The long-awaited new edition of NAEYC's book Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs is here, fully revised and updated! Since the first edition in 1987, it has been an essential resource for the early childhood education field. Early childhood educators have a professional responsibility to plan and implement intentional, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that promote the social and emotional development, physical development and health, cognitive development, and general learning competencies of each child served. But what is developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)? DAP is a framework designed to promote young children's optimal learning and development through a strengths-based approach to joyful, engaged learning. As educators make decisions to support each child's learning and development, they consider what they know about (1) commonality in children's development and learning, (2) each child as an individual (within the context of their family and community), and (3) everything discernible about the social and cultural contexts for each child, each educator, and the program as a whole. This latest edition of the book is fully revised to underscore the critical role social and cultural contexts play in child development and learning, including new research about implicit bias and teachers' own context and consideration of advances in neuroscience. Educators implement developmentally appropriate practice by recognizing the many assets all young children bring to the early learning program as individuals and as members of families and communities. They also develop an awareness of their own context. Building on each child's strengths, educators design and implement learning settings to help each child achieve their full potential across all domains of development and across all content areas.

The authors of this practical, timely work maintain that the public schools can, and should, play a role in delivering both a good educational start and high-quality care to young children. Addressed to a wide readership including federal and state legislators, state commissioners of social services and education, policy planners, education and advocacy organizations, and public school administrators, this book focuses on the major contemporary child care issues in a readable, understandable format. It will, by virtue of its breadth and authority, change the way those in the field perceive and respond to the critical and sensitive problems of early care.

Public education begins with kindergarten for most children, but an estimated 1 million prekindergarten children are also in public schools, and the number is increasing. In December 1997, the National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement convened a group of national, state, and community early childhood and education leaders to discuss the interrelationship between preschool and public education. Meeting participants unanimously agreed on the need to move from the current state of fragmented programs to a coordinated preschool care and education system that is linked with the public school system. Based on discussions at that meeting and on recent related data and research, this publication is intended to provide schools, families, and communities with information and ideas about public school prekindergarten and other preschool care and education initiatives that are linked with public schools. The publication offers insights from meeting participants about public school involvement in early childhood, and provides examples of how states and communities are designing programs to expand and improve preschool care and education. Following an introduction and background information on the meeting, the publication explores the following questions pursued at the meeting: (1) "Why Should Schools Be Involved in Early Childhood?"; (2) "What Roles Should Schools Play in Early Childhood?"; (3) "What Facilitates School Involvement in Early Childhood?"; (4) "What Challenges Do Public Schools Face with Involvement in Early Childhood?"; (5) "What Are the Key Issues for Professional Development?"; and (6) "What Are the Key Research and Evaluation Questions?" The publication concludes with a 52-item bibliography and lists of meeting participants and state early childhood education contacts. (HTH)

In this book, early childhood authorities assist the readers in identifying the trends, research, and issues that are at the heart of important decisions in curriculum, instruction, and supervision.