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Providing Developmentally Appropriate Learning

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Vocabulary

benchmarks: the standards by which something can be judged. Benchmark behaviors are those behaviors that are typical, and against which most behaviors can be measured
developmentally appropriate practices: teaching and learning experiences grounded in the way in which we know that children learn, based on understanding the characteristics of a “typically-developing” child
executive function: all the cognitive processes that help a child behave and think in an organized way
self-regulated learners: children who have learned to manage strong emotions, control impulses, and stay on task with minimum distraction
social competencies: skills needed for successful social interaction; in young children these include making simple decisions, interacting with others in productive ways, and being able to resolve conflicts in appropriate ways (by using their words and negotiating and not being aggressive)

Standards

The content of this tutorial aligns with Massachusetts standards and guidelines.

Massachusetts Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS)

Center and School Based:

Curriculum and Learning 1A: Curriculum, Assessment, and Diversity: Level 3 Program uses screening tools, progress reports, formative assessments, and information gathered through observation to set goals for individual children across all developmental domains; Staff demonstrate language and literacy skills either in English or the child’s language that provide a model for children.
Curriculum and Learning 1A: Curriculum, Assessment, and Diversity: Level 4 Program uses progress reports, appropriate screening tools, formative assessments, and information gathered through observation to inform curriculum planning, and use results to monitor each child’s progress across developmental domains, and inform program decision-making (e.g. curriculum content, strategies for improved staff implementation, and professional development.)
Curriculum and Learning 1B: Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions: Level 2 All staff receive orientation and ongoing formal professional development and supervision in how to support positive relationships and interactions through positive, warm and nurturing interactions.
Curriculum and Learning 1B: Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions: Level 3 Staff engage children in meaningful conversations, use open-ended questions and provide opportunities throughout the day to scaffold their development of more complex receptive and expressive language, support children’s use of language to share ideas, problem solve and have positive peer interactions.
Curriculum and Learning 1B: Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions: Level 4 Staff utilizes teaching strategies that ensure a positive classroom environment, engage children in learning and promote critical thinking skills.

Family Child Care:

Curriculum and Learning 1A: Curriculum, Assessment, and Diversity: Level 3 Either directly or through a network or system, educator uses screening tools, progress reports, formative assessments, and information gathered through observation to set goals for individual children across developmental domains.
Curriculum and Learning 1B: Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions: Level 2 Educator has participated in formal professional development on how to support positive relationships and interactions with children through positive, warm and nurturing interactions.
Curriculum and Learning 1B: Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions: Level 4 Educators engage children in meaningful conversations, as age and developmentally appropriate, use open- ended questions and provide opportunities throughout the day to scaffold their language to support the development of more complex receptive and expressive language, support children's use of language to share ideas, problem solve and have positive peer interactions; Educators utilize teaching strategies that ensure a positive learning environment, engage children in learning and promote critical thinking skills.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

Guidelines for Developmentally Appropriate Practice:

(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning A Teachers are responsible for fostering the caring learning community through their teaching.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning B.2 Teachers continually gather information about children in a variety of ways and monitor each child’s learning and development to make plans to help children progress.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning C Teachers take responsibility for knowing what the desired goals for the program are and how the program’s curriculum is intended to achieve those goals. They carry out that curriculum through their teaching in ways that are geared to young children in general and these children in particular. Doing this includes following the predictable sequences in which children acquire specific concepts, skills, and abilities and by building on prior experiences and understandings.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning D Teachers plan for learning experiences that effectively implement a comprehensive curriculum so that children attain key goals across the domains (physical, social, emotional, cognitive) and across the disciplines (language literacy, including English acquisition, mathematics, social studies, science, art, music, physical education, and health).
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning E.1 Teachers arrange firsthand, meaningful experiences that are intellectually 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.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning E.2 Teachers present children with opportunities to make meaningful choices, especially in child-choice activity periods. They assist and guide children who are not yet able to enjoy and make good use of such periods.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning E.4 Teachers provide experiences, materials, and interactions to enable children to engage in play that allows them to stretch their boundaries to the fullest in their imagination, language, interaction, and self-regulation as well as to practice their newly acquired skills.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning F Teachers possess an extensive repertoire of skills and strategies they are able to draw on, and they know how and when to choose among them, to effectively promote each child’s learning and development at that moment. Those skills include the ability to adapt curriculum, activities, and materials to ensure full participation of all children. Those 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.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning F.2 To stimulate children’s thinking and extend their learning, teachers pose problems, ask questions, and make comments and suggestions.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning F.3 To extend the range of children’s interests and the scope of their thought, teachers present novel experiences and introduce stimulating ideas, problems, experiences, or hypotheses.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning F.4 To adjust the complexity and challenge of activities to suit children’s level of skill and knowledge, teachers increase the challenge as children gain competence and understanding.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning F.6 To enhance children’s conceptual understanding, teachers use various strategies, including intensive interview and conversation, that encourage children to reflect on and “revisit” their experiences.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning G.1 Teachers recognize and respond to the reality that in any group, children’s skills will vary and they will need different levels of support. Teachers also know that any one child’s level of skill and need for support will vary over time.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning G.2 Scaffolding can take a variety of forms; for example, giving the child a hint, adding 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 play, daily routines, and outdoor activities.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning H.1 Teachers understand that each major learning format or context (e.g. large group, small group, learning center, routine) has its own characteristics, functions, and value.
(2) Teaching to enhance development and learning H.2 Teachers think carefully about which learning format is best for helping children achieve a desired goal, given the children’s ages, development, abilities, temperaments, etc.
(3) Planning curriculum to achieve important goals A.1 Teachers consider what children should know, understand, and be able to do across the domains of physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development and across the disciplines, including language, literacy, mathematics, social studies, science, art, music, physical education, and health.
(3) Planning curriculum to achieve important goals D Teachers make meaningful connections a priority in the learning experiences they provide children, to reflect that all learners, and certainly young children, learn best when the concepts, language, and skills they encounter are related to something they know and care about, and when the new learnings are themselves interconnected in meaningful, coherent ways.
(3) Planning curriculum to achieve important goals D.2 Teachers plan curriculum experiences to draw on children’s own interests and introduce children to things likely to interest them, in recognition that developing and extending children’s interests is particularly important during the pre- school years, when children’s ability to focus their attention is in its early stages.
(4) Assessing children’s development and learning C There is a system in place to collect, make sense of, and use the assessment information to guide what goes on in the classroom (formative assessment). Teachers use this information in planning curriculum and learning experiences and in moment-to- moment interactions with children—that is, teachers continually engage in assessment for the purpose of improving teaching and learning.