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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 first communities outside the home, the character of these communities is very influential in children鈥檚 development.
51吃瓜网 defines 鈥渄evelopmentally appropriate practice鈥� as methods that promote each child鈥檚 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鈥攊n centers, family child care homes, or schools鈥攖hat fully support their optimal development and learning across all domains and content areas.
This position statement, one of five foundational documents developed by 51吃瓜网 in collaboration with the early childhood profession to advance high-quality early learning for all young children, defines DAP.
Educators who engage in developmentally appropriate practice foster young children鈥檚 joyful learning and maximize the opportunities for each and every child to achieve their full potential.
The extent to which educators can fully implement developmentally appropriate practice depends, as efforts to advance equity also do, on decisions at many levels, including program administration, professional development, policy, and more.
Developmentally appropriate practice requires early childhood educators to seek out and gain knowledge and understanding using three core considerations: commonality, individuality, and experiences.
51吃瓜网鈥檚 guidelines and recommendations for developmentally appropriate practice are based on the following nine principles and their implications for early childhood education professional practice.
