The Standards Movement : Developing High Quality Early Childhood Programs

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

“In December 2009, all Australian governments, through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), agreed to a partnership to establish a National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care (‘National Quality Framework’) for most long day care, preschool/ kindergarten, family day care and outside school hours care services in Australia. The National Quality Standard is a schedule to the National Regulations. The National Quality Standard sets a new national benchmark for the quality of education and care services. It also gives services and families a better understanding of a quality service. This enables families to make informed decisions about the services providing education and care to their child.” (NQF/NQS, 2013) Furthermore, the early childhood educator has the responsibility to guide the children towards the norms and values of the society and discipline. The respect of the existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within the

Chapter two discusses various theorists that helped to mold and shape early childhood education to where it is today. There are several different theorists that contributed to the development of early childhood education. Some of these theorists include Alfred Adler, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and John Dewey. Each theorist developed a unique theory that has caused early childhood guidance and education to flourish like it has today. Without learning and building on these theories, early childhood guidance and education would never develop or change. The chapter explains how some theories may seem strange to the contemporary families, but these theories are the foundation of how early childhood education got to where it is today. The book goes

The program’s philosophy is based on the NAEYC’s guidelines on developmentally appropriate practices and Froebel, Piaget, and Gardner’s early learning theories. We believe that every child can learn and grow with the proper care and instruction. The NAEYC defines practices as developmentally appropriate when they consider age and stage related differences, individual differences in learning style and preferences, and social and cultural differences among children (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2011). For this reason we believe that the best way to ensure positive development is to adapt the materials, activities, and the mode of demonstrating learning to meet the varied needs of our students.

Provide a definition of what a “high quality” preschool program consists of and why that is important.

Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) is a method of teaching that is based on the research about how young children grow and learn and includes standards for high quality care and education for young children. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) established these guidelines more than 20 years ago. Authors Gordon and Browne state, “The DAP approach stresses the need for activity-based learning environments and is based on what we know about children through years of child development research and what we observe of their interests, abilities, and needs” (40). The three core components of DAP are: 1) what is known about child development and learning, 2) what is known about each child, and 3) what is known about social and cultural contexts in which children learn. A DAP classroom is a busy classroom where students are engaged and interacting physically with objects and persons. This classroom is full of materials, activities, and direct interactions that lead the student into active learning. The observations for this report were conducted at the Laredo Community College Camilo Prada Early Child Development Center in the blue classroom.

School readiness is defined by Petersen (2014) as, “children possessing the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary for success in school and later learning in life” (p. 175). When referring to infants and toddlers she defines it as, “supporting and protecting the developing brain in such a way that the brain creates a strong physical foundation for learning” (p. 175). Just as the definitions for school readiness for school age children and for infants and toddlers are not the same, the way we teach the skills for school readiness is different. Infants and toddlers learn differently than school aged children, so simply extending the core standards and teaching strategies used with school aged children down to

My philosophy of Early childhood education is based on research that indicates that a child’s growth is developmental. Every child is unique in terms of life experiences, developmental readiness, and cultural heritage. A high quality early childhood program that provides a safe and nurturing environment, which promotes physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive development will ensure a positive continuation of the child’s education process

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.

Throughout our career as childhood educators, we observe the significance of the National Association for Young Children or NAEYC. It is recognized as “the nation’s premier organization for early childhood professionals-setting research based standards and providing resources to improve early childhood program quality” (Copple & NAEYC, 2001) for teachers, students, and families. Despite exercising the knowledge of what NAEYC means for our classrooms and the students in them, some may not know who or how the organization was founded. Knowing the background of NAEYC is important because it has a reputable history of providing universities and educators with high quality, researched, information. In order to ascertain a further purpose to why these standards matter and the importance of NAEYC in education, we must learn its history and its founders.

The NAEYC statement on developmental practice indicates change and continuity and change in the early childhood education field is vital due to the fact that their main commitment is excellence and equity. Nevertheless, all new knowledge gained over time has been advanced and increased. This means that with understanding, it has allowed us to revise and refine ideas for promoting children's development and learning. With developmentally appropriate practice, meeting and enabling the children are required. This means that teachers should get to know them well and push them to reach goals that may be a challenge but are achievable for them.

The second area is, “Creating improved better connected education for preschool and elementary children.” This section addresses the fact that preschools are required to work with public schools to prepare students for the standards taught in kindergarten. This also helps students when they get to third grade and take state assessments. For teachers, the pressure is increasing for

The National Quality Standard includes standard 1.1 states that ‘An approved framework informs the development of a curriculum that enhances each child’s learning and development’. This is where the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) is introduced. This framework is included in the National Quality Standard to help ensure the consistency in the delivery of learning programs within Australia. Within the EYLF is the Early Childhood curriculum framework which guides early childhood educators to develop quality early childhood education programs. This framework describes the principles, practice and learning outcomes which support and enhance young children’s learning from birth to five years old, and then their transition to school.

Thesis Statement: Early childhood education has many benefits and there is the potential for many significant outcomes if universal preschools were put into place.

In early childhood education, school readiness has been becoming an issue of concern. Early childhood educators have the responsibility to prepare the child to demonstrate certain skills, behaviour and abilities that are essential for getting them ‘ready for school’ and their ‘school-success’. Children are prepared to excel in certain key areas of learning so that they can meet certain kindergarten standards and expectations of curriculum.