Preschool Learning Foundations: A Comprehensive Guide

Over the last decade, early childhood education has undergone significant strengthening, with a focus on greater accountability for child outcomes. At the heart of these initiatives lies the development of early learning standards for individual states. These standards establish a consensus regarding essential educational outcomes and approaches, set clear expectations, and guide curriculum development. Early learning standards are crucial for holistic child development since they provide the framework for curriculum development. They also define how educators and families can support their child’s growth.

Defining Early Learning Standards

According to the Office of Early Childhood Development, early learning standards are frameworks for defining children’s developmental goals at specific milestones. These standards are rooted in research that identifies what children should understand and be able to do-their abilities and skills-in various areas of learning and development. They articulate the desired results, outcomes, and learning expectations for children from birth to pre-kindergarten age.

State-Specific Variations

It's important to note that early learning standards vary from state to state, with each state responsible for defining its own standards, often through collaborative efforts involving state agencies. While the state sets the standards, educators, childcare staff, and families must collaborate to ensure children achieve their goals. A comprehensive tool like brightwheel's lesson plan feature comes pre-loaded with the learning standards of each state, making it easier to plan lessons.

Holistic Growth

Early learning standards promote holistic growth in children by focusing on curriculum development. This helps teachers and caregivers provide a holistic, developmentally appropriate education tailored to each child's unique needs. All children are unique and require a defined early education approach.

Examples of State Early Learning Standards

Here are some examples of early learning standards used by different states:

Alabama: Alabama Developmental Standards for Preschool Children
Alaska: Alaska Early Learning Guidelines, Birth to Five
Arkansas: Arkansas Child Development and Early Learning Standards: Birth through 60 Months
Connecticut: Connecticut’s Early Learning and Development Standards, Birth through Age 5
Delaware: Delaware Early Learning Foundations (Infant/Toddler) & Delaware Early Learning Foundations (Ages 3-5)
District of Columbia: DC Common Core Aligned Early Learning Standards
Georgia: Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards (GELDS)
Illinois: Illinois Early Learning Guidelines
Maine: Supporting Maine’s Infants and Toddlers: Guidelines for Learning and Development & Maine’s Early Learning and Development Standards (MELDS)
Maryland: Maryland College and Career-Ready Standards & Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Birth to Kindergarten
Minnesota: Minnesota's Early Childhood Indicators of Progress
Nebraska: Nebraska’s Early Learning Guidelines (ELGs)
New Hampshire: The New Hampshire Learning Standards: Birth through Five
New York: New York State Early Learning Guidelines
North Dakota: North Dakota Early Learning Standards Birth to Kindergarten
Rhode Island: Rhode Island Early Learning and Development Standards
South Dakota: South Dakota Early Learning Guidelines
Texas: Texas Infant, Toddler, and Three Year Old Early Learning Guidelines & Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines
Utah: Utah’s Early Learning Guidelines for Birth to Age Three & Utah’s Core State Standards for Early Learning for Ages 3 to 5
Vermont: Vermont Early Learning Standards
Wisconsin: Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards

Key Developmental Areas in Preschool Learning Foundations

While specific standards vary by state, several key developmental areas are commonly addressed in preschool learning foundations. These include social-emotional development, language and literacy, cognitive development, and physical development.

Social-Emotional Development

This area focuses on children's ability to understand and manage their emotions, build relationships, and navigate social situations. Key aspects include:

Self-Awareness: Children show clear awareness of being a separate person and of being connected with other people. Children demonstrate awareness of their characteristics and express themselves as distinct persons with thoughts and feelings. Children express complex, self-conscious emotions such as pride, embarrassment, shame, and guilt.
Self-Regulation: Children demonstrate a variety of responses to comfort themselves and actively avoid or ignore situations that cause discomfort. Children anticipate the need for comfort and try to prepare themselves for changes in routine.
Social Interaction: Children show interest in familiar and unfamiliar peers. Children purposefully engage in reciprocal interactions and try to influence the behavior of others. Children may participate in routines and games that involve complex back-and-forth interaction and may follow the gaze of the infant care teacher to an object or person.
Empathy and Caring: Respond to the feelings and needs of others with simple forms of assistance, sharing, and turn-taking. Pay attention to others' feelings, more likely to provide assistance, and try to coordinate personal desires with those of other children in mutually satisfactory ways. Children change their behavior in response to the feelings of others even though their actions may not always make the other person feel better.
Prosocial Behavior: Strive to cooperate with group expectations to maintain adult approval and get along with others. Exhibit responsible conduct more reliably as children develop self-esteem (and adult approval) from being responsible group members. Negotiate with each other, seeking adult assistance when needed, and increasingly use words to respond to conflict.

Furthermore, children feel secure exploring the environment in the presence of important adults with whom they have developed a relationship over an extended period of time. When exploring the environment, from time to time children reconnect, in a variety of ways, with the adult(s) with whom they have developed a special relationship: through eye contact; facial expressions; shared feelings; or conversations about feelings, shared activities, or plans. Children know how to get the infant care teacher to respond in a specific way through gestures, vocalizations, and shared attention; use another's emotional expressions to guide their own responses to unfamiliar events; and learn more complex behavior through imitation.

Language and Literacy

This area encompasses children's developing communication skills, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Key aspects include:

Receptive Language: Children listen to the adult and participate while being read to by pointing, turning pages, or making one- or two - word comments.
Expressive Language: Children communicate in a way that is understandable to most adults who speak the same language they do.

Cognitive Development

This area focuses on children's thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and understanding of the world around them. Key aspects include:

Exploration and Discovery: Children become familiar with objects and actions through active exploration.
Scientific Thinking: Demonstrate an increased awareness that objects and materials can change in various ways. Identify and use a greater variety of observation and measurement tools. Demonstrate an increased awareness that objects and materials can change in various ways.

Physical Development

This area encompasses children's gross motor skills (large movements) and fine motor skills (small movements). Key aspects include:

Gross Motor Skills: Run with short stride length and feet off the ground for a short period of time. Run with longer stride length and each foot off the ground for a greater length of time. Jump for height (up or down) and for distance with increasing competence.
Fine Motor Skills: Children coordinate the fine movements of the fingers, wrists, and hands to skillfully manipulate a wide range of objects and materials in intricate ways. Children coordinate the fine movements of the fingers, wrists, and hands to skillfully manipulate a wide range of objects and materials in intricate ways.

The Importance of Early Learning Standards

Early learning standards are crucial for several reasons:

Guidance for Educators: They provide a framework for curriculum development and teaching practices, ensuring that educators focus on key developmental areas.
Consistency and Quality: They promote consistency in early childhood education programs, helping to ensure that all children have access to high-quality learning experiences.
Accountability: They provide a basis for assessing child outcomes and holding programs accountable for their effectiveness.
Family Engagement: They inform families about what their children should be learning and how they can support their development at home.
Holistic Development: They emphasize the importance of addressing all aspects of a child's development, including social-emotional, cognitive, language, and physical skills.

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