Overview of Early Childhood Education

What is Early Childhood Education?

Here is the definition of early childhood education provided in Chapter 1 of our textbook.

Early childhood education: Education and child care services provided for children from birth through age 8.

Types of Early Childhood Settings

Early childhood education is a diverse field because young children’s care and education occur in a variety of settings.  These settings include:

1. Child Care Center: Infant/toddlers Age 3, 4, & 5. Before-and after school for school-aged children for-profit or nonprofit

2. Preschoolers: 3-, 4, & 5- years old. Private or public. Prekindergartens.Parents cooperatives. Laboratory school.

3.Schools: Kindergarten to 3rd grade. Public school. Charter school. Private school.

4.Family child Care Homes: Birth through school-age. Caregivers home. Individuals and groups.

5. Head Start/Early Head Start: 3-, 4-, & 5-years old in centers & home- based programs. Infant/toddlers & families Income-eligible families.

Dimensions of Effective Intentional Teaching

Early childhood practice requires teachers to be intentional in everything they do.  Intentional teachers have a purpose for the decisions they make and can explain that purpose to others.  Intentional teaching is a multifaceted, multidimensional concept that conveys many of the personal and professional qualities of an early childhood educator. Here are the characteristics of professional intentional early childhood educators.

1.Caring and committed

2.Enthusiastic and engaged

3.Curious and creative

4.Respectful and responsive 

5. Passionate and patient

6.Purposeful and playful

7.Focused and flexible

8. Aware and accountable

9. Informed and effective

10. Listening and learning

I reflected on these characteristics, and I believe I currently possess the following three, for the reasons indicated below.

Characteristic 1: Caring and committed.

Evidence that I currently possess this characteristic: Developing a personal, positive, warm relationship with each student.

Characteristic 2: Respectful and responsive.

Evidence that I currently possess this characteristic: The value and treat children, families, and colleagues with dignity and respect.

Characteristic 3: Listening and learning.

Evidence that I currently possess this characteristic: I realize that the more I learn about children the more I need to know.

What is the Culture of Early Childhood Education?

Like other professional groups, the early childhood profession has its own culture.  The culture is transmitted both explicitly and implicitly from more experienced, competent members to new initiates in three ways: through formal education, on-the-job experiences, and mentoring in either setting.  

Cultural groups define themselves in several ways, including the following.

Shared Vocabulary.  One aspect of early childhood culture is a shared vocabulary.  Shared language facilitates communication and minimizes misunderstandings within groups.  The profession gives particular meaning to terms such as developmentally appropriate practice, play, relationships, comprehensive services, and inclusion.  Their definitions are tailored to our profession and may not mirror how these words are used in other professions or in everyday life.  An essential part of joining a profession is learning its language.  For example, although the larger society uses the term day care, within the early childhood profession, the accepted term is childcare.  Early childhood professionals believe that saying childcare is more respectful of children and a more accurate description of the setting and the job.

Shared Identity.  Most professionals feel a sense of belonging to their group.  The early childhood profession has been called by many names – early care and education, childcare, early education, and early education and learning.  The term early childhood education is preferable because it contains the word child, which is an ever-present reminder of the primary focus of our work.  The term also encompasses the key elements of caring, development, and learning.

Shared Values.  The early childhood profession is committed to a core set of values that is deeply rooted in the history of the field.  These shared values are inherent in NAEYC's four core position statements - Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education, Code of Ethical Conduct, and Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators.  Values identified across these documents maintain that early childhood educators:

1.Believe that each and every child from birth through age 8 has the right to high-quality, equitable learning opportunities that enable them to achieve their full potential.

2.Are committed to implementing practices that are developmentally, culturally, linguistically, and ability appropriate for each child.

3.Recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of family, community, society, and culture including ethnicity, racial identity, gender identity, family structure, language, and religious and political beliefs that profoundly influence each child’s development.

4.Recognize the multiple assets and strengths that young children bring as unique individuals and as members of families and communities.

5.Recognize that children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of reciprocal relationships based on mutual trust and respect.

6.Appreciate and support the bond between children and their families.

7.Apply the profession’s core body of knowledge to effectively promote the development, learning, and well-being of each and every child

8.Uphold the Profession’s Code of Ethical Conduct.

9.Engage in continuous, collaborative learning.

Shared Beliefs.  

Although early childhood educators share many beliefs, a few dominate:

1.The strong belief that all children can learn and that educators must have high expectations for each and every child

2.The belief in the strengths, assets, and potential of each and every child, regardless of their circumstances and individual abilities

3.The belief in the power of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) to contribute to children’s optimal development and learning across all domains and content areas. NAEYC defines developmentally appropriate practice as ways of teaching that “promote each child’s optimal development and learning through a strengths-based, play-based approach to joyful, engaged learning” (2022, p. xxx).

4.The belief that all children have the right to equitable learning opportunities and that every professional has the responsibility to recognize the benefits of all dimensions of diversity and advance equity in early childhood education for each and every child

5.The belief that early childhood educators are professionals who make informed decisions about what is developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate for each child in each situation

6.The fundamental belief in the potential of our work to make a real and lasting difference in the world

What is NAEYC?

Headquartered in Washington, DC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the world’s largest professional organization of early childhood educators.  Founded in 1926, NAEYC’s mission is to promote high-quality early learning for children from birth through age 8 by connecting practice, policy and research; to advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession; and to support all who care for, educate and work on behalf of young children.

One way the association achieves its mission is by establishing standards for teacher preparation at the associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degree levels.  NAEYC’s standards have considerable influence in the field.  Students enrolled in Central Piedmont’s early childhood education AAS degree programs are prepared to meet NAEYC’s Professional Standards and Competencies throughout their program of study.  

Here is the link to NAEYC’s Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators - https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/position-statements/sc_ps_summary.pdf

Here is the link to the NAEYC website - https://www.naeyc.org

How is Quality Measured in Early Childhood Education?

Various kinds of early childhood programs must meet different sets of standards, which are intended to determine the program’s quality.  Early childhood professionals have been instrumental in setting standards for quality that, in addition to research, reflect the profession's core values and beliefs.

Here are links to information about various early childhood standards.

North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education (NCDCDEE) Licensing Standards (Rulebook)

North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development

Common Core State Standards

Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales

Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)

NAEYC Early Learning Program Standards

Assessment and Planning 

I watched a video of my instructor discussing the Observation-Assessment-Planning Cycle.  The video focuses on three important processes that early childhood professionals engage in on a continuous basis: observation, assessment and planning. Then I reviewed information about the assessment of children’s learning and development provided in the textbook. 

Here is the complete definition of assessment provided in our textbook. 

My response: The definition of assessment involves using multiple sources of evidence systematically collected over time, from which professionals make judgments about specific actions to take on behalf of children.  Broadly defined, assessment is the ongoing process of gathering evidence of children’s learning and development, then organizing and interpreting the information in order to make informed decisions about instructional practice. An assessment is a tool that helps teachers and caregivers gather information about a child to determine how she or he is making progress in the areas described in the Developmental Indicators. 

 Before engaging in any form of assessment, early childhood professionals need to ask, “What is the purpose of the assessment?”  The answer to this question determines all aspects of how the assessment will be conducted, including: 

1. who is to be assessed, all children are to be assessed.

2. what is to be measured and with what tool, The first step in understanding and using assessment appropriately and accurately is for teachers to acquire the vocabulary of assessment. As teachers become more experienced in using various assessment methods and tools, their knowledge of assessment—their assessment literacy—grows and deepens an assessment is a tool that helps teachers and caregivers gather information about a child to determine how she or he is making progress in the areas described in the Developmental Indicators. 

3. who will conduct the assessment and when, what technical requirements are needed for the assessment, and  primary Assessors, trained early childhood educators—like classroom teachers and program staff—are the main assessors. They're in the best position to observe and document children's development authentically during daily routines. Families, Specialist, and Administrator as well. The children will be assessed when a teacher feels the student's information about their strengths, interests, and developmental needs are delay or atypical development. The technical required are observation, assessment, and planning.

4. how the results of the assessment will be interpreted and used. We see that planning and adapting curriculum and teaching practices requires ongoing assessment. These teachers assessed children’s learning by observing and documenting and then reflecting on and interpreting the information. They then adapted their teaching and planned curriculum accordingly. The extent to which the results obtained from a test are accurate and consistent over time.

I reviewed the four basic purposes of assessment in early childhood programs stated in our textbook.  They are: 

1. to improve teaching and learning,

2.  to identify children with potential disabilities or developmental delays

3.  to evaluate programs, and 

4.  to demonstrate accountability

The indicators of effective assessment include: 

1. using multiple sources of evidence, Collecting information from observations, checklists, work samples, and input from families over time. 

2. using assessment only for the purpose for which they are reliable and valid, and reliable measures must be used along with information from parents and teachers.

3. considering what is developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive, and individually appropriate for all children, including children with special needs. To consider developmentally appropriate is. 

1- the nature of child development

2- children’s sensitivity to context

3- their lack of motivation, as well as

4-their inability to perform many of the tasks required by traditional assessments

Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Assessment Is to be developmentally appropriate; assessment must be culturally and linguistically appropriate and responsive as well.

Individually Appropriate Assessment for Each and Every Child, Young children with disabilities face a lifetime of being assessed. A child with special needs has different testing, they have established recommended practices for screening, establishing eligibility for special education services, individualized planning, monitoring child progress, and assessing child outcomes for reporting. Ensuring that assessments are individually appropriate for each and every child may require accommodations or modifications to the tools or procedures used.

Here are the most commonly used methods of documentation, or documentation tools, used in early childhood education: 

1. descriptive records, including running records and anecdotal records, A running record is a chronological record, much like a diary, of an individual child’s behavior that helps teachers better understand that behavior, Anecdotal records are short descriptions of incidents, or anecdotes, involving one or more children.

2. frequency counts (event sampling), Teachers use frequency counts, also called event sampling, to tally each time a specific behavior occurs. The teacher simply makes a mark whenever a child demonstrates a behavior or participates in an activity.

3. checklists, and versatile tools for gathering assessment information about almost any aspect of children’s behavior, skills, or attitudes.

4. Rating scales and rubrics record teachers’ judgments about how a child’s performance compares to that of peers or to a predetermined standard, that is rating scales and rubrics. 

Early childhood professionals frequently use portfolios to organize collections of children’s work and other demonstrations of their progress relevant to the goals of the curriculum, just as I am using my Central Piedmont Community College Early Childhood Education Program Google Site to organize my assignments and other demonstrations of my progress relative to course student learning outcomes. 

Checklists 

Checklists are practical and versatile tools for gathering assessment information about almost any aspect of children’s behavior, skills or attitudes.  They can be based on learning standards in literacy, mathematics or some other content area, or on sequences of development, such as physical or social skills.  Some checklists are designed by teachers while others are commercially published.  

Some checklists require marking only “yes” or “no” as to whether a child engages in a behavior (such as, “follows two directions”).  Other, more open-ended checklists require the teacher to make a judgment of the degree to which a child has mastered a skill.  Teachers may make notes while observing children and then use those notes to complete the checklist at a later time.  One of the strengths of checklists is that they focus teachers’ observations – that is, they tell teachers what to look for and which skills are important.  Checklists can provide data that can be analyzed and compared over time and also aggregated for a group of children.  Their limitation is that no checklist can adequately capture the complexity of an individual child’s competence. 

My instructor provided a developmental checklist for me to examine.  It contains information about a child, “AB,” who is 4 years and 6 months old, related to her development in several domains.  Both AB’s classroom teacher and her parents contributed information (about AB’s development/learning/behavior) to the checklist.  The classroom teacher will use this information to assess AB’s strengths as well as the areas in which she needs to grow/improve, so that she (the teacher) can make decisions about what activities/experiences to plan to support AB’s growth, consistent with North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development goals.  

I carefully reviewed the checklist.  I identified two areas of strength for AB (specific behaviors/skills, NOT domains, appearing in column 1).  Here they are, exactly as they appear on the checklist: 

1. Told teacher, “Sam’s in blocks and there are already four people in blocks. "Told teacher, “Jessica took CJ’s doll.”

2. “This is my baby. "That’s his coat. "Where is my purse?” Where is her bottle?”

(Here, type two specific behaviors/skills – NOT developmental domains – from column 1 of the checklist that indicate AB’s strengths, exactly as they appear on the checklist.) 

I also identified two areas in need of improvement/growth for AB (specific behaviors/skills, – NOT domains, appearing in column 1).  Here they are, exactly as they appear on the checklist: 

1. Told classmate, “You can’t come in here, we’re playing. "Told classmate, “You’re stupid.”

2. “She sometimes cries or pouts when I’m taking care of the baby . . .. it’s hard for her to understand why the baby needs to much attention . . .  she gets frustrated really easily. . .. the other day she was trying to put her shoes on, and she was having trouble, and she just started crying.” 

I selected one of the above two specific behaviors/skills in need of improvement/growth to focus on. Here is the one I selected, exactly as it appears on the checklist. 

My response: “She sometimes cries or pouts when I’m taking care of the baby . . .. it’s hard for her to understand why the baby needs to much attention . . .  she gets frustrated really easily. . .. the other day she was trying to put her shoes on, and she was having trouble, and she just started crying.” I choose this scenario to show how a child can be, when there frustrated, sad or don't feel loved.  You can first start with stating, " its ok for you to be sad, I just need you to use your words so I can help you. "You can help me take care of the baby". "I'm here to help you as well put your shoes on, "you don't have to cry, "just use your words like I taught you".

Then, I reviewed the document North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development (NCFELD) to determine which of the following developmental domains the behavior/skill (column 1 checklist item) in need of improvement/growth I selected falls within: 

• Approaches to Play and Learning (APL) •Play and Imagination 

• Emotional and Social Development (ESD)•Learning About Feelings  

• Health and Physical Development (HPD) Self-Care 

• Language Development and Communication (LDC) •Learning to Communicate 

• Cognitive Development (CD) Creative Expression 

I determined that the particular behavior/skill (column 1 checklist item) in need of improvement/growth that I selected falls within the following developmental domain. 

My response: Language Development and Communication (LDC) •Learning to Communicate. I chose this behavior, because it's so important to learn how to communicate. (baby-kids-students and adults) Communication comes in all different aspects.

1- Verbal

2-In playing

3-Facial expressions

4-Body language

5-Written communication

  Then, I reviewed all the NCFELD Goals related to this developmental domain.  I determined that the following NCFELD Goal should be set for AB, to help her improve/develop in the identified domain.  Here is that Goal, stated exactly as it appears in NCFELD. 

Goal LDC-2: _Children participate in conversations and discussions.  

Since AB is 4.6 years old (i.e., she is an Older Preschooler), I read the Developmental Indicators for Older Preschoolers listed for this Goal.  Here they are (all of them), exactly as they appear in NCFELD. 

My response: • Discover things that interest and amaze them and seek to share them with others. APL-1m • Communicate interest to others through verbal and nonverbal means (take teacher to the science center to see a new animal). APL-1n • Show interest in a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks. APL-1o • Demonstrate interest in mastering new skills (e.g., writing name, riding a bike, dance moves, building skills). APL-1p 

If AB demonstrates any of these Developmental Indicators, her teacher will know (and record on AB’s developmental checklist) that AB is making progress toward achieving the related NCFELD Goal. 

AB’s teacher should plan experiences/activities that provide opportunities for AB to demonstrate one or more of the above Developmental Indicators.  She should read the “Strategies” for Preschoolers section, appearing at the end of the Goal and Developmental Indicator Continuum.  The strategies sections of NCFELD provide ideas for how teachers and caregivers can support children’s development and learning – in developmentally appropriate ways - in the areas described in the related Developmental Indicators.  

I read all the “Strategies” for preschoolers (since AB is an Older Preschooler) related to the Goal I identified.  I selected one for AB’s teacher to implement.  Here is the teaching strategy I selected, exactly as it appears in NCFLED. 

My response: I love how the students discover things that interest and amaze them. plus seek to share them with others. 

This teaching strategy appears on the following page of NCFELD. 

My response: The final resources included in Foundations are the strategies that are provided at the end of each Goal and Developmental Indicator Continuum. These strategies provide ideas for how teachers and caregivers can support children’s development and learning in the areas described in the Developmental Indicators. They are a guide for the types of teaching practices and interactions adults can use to foster children’s progress on the Developmental Indicators. 

I would implement this teaching strategy to help AB grow/develop skill in the identified area.  I would plan and implement and activity utilizing this teaching strategy, and while AB was engaged in the activity I would observe her and record (on her developmental checklist) relevant information related to her skill development based on my observation.  This would demonstrate my participation in the observation-assessment-planning cycle.