Early Childhood Programs and Practices: Standards, Curriculum and Instruction

Early childhood standards, curriculum, and instruction work together to provide a comprehensive framework to guide the learning and development of young children in early care and education (ECE) settings. The alignment of these elements plays a critical role in ensuring that ECE programs offer high-quality experiences that support children's growth, foster their curiosity and creativity, and prepare them for success in school and life.

• Early childhood standards are guidelines or benchmarks that outline the knowledge, skills, and abilities children are expected to attain during the early years of developmentⁱ, characterized as:
  • rooted in research and best practices in early childhood education, developmental milestones, and learning progressionsⁱⁱ
  • encompassing multiple domains of development, including cognitive development, language and literacy, social-emotional development, physical development, and approaches to learningⁱⁱⁱ.
  • providing a common framework^iv for educators, parents, and policymakers to understand and support children's development and learning across different early childhood settings.
    

• Early childhood curriculum^v encompasses the planned experiences, activities, and learning opportunities provided to children in early childhood education settings, characterized as:
  • developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive, and aligned with early childhood standards and best practices^vi.
  • play-based learning^vii, hands-on exploration, and inquiry-based approaches^viii that are engaging and meaningful for young children.
  • thematic or project-based^ix, focusing on topics or themes that integrate multiple domains of learning and promote interdisciplinary connections.
  • flexible and responsive to children's interests, strengths, and individual needs, allowing for differentiation and adaptation to meet the diverse needs of children in the classroom^x.  

• Early Childhood instruction involves the strategies, methods, and interactions that educators use to facilitate children's learning and development to foster early learning that is characterized as:
  • child-centered, interactive, and responsive to children's interests, abilities, and developmental levels^xi.
  • hands-on exploration^xii, open-ended questioning, scaffolding, modeling, and guided discovery to support children's active engagement and learning.
  • rich learning environments that are stimulating, supportive, and inclusive, with opportunities for children to explore, experiment, and make discoveries^xiii.
  • positive relationships^xiv, language-rich environments, meaningful interactions between educators and children, and peer interactions and collaboration among children.

Resources Required

Knowledge and training on the state’s early childhood standards is important to ensure alignment is a major consideration in selecting and implementing a comprehensive, high-quality early learning curriculum.  A rigorous selection process can be guided by expert recommendations and established selection criteria based on an analysis of student performance and staff needs.  Ongoing observation using established protocols and tools, coaching and technical assistance all help to ensure that instruction is aligned to standards and curricula.

This Program/Activity Supports These Strategies

• Quality Improvement Systems

See it in Action

• Kentucky Early Childhood Standards
• Family Guides
• Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework