As we near NAEYC’s hundredth anniversary, I’m reminded of something my parents used to say: “Honor the past, acknowledge the present, and build for the future.”
What does engaged joyful learning look like when many child care centers around the country are struggling, and educators, families, and children are navigating virtual school and social distancing?
Much remains to be learned about how to maximize each child’s development and learning. Important areas for further research include the following topics.
Policymakers must ensure that those working directly with children in early childhood settings have equitable, affordable access to high-quality professional preparation required to meet DAP standards.
Higher education practitioners must prepare early childhood educators to understand and implement all components of developmentally appropriate practice and provide equitable learning opportunities for all young children.
Fully achieving DAP guidelines and effectively promoting all young children’s development and learning depends on the establishment of a strong profession with which all early childhood educators, working across all settings, identify.
Developmentally appropriate teaching practices encompass a wide range of skills and strategies that are adapted to the age, development, individual characteristics, and the family and social and cultural contexts of each child served.
Observing, documenting, and assessing each child’s development and learning are essential processes for educators and programs to plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of the experiences they provide to children.
Because early childhood education settings are often among children’s first communities outside the home, the character of these communities is very influential in children’s development.
NAEYC defines “developmentally appropriate practice” as methods that promote each child’s optimal development and learning through a strengths-based, play-based approach to joyful, engaged learning.
Each and every child, birth through age 8, has the right to equitable learning opportunities—in centers, family child care homes, or schools—that fully support their optimal development and learning across all domains and content areas.
This position statement, one of five foundational documents developed by NAEYC in collaboration with the early childhood profession to advance high-quality early learning for all young children, defines DAP.
