Draft — 2008 Revision
NAEYC is now seeking feedback on this draft revision of the core standards from anyone who would like to offer comments. This draft will remain posted until September 30, 2008, and comments received by that date will be considered. If approved by the NAEYC Governing Board, these two revisions to the core Standards for Professional Preparation Programs will be adopted in January 2009.
These proposed revisions to the NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation Programs continue to promote the unifying themes that define the early childhood profession. The standards are designed for the early childhood education profession as a whole, to be relevant across a range of roles and settings. These core NAEYC standards are used across degree levels, from associate to baccalaureate to graduate programs. They are used in higher education accreditation systems, in state policy development, and in program improvement planning. In all of these applications, feedback to date indicates that the standards remain strong. Revisions in this draft are primarily organizational and reflect input from the field.
There are two significant changes proposed here:
- Standard 4 has been separated into two standards, one focused on early childhood methods and the other on early childhood content. This increases the total number of standards from five to six.
- The language all children has been revised to either each child or every child, to strengthen the message that early childhood teachers need to be prepared for inclusive environments and diverse children and families. This is expected across all standards. In some cases, the phrase each child has been added to a key element of a standard.
The revisions process
In January 2008 NAEYC’s Governing Board appointed a working group to advise staff on the preparation of a revision of the current NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation Programs. This workgroup met together for three days in February. Additional input into the standards revision process was gathered during sessions at the 2007 NAEYC Annual Conference, the 2008 NAEYC Public Policy Forum, and the 2008 NAEYC Institute for Professional Development.
The existing three position statements (Associate, Initial Licensure and Advanced standards) will be revised in a two step process:
- Revisions to the current five core NAEYC standards that are shared across degree levels are posted here. No revisions are proposed for the current Supportive Skills and Essential Tools.
- The narrative introduction to the position statement will be posted for comment by September 30, 2008.
Connecting to accreditation
Many higher education institutions choose to seek accreditation through NAEYC Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation or NAEYC recognition of baccalaureate and graduate degrees as part of NCATE Accreditation for programs leading to initial or advanced teacher licensure. Both accreditation systems use these standards. Note that in these core NAEYC standards, the general term students prepared in early childhood degree programs is used. The term candidates will be used in documents designed for use by programs preparing candidates for initial and advanced early childhood teacher licensure.
Similarly, note that these core standards are student performance standards that express what early childhood professionals should know, understand and be able to do. Essentials for program context and structure – institutional mission, conceptual framework, field experiences, student characteristics and career goals, support services, faculty composition and qualifications, program resources and governance, support for transfer and articulation – will be addressed generally in the introduction to this position statement and more specifically in NAEYC’s higher education accreditation materials. Any changes to accreditation expectations will be developed and communicated in 2009-2010.
To review the Draft
To submit feedback about the Draft
