveness. Especially in K-3 classrooms, care must be taken to avoid overuse of standardized assessments, which can cause stress for young children and interfere with time for learning. Educators limit the use of digitally-based assessments, especially for young children who (appropriately) should have limited exposure to screen media.

B. Assessment focuses on children's progress toward developmental and educational goals. Such goals should reflect families' input as well as children's background knowledge and experiences. They should be informed by developmental milestones including use of state early learning standards. Goals should be aspirational and achievable and should foster a sense of pride and accomplishment for educators, families, and children. Children, educators, and families should have opportunities to celebrate both small and large achievements, while recognizing that all children need time to build mastery on a current skill before progressing to the next challenge.

C. A system is in place to collect, make sense of, and use observations, documentation, and assessment information to guide what goes on in the early learning setting. Educators use this information in planning curriculum and learning experiences and in moment-to-moment interactions with children-that is, educators continually engage in assessment for the purpose of improving teaching and learning. Educators also encourage children to use observation and, beginning in the preschool years, documentation to reflect on their experiences and what they have learned.

D. The methods of assessment are responsive to the current developmental accomplishments, language(s), and experiences of young children. They recognize individual variation in learners and allow children to demonstrate their competencies in different ways. Methods appropriate to educators' assessment of young children, therefore, include results of their observations of children, clinical interviews, collections of children's work samples, and children's performance on authentic activities. For children who speak a language the educators do not know, native speakers of the child's language such as family or community members may need to be recruited to assist with the assessment process. A plan should be in place for employing volunteer and paid interpreters and translators as needed and providing them with information about appropriate interactions with young children and ethics and confidentiality, as well as about the features and purposes of the screening or assessment tool. Once collected, the results are explained to families and children (as appropriate) in order to extend the conversations around what is collected, analyzed, and reflected upon.

E. Assessments are used only for the populations and purposes for which they have been demonstrated to produce reliable, valid information. If required to use an assessment tool that has not been established as reliable or valid for the characteristics of a given child or for the intended use, educators recognize the limitations of the findings, strive to make sure they are not used in high-stakes decisions, and advocate for a different measure.

F. Decisions that have a major impact on children, such as enrollment or placement, are made in consultation with families. Such decisions should be based on multiple sources of relevant information, including that obtained from observations of and interactions with children by educators, family members, and specialists as needed.

G. When a screening assessment identifies a child who may have a disability or individualized learning or developmental needs, there is appropriate follow-up, evaluation, and, if needed, referral. Screening is used to identify issues needing more thorough examination by those qualified to do so; it is not used to diagnose or label children. Families are involved as essential sources of information.

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DAP: Observing, Documenting, and Assessing Children's Development and Learning

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Observing, documenting, and assessing each child's development and learning are essential processes for educators and programs to plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of the experiences they provide to children.

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Developmentally appropriate teaching practices encompass a wide range of skills and strategies that are adapted to the age, development, individual characteristics, and the family and social and cultural contexts of each child served. Grounded in the caring relationships that educators nurture with each child and family as well as among all children and families (see guideline 1, "Creating a caring community of learners"), these teaching practices are designed to foster development and learning for each child across all domains and subject areas. Teaching practices build on each child's multiple assets and actively counter various forms of bias. Through their intentional teaching, educators blend opportunities for each child to exercise choice and agency within the context of a planned environment constructed to support specific learning experiences and meaningful goals. Educators recognize that children are active constructors of their own understanding of the world around them; they understand that children benefit from initiating and regulating their own learning activities and from interacting with peers.

Recognizing play as critical for children to experience joy and wonder, early childhood educators incorporate frequent opportunities for play in their teaching strategies. They plan learning environments that provide a mix of self-directed play, guided play, and direct instruction. Educators maximize opportunities for children to choose the materials, playmates, topics, and approaches they use throughout the day for all children, birth through age 8. Educators support and extend children's play experiences by providing materials and resources based on careful observation of children's play choices. Adult-guided activities provide for children's active agency as educators offer specific guidance and support to scaffold and extend children's interest, engagement, and learning.

Direct instruction-for example, providing children with relevant academic vocabulary, pointing out relationships, helping children recognize specific phenomena, or suggesting an alternative perspective-is an important tool for supporting children's learning. Its effectiveness is determined by the degree to which it extends children's interests and learning in meaningful ways and educators' sensitivity to changes in children's interest. Individually or in small or large groups, across all activities-self-directed play, guided play, direct instruction, and routines-the teacher is responsible for ensuring that each child's overall experiences are stimulating, engaging, and developmentally, linguistically, and culturally responsive across all domains of development and learning. Promoting many opportunities for agency for each child is essential to fulfilling this responsibility.

The following descriptions of educators' actions illustrate teaching practices that are developmentally appropriate for young children from birth through the primary grades.

A. Educators demonstrate and model their commitment to a caring learning community through their actions, attitudes, and curiosity. They recognize that through their actions, they are influencing children's lifelong dispositions, confidence, and approaches to learning.

B. Educators use their knowledge of each child and family to make learning experiences meaningful, accessible, and responsive to each and every child. Building on the relationships they nurture with each child and family and between children (see also guideline 1, "Creating a caring community of learners"), educators design learning activities that reflect the lives and cultures of each child.

1. Educators incorporate and integrate a wide variety of experiences, materials, equipment, and teaching strategies to accommodate the range of children's individual differences in development, languages, skills and abilities, prior experiences, needs, and interests.

2. Educators, with the support of families, bring each child's home culture(s) and language(s) into the shared culture of the learning community. They model recognition and valuing of the unique contributions of the home cultures and languages so that these contributions can be recognized and valued by the other members of the learning community. They strategically use the child's home or family language and cultural ways of learning to enhance each child's communication, comprehension, self-expression, and learning. Educators continually strive to support and sustain each child's connection with their family, languages, and cultures.

3. Educators provide all children opportunities to participate in all activities and encourage children to be inclusive in their behaviors and interactions with peers.

4. Educators are prepared to individualize their teaching strategies to meet the specific needs of individual children, including children with disabilities and children whose learning is advanced, by building upon their interests, knowledge, and skills. Educators use all the strategies identified here and consult with appropriate specialists and the child's family; they see that each child gets the adaptations and specialized services needed for full inclusion as a member of the community and that no child is penalized for their ability status.

C. Educators effectively implement a comprehensive curriculum so that each child attains individualized goals across all domains (physical, social, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and general learning competencies) and across all subject areas (language and literacy, including second language acquisition, mathematics, social studies, science, art, music, physical education, and health). Educators follow Universal Design for Learning principles by proactively providing multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. Educators design experiences that celebrate the diversity in the experiences and social identities of each group of children and counter the biases in society. They build upon the children's combined funds of knowledge to foster each child's learning and understanding. Educators design activities that follow the predictable sequences in which children acquire specific concepts, skills, and abilities and by building on prior experiences and understandings. (Also see guideline 5, "Understanding and using content areas to plan and implement an engaging curriculum designed to meet goals that are important and meaningful for children, families, and the community in the present as well as the future.")

D. Educators plan the environment, schedule, and daily activities to promote each child's development and learning.

1. Educators arrange firsthand, meaningful experiences that are cognitively and creatively stimulating, invite exploration and investigation, and engage children's active, sustained involvement. They do this by providing a rich variety of materials, challenges, and ideas that are worthy of children's attention and that reflect the funds of knowledge each child brings to the setting. Materials are periodically rotated and revisited to provide children with opportunities to reflect and re-engage with the learning experiences.

2. Educators consistently present children with opportunities to make meaningful choices. Children are encouraged to shape specific learning activities and to identify projects that can be used to extend their learning. Children are regularly provided with opportunities for child-choice activity periods-not simply as a reward for completing other work. Educators assist and guide children who are not yet able to enjoy and make good use of such periods.

3. Educators organize the daily and weekly schedules to provide children with extended blocks of time in which to engage in sustained investigation, exploration, interaction, and play. Children are encouraged to freely interact with peers, and collaborative learning opportunities with peers are frequently used. Adults offer questions to stimulate children's thinking, introduce related vocabulary, and provide specific suggestions to scaffold children's thinking. As much as possible, educators use multiple languages to support bilingual and multilingual children and also use nonverbal means of communication such as images and gestures.

4. Educators routinely provide experiences, materials, and interactions to enable children to engage in play. Play allows children to stretch their boundaries to the fullest in their imagination, language, interaction, and self-regulation, as well as to practice their newly acquired skills. Play also provides an important window for educators to observe children's skills and understandings.

5. Educators create language-rich environments that focus on the diversity and complexity of language in children's communities. Given the importance of vocabulary for conceptual development and as the key building blocks for academic subject areas, this is especially crucial. Educators affirm children's use of home dialects, vernaculars, and language as strengths as they also support the development of academic English.

E. Educators possess and build on an extensive repertoire of skills and teaching strategies. They know how and when to choose among them to effectively promote each child's development and learning at that moment. Such skills include the ability to adapt curriculum, activities, and materials to ensure full participation of all children. These strategies include but are not limited to acknowledging, encouraging, giving specific feedback, modeling, demonstrating, adding challenge, giving cues or other assistance, providing information, and giving directions.

1. To help children develop agency, educators encourage them to choose and plan their own learning activities. Self-directed learning activities are important for all young children, including those in K-3 classrooms. Self-directed activities can engage children in meaningful learning that is relevant to all curriculum and applicable learning standards.

2. To stimulate children's thinking and extend their learning, educators pose problems, ask questions, and make comments and suggestions.

3. To extend the range of children's interests and the scope of their thoughts, educators present novel experiences and introduce stimulating ideas, problems, experiences, or hypotheses.

4. To adjust the complexity and challenge of activities to suit children's skills and knowledge, educators increase the challenge as children gain competence and understanding or reduce the complexity for those who struggle.

5. To strengthen children's sense of competence and confidence as learners, motivation to persist, and willingness to take risks, educators provide experiences that build on a child's funds of knowledge, are culturally and linguistically responsive, and are designed for each child to be challenged and genuinely successful.

6. To enhance children's conceptual understanding, early childhood educators use various strategies, including conversation and documentation, which encourage children to reflect on and revisit their experiences in the moment and over time.

7. To encourage and foster children's development and learning, educators avoid generic praise ("Good job!") and instead give specific feedback ("You got the same number when you counted the beans again!"). They use the home or family languages, images, or other forms of non-verbal communication to be sure the child understands the feedback. With frequent, timely, specific feedback, educators help children evaluate their own learning.

8. Educators focus on what children can do rather than what they can't or don't do. For example, a child who responds to a question asked in academic English by speaking in their home dialect is recognized for their receptive language. Similarly, invented spellings or other "errors" in children's thinking or language are analyzed for what they reveal of children's current understanding.

F. Educators know how and when to scaffold children's learning. Based on their ongoing interactions and knowledge of each child, educators provide just enough assistance to enable each child to perform at a skill level just beyond what the child can do on their own, then gradually reduce the support as the child begins to master the skill, setting the stage for the next challenge.

1. Educators recognize and respond to the reality that in any group, children's skills will vary and they will need different levels of support. Educators also know that any one child's level of skill and need for support will vary over time and in different circumstances.

2. Scaffolding can take a variety of forms, such as giving the child a hint, providing a cue, modeling the skill, or adapting the materials and activities. It can be provided in a variety of contexts, not only in planned learning experiences but also in free play, daily routines, and outdoor activities.

3. Peers can be effective providers of scaffolding in addition to educators. Peer learning can be an effective mechanism to provide individual support and assistance across all areas of development and learning. Peer learning can be especially useful for children who are bilingual or multilingual.

G. Educators know how and when to strategically use the various learning formats and contexts.

1. Educators understand that each major learning format or context (for example, large group, small group, learning center, routine) has its own characteristics, functions, and value. They consider the characteristics of the learners in choosing the most appropriate format, such as limiting the use of large groups with very young children or of groups led in a language not understood by all the children. Educators recognize that they need to balance activities that require attentive behavior with time for more active movement. Circle time and large group instruction periods are limited in length to match age-appropriate attention span limits. Breaks for self-directed and active play are provided throughout the day. Flexibility of participation is provided to all children to accommodate individual needs.

2. Educators think carefully about which learning format is best for helping children achieve a desired goal, given the children's ages, abilities, experiences, temperaments, and other characteristics. Especially in the case of large group activities, educators change formats when attention wanes. In K-3 classrooms, educators ensure that individual seatwork is used only when it is the most effective format for meeting the learning objective. They encourage collaborative learning through peer interaction and provide frequent opportunities for children to support each other's learning in pairs and small groups. Educators strive to provide opportunities for physical activity throughout the day, including the use of learning activities that incorporate movement.

3. Educators minimize time in transitions and waiting for children to line up or be quiet. Educators who document how children spend their time are often surprised at how much time is spent in transitions, often in ways that do little to support children's development and learning.⁷¹ Reducing the time and amount of full-group activities, providing children with advance notice of the transition, and incorporating songs, pretend play, and/or movement into the transition can be useful strategies. Educators strive to reduce the need for transitions through flexible schedules, strategic use of staff and volunteers, and helping children take responsibility for their own learning.

H. Educators differentiate instructional approaches to match each child's interests, knowledge, and skills. Children who need additional support receive extended, enriched, and intensive learning experiences, always building on the child's current interests, strengths, and cultural ways of knowing.

1. Educators take care to provide each child with opportunities to be successful and to engage in joyful learning. They work to avoid children having frustrating or discouraging experiences that lead to a negative association with schooling.

2. Regardless of their need for additional support, all children are provided agency to the greatest extent possible. Educators are highly intentional in use of time, and they focus on key skills and abilities through highly engaging, play-based experiences to build on the assets of children and their families.

3. Recognizing the self-regulatory, linguistic, cognitive, and social benefits that play and active self-direction affords, educators do not reduce or eliminate play opportunities, recess, or any other important community and inclusive activities for children who need additional support to meet school readiness/grade level or behavioral expectations.

View the full list of endnotes.

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DAP: Teaching to Enhance Each Child's Development and Learning

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Developmentally appropriate teaching practices encompass a wide range of skills and strategies that are adapted to the age, development, individual characteristics, and the family and social and cultural contexts of each child served.

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8.1: Developmentally, Culturally, and Linguistically Appropriate Classroom Environments, Materials, and Approaches

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The environment is the "third teacher". It is crucial to have our environment be culturally and developmentally appropriate. This chapter will dive into the reasons why our environment is so important and how we have our classroom environments be culturally and linguistically rich and valuable.

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PREREQUISITES: Demonstrated readiness for developmental English.
PROGRAM: Early Childhood Education
CREDIT HOURS MIN: 3
LECTURE HOURS MIN: 2
LAB HOURS MIN: 2
DATE OF LAST REVISION: Fall, 2021

Entry level course for Early Childhood Educators. Examines Developmentally Appropriate environments and activities in various early learning settings. Explores the varying developmental levels and cultural backgrounds of children. Students are required to complete observations and field experience in an early learning setting to successfully complete this course. Students are required to meet personnel requirements for childcare licensing which may include, but are not limited to: FBI fingerprints, 5 panel drug screen, TB test, physical/vaccination history, criminal history checks, CPS registry checks, reference checks, Covid-19 protocols, and completion of the ILEAD mandatory training modules- Health and Safety Modules 1-4, Intro to the Indiana Early Learning Foundations, and Child Abuse Prevention and Detection.

MAJOR COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Upon successful completion of this course the student will be expected to:

1. Describe and discuss Developmentally Appropriate Practice as it pertains to the young child from infancy through 8 years of age with an emphasis on the importance of healthy and respectful relationships between adults, children, and families in the early learning setting. (1c, 1d, 2b, 4a)

2. Recognize and describe the ways young children develop in the physical, cognitive, social and emotional, and linguistic domains, including bilingual/multilingual development.. (1a).

3. Recognize and discuss appropriate teaching methods for young children. (1d, 4b, 4c, 5b, 6e))

4. Research current curriculum models in use in early childhood education. (1d, 3a, 4b, 4c)

5. Describe, discuss, and evaluate Developmentally Appropriate environments that promote the young child's healthy development. (1b, 1c, 1d, 4a, 4b, 4c, 5b, 5c)

6. Demonstrate observation skills in accordance with ethical guidelines to evaluate an early learning setting and develop a plan to enhance the environment for all children, including those with special needs. (3a, 3b, 3c, 6a, 6b, 6e)

7. Demonstrate the ability to access and utilize the Indiana Early Learning Foundations to plan, implement, and evaluate meaningful curriculum for young children.(5a, 5b, 5c, 6b, 6d)

8. Describe and discuss Bloom's Taxonomy and its relationship to planning developmentally appropriate activities for young children. (5b)

9. Create Developmentally Appropriate Lesson Plans that promote the young child's development in the physical, communication, arts, inquiry, social, and self-awareness domains. (1d, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b, 5c)

10. Incorporate Developmentally Appropriate Lesson Plans into an Integrated Curriculum Study appropriate for use in the infant/toddler, preschool, or school-age classroom. (1d, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b, 5c)

11. Complete Indiana ILEAD webinar training for Introduction to the Indiana Early Learning Foundations. (5a, 5b, 5c, 6b, 6d)

12. Complete a minimum of 32 hours of field experience which includes 16 hours for preparation/planning (including creation of materials)/observation, 8 hours for implementation/assessment/working directly with children, and 8 hours for reflection, evaluation and professional communication with the site mentor/cooperating teacher. (7)

COURSE CONTENT: Topical areas of study include -

Developmentally appropriate practice

Children's developmental domains

Developmentally Appropriate learning environments

DAP lesson plans

Integrated curriculum study

Healthy relationships in the early learning environment

Professionalism and confidentiality when assessing learning environments

Cultural diversity, equity, and inclusion

NAEYC Code of Ethics

Indiana Early Learning Foundations

Field Experience

1c: Understand the ways that child development and the learning process occur in multiple contexts, including family, culture, language, community, and early learning setting, as well as in a larger societal context that includes structural inequities.

3a: Understand that assessments (formal and informal, formative and summative) are conducted to make informed choices about instruction and for planning in early learning settings.

6e: Develop and sustain the habit of reflective and intentional practice in their daily work with young children and as members of the early childhood profession.

100 - 93% A

92 - 85% B

84 - 75% C

74 - 71% D

70 - 0% F

PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT:

All degree-seeking students will be expected to present examples of coursework that they deem suitable for a cumulative portfolio that will be reviewed prior to graduation. The portfolio will contain several artifacts and reflection pieces as evidence of the students' demonstrated understanding of early childhood principles as outlined by INTASC and NAEYC standards. The cumulative portfolio should document each student's dispositions and competencies reflected in assignments throughout their coursework. Students may begin collecting artifacts when they begin their coursework. Creating a portfolio has value to students, the Ivy Tech Community College early childhood education program and potential employers. Students should select from a variety of assignments and are free to confer with their instructor about alternate choices of material.

Course Addendum - Syllabus (Click to expand)

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ECED 103 - Curriculum in the Early Childhood Classroom

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PREREQUISITES: Demonstrated readiness for developmental English.PROGRAM: Early Childhood Education CREDIT HOURS MIN: 3 LECTURE HOURS MIN: 2 LAB HOURS MIN: 2 DATE OF LAST REVISION: Fall, 2021 Entry level course for Early Childhood Educators. Examines Developmentally Appropriate environments and activities in various early learning settings. Explores the varying developmental levels and cultural backgrounds of children.

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DAP: Demonstrating Professionalism as an Early Childhood Educator

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Fully achieving DAP guidelines and effectively promoting all young children’s development and learning depends on the establishment of a strong profession with which all early childhood educators, working across all settings, identify.

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Professionalism in early childhood education - The Institute Blog

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What does it look like and feel like to be “professional” in an early learning environment? How can early care and learning providers strengthen their sense of professionalism in the field?

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Little Bins for Little Hands - Simple Science and STEM for Every Day

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Make science fun! We have the best science experiments and activities for kids all year round. Plus, find tons of fun STEM challenges for little engineers.