Ece Developmentally Appropriate Practice

Christina J. Groark, Stephanie K. McCarthy, Afton R. Kirk. (2014). Early Child Development: From Theory to Practice. Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

The standards movement plays a critical role in developing high-quality early childhood programs. According to Freeney, Galper, and Seefeldt (2009) “the standards movement is one of the most influential trends in all of education in the last few decades” (p. 260). The main goal of creating standards in early childhood education was to prepare all children to start school ready to learn. However, there was much debate about what and how readiness was determined. This brief dissertation describes the standards movement and its relation to developmentally appropriate practices (DAP), identifies and explains my position in regards to these approaches, and identifies a particular instructional strategy that reinforces early learning standards.

In order to respond this question, we must first review the history of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and Early Childhood Education (ECE). Although ECE has been around since the creation of kindergarten in the 1800’s, the decade of the 1980’s was an important period for ECE. “By the 1980’s, meta-analysis of the well-designed US projects offered compelling evidence on the positive outcomes of [early childhood education and intervention]” (Woodhead, 2007). Therefore, there was much pressure to improve the state of education, including ECE. “The decade of the 1980’s saw numerous calls for widespread school reform, with changes recommended in teacher education, graduation requirements, school structure, and accountability measures” (S. Bredekamp, R.A. Knuth, L.G. Kunesh, and D.D. Shulman, 1992). At this time, there was an increasing concern about the quality of early childhood education for the influx number of families that needed it. This led the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to “begin planning a national voluntary accreditation system for early childhood programs”(NAEYC, 2014). With this planning came a need for a more specific description with regards to accreditation guidelines. Therefore, NAEYC issued a formal statement defining DAP.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), “developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) is an approach to teaching grounded in the research on how young children develop and learn and in what is known about effective early education” (Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) Introduction, n.d.). First adopted in 1986, developmentally appropriate practice is grounded in research on child development and learning, as well as knowledge base in educational effectiveness. The DAP outlines practices intended to promote the goal of young children’s ideal learning and development. As with many approaches, there are some issues that arise regarding developmentally appropriate practice.

As a graduate of the Child, Youth and Family degree program from the University of Guelph, I have my certification as an Early Childhood Educator. As a result, I have been thoroughly taught a deep understanding of developing curricula for children that considers government regulations, developmental appropriateness, and learning environments that fosters growth in multiple areas of child development. Additionally,

Develops, weekly plans, and implements age appropriate curriculum (lesson plan) to nurture and stimulate all domains of children’s development in their care. Provides a developmentally appropriate classroom environment that reflects the children’s learning and growth. Perform on-going developmental evaluations of children as required by funding sources and develop lesson plans and follow curriculum implementation that addresses the individual needs of each child. Maintains a record of growth and keeps parents up to date with child's progress.

Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) is “a framework of principles and guidelines for best practice in the care and education of young children, birth through age 8” (Helm, 2008). As of late, there has been much exchange and open deliberation concerning the models development and its relationship to formatively fitting practices (DAP) in early childhood education (ECE). It is a system that accepts the level of where children are developmentally and will help them learn new skills. DAP is explained by NAEYC (2013), to include five key points. It is essential to “Create a caring community; Teaching to enhance development and learning; Planning curriculum to achieve important goals; Assessing children’s development and learning; and establishing

Implications for Instructional Practices in Early Childhood Classrooms. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 15(4), 977-1006. doi:10.12738/estp.2015.4.2741

Everything teachers plan and do should focus on the individual child. They tailor, adjust, and adapt the curriculum to fit each child in the program, rather than expecting children to fit the program (Elkind, 1987). It is imperative in a developmentally appropriate perspective that the curriculum and teaching methods be age appropriate, individually appropriate, and culturally appropriate (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). This means considering and understanding similarities within an age group, and also recognizing each child’s individual differences. In a developmentally appropriate classroom, children are allowed to progress at their own rate, and both the curriculum and teaching strategies are relevant for all the children in the classroom. Thus, a great deal of flexibility is required, but this does not mean a total lack of structure and academics; rather, it means that the structure and academics of the program are based on individual and group needs and current understanding of child development (Raines, 1997).

In this term paper I will explore infant and toddler curriculum. I will discuss: the developmental themes in infancy, infant toddler curriculum, and the differences between preschool curriculum and appropriate infant toddler curriculum. In conclusion I will share some of my personal feelings about infant and toddler curriculum, including the challenges and rewards.

As a parent I have become concerned about the new state-mandated, textbook-based curriculum for Kindergarten. I have decided to write a letter to the school board to protest the new policy. In the letter I will define DAP, the benefits with examples, why I believe the use of the textbook-based curriculum may be inappropriate. I will give reasons for the potential negative effects of the textbook-based curriculum and how it can be developmentally inappropriate to literacy development. In my closing argument I will suggest an alternative approach to developing literacy skills.

Early childhood education is traditionally defined as any education-taking place before the primary grades of first through third grades in elementary school. It encompasses all education from birth to first grade, but usually the term is used to refer to the more formalized nursery or preschool environments and kindergartens. These classroom environments have different emphases from developmental to academic. The most appropriate type of educational structure for children this age focuses on their individual level of development and their individual interests; therefore, most academic classrooms are inappropriate because of their emphasis on seatwork and teacher directed learning. The best available curriculum

I am a concerned parent of a kindergartener whom attends this school. I am writing this letter in hopes of protesting the new textbook-based curriculum. Throughout the course of this letter, I would like to suggest some other developmentally appropriate practices that may be of use to your curriculum. It is not just my own opinion, but it is a fact that textbook based curriculum is not appropriate for kindergarteners, and I will explain why throughout this letter. For one, children need to be active while learning. Two, children are social by nature, which means they need to socialize with other children throughout their school day. And three, children learn at different paces, hitting milestones around the same age, but not exactly as their peers, so it makes it difficult to put their learning to a strict schedule based on a textbook. For these reasons, I highly encourage a developmentally appropriate practice such as centering the curriculum based on the children’s interests versus what is strictly in a textbook or on a test.

As I reflect on this assignment my perspective on curriculum has certainly changed. Now, I understand the reasoning behind each action which I was unfamiliar with in the past. This class has definitely been a challenge for me especially since I had never created a curriculum for a higher grade other than preschool. Although this course was primarily geared for K-12, I am able to implement various methods to our preschool curriculum. For instance, I plan to use Ubd, Enduring Understanding, Essential Questions, Assessment, and Transferability. Moving forward I also plan to

Existentialism was another area that I related to within this class. It makes sense since this was the philosophy used in education during my school days. This is also the philosophy that we are gearing our education towards due to its focus on individualism. Knight writes, “This is undoubtedly due to the fact that it is deeply concerned with the emotions of individuals, rather than being primarily concerned with the intellect” (Knight, 2008, p. 75). I think this truly is the face of how education should be addressed, deal with the individual emotions and then work on the instruction.