Part IThis Assessment is a Work Product that is divided in to tw.docx

Part I
This Assessment is a Work Product that is divided in to two
parts. In Part I, you will describe the “NAEYC Early Childhood
Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria” (Document #3)
and “NAEYC Engaging Diverse Families Project Program Self-
Assessment Checklist” (Document #4), and explain how these
tools can be used in assessment, and in the case of the
Accreditation Criteria, to support program quality.
In order to complete Part II, in which you evaluate an early
childhood program, you will need to arrange a visit to a
NAEYC-accredited program and interview the director. The
Walden University Letter (Document #1) is a letter you can
provide to the director explaining the purpose of your visit. You
can find a list of accredited programs in your community here.
Early in the competency schedule a date and time to visit and
observe an accredited program and interview the director.
Students will use this information to complete Part II of the
assessment.
Explain that you are learning about program standards and
practices supporting families and how to evaluate early
childhood programs. Share the “NAEYC Early Childhood
Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria Overview”
(Document #2), the “NAEYC Engaging Diverse Families
Project Program Self-Assessment Checklist,” (Document #4),
and explain that you will be looking for evidence of Standard 7
and two additional standards you choose. Ask the director to
meet with you to review the documents and to explain why s/he
believes the accreditation process helps to ensure quality in
early childhood settings. Obtain permission to spend a day at
the school, visiting in classrooms and observing children and
teachers in action. Explain that you will not identify the
program or any personnel or children by name, nor will you take
any pictures. As you conduct your observations, take notes
about what you observe and mark your findings on the “NAEYC

Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria”
(Document #3) and the “NAEYC’s Engaging Diverse Families
Self-Assessment Checklist” (Document #4). During the
interview take notes and use the checklist to complete the
evaluation of the visit.
Remember, early childhood programs are not evaluated based on
a single visit. You will not be able to observe evidence of all
criteria during your observation. The goal of this assessment is
to provide you with practice in identifying evidence related to
program quality. Please keep this in mind as you conduct your
observation and complete this Assessment.
Review the “NAEYC's Early Childhood Program Standards and
Accreditation Criteria” (Document #3) and the “NAEYC
Engaging Diverse Families Project Program Self-Assessment
Checklist” (Document #4) provided as part of this Work
Product. In a 1- to 2-page paper:
1. Explain the purpose of the “NAEYC Early Childhood
Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria” and the
importance of using them to for assessing program quality.
Explain the importance of the NAEYC criteria. In the
explanation discuss why they are important for you as an early
childhood educator and other early childhood educators to
evaluate program quality.
2. Explain how the “NAEYC Engaging Diverse Families Self-
Assessment Checklist” is a useful tool in program evaluation.
You completed the interview and the checklist. Discuss why you
found using the checklist useful in completing your evaluation
of the program.
Part II of your Assessment requires that you use the NAEYC
Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria
and the NAEYC Engaging Diverse Families Self-Assessment
Checklist to evaluate an early childhood program. Using the
NAEYC Accredited Program Search, begin researching and
contacting NAEYC Accredited programs in your area to
determine if you can complete your assignment at that facility.
Your local NAEYC Affiliate Groups may be beneficial, if you

are having difficulty connecting with a program.
PART II of your Assessment requires that you complete Part 7
of the “NAEYC's Early Childhood Program Standards and
Accreditation Criteria” and two other portions of the
Assessment instrument. To complete this instrument and the
“NAEYC Engaging Diverse Families Self-Assessment
Checklist,” you will need to both observe within the early
childhood environment and conduct staff interviews to
determine compliance with factors that can’t be observed. Be
sure to carefully review Part 7, the additional criteria you have
selected, and the Checklist prior to arriving at the program.
Complete this section after the interview and completing the
checklist.
Note: When completing the “NAEYC's Early Childhood
Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria,” you will mark
“Yes” or “No” for each criteria—based on whether it is present
or absent. For the Checklist, you will need to record program
responses in the corresponding sections of the instrument.
After identifying an NAEYC accredited center and conducting
your observations and interviews, you will develop a
compilation of strengths and opportunity based on your results.
Develop a list of what was marked as “Yes” and “No” across
each instrument, and compile and overall list of what you see as
the programs overall strengths and areas of opportunity.
Share your evaluation with the director of the center or a
colleague. The colleague could be another student engaged in
this competency or a colleague in the early childhood
profession. Collaborate with him or her to develop at least two
recommendations to strengthen or improve this program. Based
on your interviews, notes, observations, and collaboration, write
a 6- to 8-page paper that includes the following:
1. A narrative evaluation of the program’s quality in relation to
Standard #7, “Families,” and the two additional standards you
chose. Your evaluation should describe areas of strength and
opportunity for this program. Support your evaluation with
specific evidence related to “NAEYC Program Standards and

Accreditation Criteria,” your observations, and your interviews.
Discuss your interview and checklist findings. Discuss the
strengths of the program and areas in need of further
development or weaknesses.
2. At least two recommendations you have for this program
based on the standards. Your recommendations must be
grounded in the professional knowledge base. Based on the
above summary, provide at least two recommendations for the
center you visited.
3. An evaluation of your collaboration experience, including a
description of the skills or tools you used to collaborate. How
did your work with the director or colleague inform the
development of your recommendations?
Overview of the NAEYC
Early Childhood Program Standards
© 2008. National Association for the Education of Young
Children. This document may be reproduced for use by
programs seeking or maintaining NAEYC Accreditation. All
other rights reserved. For more information, visit
www.naeyc.org/academy.
1. Relationships
Program Standard: The program promotes positive relationships
among all children and adults
to encourage each child’s sense of individual worth and
belonging as part of a community and to

foster each child’s ability to contribute as a responsible
community member.
Rationale: Positive relationships are essential for the
development of personal responsibility,
capacity for self-regulation, for constructive interactions with
others, and for fostering academic
functioning and mastery. Warm, sensitive, and responsive
interactions help children develop a
secure, positive sense of self and encourage them to respect and
cooperate with others. Positive
relationships also help children gain the benefits of
instructional experiences and resources.
Children who see themselves as highly valued are more likely to
feel secure, thrive physically,
get along with others, learn well, and feel part of a community.
2. Curriculum
Program Standard: The program implements a curriculum that is
consistent with its goals for
children and promotes learning and development in each of the
following areas: social,
emotional, physical, language, and cognitive.
Rationale: A curriculum that draws on research assists teachers
in identifying important

concepts and skills as well as effective methods for fostering
children’s learning and
development. When informed by teachers’ knowledge of
individual children, a well-articulated
curriculum guides teachers so they can provide children with
experiences that foster growth
across a broad range of developmental and content areas. A
curriculum also helps ensure that
the teacher is intentional in planning a daily schedule that (a)
maximizes children’s learning
through effective use of time, materials used for play, self-
initiated learning, and creative
expression as well as (b) offers opportunities for children to
learn individually and in groups
according to their developmental needs and interests.
3. Teaching
Program Standard: The program uses developmentally,
culturally, and linguistically appropriate
and effective teaching approaches that enhance each child’s
learning and development in the
context of the program’s curriculum goals.
Rationale: Teaching staff who purposefully use multiple
instructional approaches optimize

children’s opportunities for learning. These approaches include
strategies that range from
structured to unstructured and from adult directed to child
directed. Children bring to learning
environments different backgrounds, interests, experiences,
learning styles, needs, and
capacities. Teachers’ consideration of these differences when
selecting and implementing
instructional approaches helps all children succeed.
Instructional approaches also differ in their
effectiveness for teaching different elements of curriculum and
learning. For a program to
address the complexity inherent in any teaching- learning
situation, it must use a variety of
effective instructional approaches. In classrooms and groups
that include teacher assistants or
teacher aides and specialized teaching and support staff, the
expectation is that these teaching
staff work as a team. Whether one teacher works alone or
whether a team works together, the
instructional approach creates a teaching environment that
supports children’s positive learning
and development across all areas.

4. Assessment of Child Progress
Program Standard: The program is informed by ongoing
systematic, formal, and informal
assessment approaches to provide information on children’s
learning and development. These
assessments occur within the context of reciprocal
communications with families and with
sensitivity to the cultural contexts in which children develop.
Assessment results are used to
benefit children by informing sound decisions about children,
teaching, and program
improvement.

Rationale: Teachers’ knowledge of each child helps them to
plan appropriately challenging
curricula and to tailor instruction that responds to each child’s
strengths and needs. Further,
systematic assessment is essential for identifying children who
may benefit from more intensive
instruction or intervention or who may need additional
developmental evaluation. This
information ensures that the program meets its goals for
children’s learning and developmental
progress and also informs program improvement efforts.
5. Health
Program Standard: The program promotes the nutrition and
health of children and protects
children and staff from illness and injury.
Rationale: To benefit from education and maintain quality of
life, children need to be as healthy
as possible. Health is a state of complete physical, oral, mental,
and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health
Organization 1948). Children depend on
adults (who also are as healthy as possible) to make healthy
choices for them and to teach them

to make healthy choices for themselves. Although some degree
of risk taking is desirable for
learning, a quality program prevents hazardous practices and
environments that are likely to
result in adverse consequences for children, staff, families, or
communities.
6. Teachers
Program Standard: The program employs and supports a
teaching staff that has the
educational qualifications, knowledge, and professional
commitment necessary to promote
children’s learning and development and to support families’
diverse needs and interests.
Rationale: Children benefit most when their teachers have high
levels of formal education and
specialized early childhood professional preparation. Teachers
who have specific preparation,
knowledge, and skills in child development and early childhood
education are more likely to
engage in warm, positive interactions with children, offer richer
language experiences, and create
more high-quality learning environments. Opportunities for
teaching staff to receive supportive
supervision and to participate in ongoing professional

development ensure that their knowledge
and skills reflect the profession’s ever-changing knowledge
base.
7. Families
Program Standard: The program establishes and maintains
collaborative relationships with
each child’s family to foster children’s development in all
settings. These relationships are
sensitive to family composition, language, and culture.
Rationale: Young children’s learning and development are
integrally connected to their families.
Consequently, to support and promote children’s optimal

learning and development, programs
need to recognize the primacy of children’s families, establish
relationships with families based on
mutual trust and respect, support and involve families in their
children’s educational growth, and
invite families to fully participate in the program.
8. Community Relationships
Program Standard: The program establishes relationships with
and uses the resources of the
children’s communities to support the achievement of program
goals.
Rationale: As part of the fabric of children’s communities, an
effective program establishes and
maintains reciprocal relationships with agencies and institutions
that can support it in achieving
its goals for the curriculum, health promotion, children’s
transitions, inclusion, and diversity. By
helping to connect families with needed resources, the program
furthers children’s healthy
development and learning.
9. Physical Environment
Program Standard: The program has a safe and healthful
environment that provides

appropriate and well-maintained indoor and outdoor physical
environments. The environment
includes facilities, equipment, and materials to facilitate child
and staff learning and development.
Rationale: The program’s design and maintenance of its
physical environment support high-
quality program activities and services as well as allow for
optimal use and operation. Well-
organized, equipped, and maintained environments support
program quality by fostering the
learning, comfort, health, and safety of those who use the
program. Program quality is enhanced
by also creating a welcoming and accessible setting for
children, families, and staff.
10. Leadership and Management
Program Standard: The program effectively implements
policies, procedures, and systems that
support stable staff and strong personnel, fiscal, and program
management so all children,
families, and staff have high quality experiences.
Rationale: Excellent programming requires effective governance
structures, competent and
knowledgeable leadership, as well as comprehensive and well

functioning administrative policies,
procedures, and systems. Effective leadership and management
create the environment for high-
quality care and education by
• Ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and guidelines;
• promoting fiscal soundness, program accountability, effective
communication, helpful
consultative services, positive community relations, and
comfortable and supportive
workplaces;
• maintaining stable staff; and
• instituting ongoing program planning and career development
opportunities for staff as well
as continuous program improvement.
Running head: EVALUATING PROGRAM QUALITY 1
EVALUATING PROGRAM QUALITY 2
1. Identify the center you visited. In the assessment discussion
refer to the NAEYC Principles of Effective Practice; refrain
from using the term “standard.”
2. Rewrite your assessment results using acceptable English
language sentence structure.

3. Using the checklist results, refer to each weakness and write
a specific recommendation for the center you visited.
4. Provide clear and specific examples from your site visit to
explain how compromise, mutual respect, and shared
responsibility help diverse stakeholders achieve a common goal.
Lua Shanks
January 26, 2020
Walden University
EP004: Evaluating Program
Part 1. Program Assessment Tools Comment by Carol Todd:
Only double space throughout the document. Refer to APA for
additional formatting instructions.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children
(NAEYC) promotes constructive relationships in children and
adults. This clinches each child’s logic of personal value and
being a component of the community and to facilitate the
individual child’s ability to put in as a liable member of the
community (Helm, Katz & NAEYC, 2011). Additionally, it
enhances child development communally, psychologically,
physically, and cognitively. Early childhood program instills
suitable and efficient teaching approaches that support special

child education and development scheduled in the program
curriculum objective framework. Comment by Carol Todd:
What do you mean by logic of personal value?Comment by
Carol Todd: What is “to put in as a liable member”?
Comment by Carol Todd: Write in commonly accepted
English sentence structure. Review the link below from Walden
University.
https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/grammar/sent
encestructure
The program assesses the child’s developmental growth. These
assessments emerge in the outlook of shared communication
with families and cultural frameworks of a child’s progress.
These assessment results are essential in informing significant
decisions regarding children. Besides, this program supports the
sustenance and healthiness of children and guards children and
staff from poor health and harm. This program makes use of and
endorses teaching staffs that are proficient, conversant, and
professionally committed. This promotes child learning and
development and facilitates family diverse needs and desires
(Aldarab & Almohtadi, 2015). Comment by Carol Todd:
Assessments are administered, they do not emerge.
Comment by Carol Todd: Which program is this program?
Comment by Carol Todd: A program cannot facilitate the
needs of families. It can facilitate strategies to best meet those
needs.
This program institutes and sustains collaboration collaborative
with each child’s family to encourage children progress in the
entire setting. It also establishes community relationships with
intent of enhancing accomplishment of program ambitions. It
has a safe and healthful environment that enhances appropriate
and well maintained physical environments. Consequently, the
program facilitates effective policies, procedures, and system
that sustain stable staff and strong personnel and program
management in order to give children, staff, and families’

quality experience (Helm, Katz & NAEYC, 2011). Comment by
Carol Todd: ?
NAEYC engagement in diverse families self assessment
checklist is essential in program evaluation. It promotes family
participation in resolution and goal setting concerning their
children’s education both at domicile and training facilities.
This is done through evaluation of family expectations of their
children, and parent teacher conferences where they jointly set
goals for children’s education and learning at home and school.
This assessment allows a two-way communication that focuses
on children’s educational experience as well as the broad
program. It also assesses mutual relationships where families
obtain common resources and information. Voluntary jobs and
ideas are presented which are merged with family skills, talents,
and financial needs (Aldarab & Almohtadi, 2015). Comment by
Carol Todd: Whose domicile and whose training facilities?
Comment by Carol Todd: What do you mean that voluntary
jobs and ideas are merged with family skills, etc.? Whose jobs
and ideas?
This program utilizes learning activities at home and in the
community to support individual child early learning and
promotes families’ efforts to develop a learning environment
past the program. The program provides literacy bags and
loaning libraries for personal belongings use with early learning
ideas conveyed through the program and lesson newssheet.
Additionally, it allows family participation in program level
decisions and wider support efforts. This enables families serve
on boards and committees. Comment by Carol Todd: Such
as?
NAEYC early childhood program fosters and maintains joint
relationships with individual family to enhance child
development in all settings. These relationships are responsive
to family constituent, speech, and traditions. As a result to
optimize children learning and development, programs need to
foster relationships with families based on general confidence
and esteem. It inculcates families in their children’s educational

development and support families to entirely partake in the
program (Aldarab & Almohtadi, 2015). Comment by Carol
Todd: Which program? Did you observe a program?
Comment by Carol Todd: Format according to APA.
Part 2. Using Accreditation Standards to Evaluate an Early
Childhood Program
Families
Standard 7 of the program entails families being received and
encouraged to partake in all aspects of the program. Teachers
and staff further talk with these families concerning their family
arrangement and their ideas on giving birth and use of this
information to embrace the curriculum and teaching techniques
to served families. The program additionally utilizes various
strategies in communicating with families such as family
conferences, new family orientations, and personal dialogues. It
also maintains that the program’s information including guiding
principles and working procedures can be conveyed in a
language that families can understand (Helm, Katz & NAEYC,
2011).
Opportunities and Strengths
The opportunities and strengths of this standard involves
families being given information in the family’s native language
on various topics such as health, individualized learning plans,
parent and children’s rights, together with resources and
transitions. In addition, families that have children with special
needs are given alternatives for scheduling of staff, time, place,
and invitees. The program staff employs various mechanisms
such as home visits, and family conferences to facilitate
dialogue with children families (Helm, Katz & NAEYC, 2011).
Thereafter the families are asked to interpret the results as per
the required results. The program is able to gather and give
program information that includes program polices and
operating procedures in a language they can understand.
Comment by Carol Todd: Do you mean information on
transitions?

Furthermore, program workers update families concerning the
program’s systems for children formal and informal progress
assessments. They notify them the purpose of these assessments,
the procedures employed when carrying such assessments, and
procedures used to gather family efforts and information.
Moreover, they convey timing of assessments, and manner in
which the assessment results obtained will be shared with
families. In cases where program workers are suspicious of
developmental delay or any special need in a child, they alert
the families in a responsive, supportive, and private way. Then
they provide a documentation and explanation of this concern
next procedures and information concerning resources for
assessment. Nevertheless, the program workforce communicates
with families on daily routines concerning children’s activities
and development milestones. They also provide shared care
emerging issues and related issues that affect the wellness and
development progress of their children (Helm, Katz & NAEYC,
2011).
The program workers nurture families to be advocates of their
children. These workers support families on a regular basis as a
contribution to families’ decisions concerning their children
goals and plans for behavior and services. They encourage
families to hire concerns and foster collaborative working to
find mutual satisfactory resolution which he staff incorporates
into class practice. The program workers encourage and
promote families to formulate prime solutions about services
that the child needs and encourage them to be activists of the
needed services (Helm, Katz & NAEYC, 2011). These
employees provide families with information concerning
programs and services from other organizations. They sustain
and encourage efforts of families in negotiating health,
psychological health, assessment, and learning services for their
children. Comment by Carol Todd: Prime or effective
solutions.
Moreover, the program workforce employs established
connections with various early education plans and local

elementary learning facilities that help families prepare and
monitor their children’s evolution across programs. They also
give additional information to families that aid in
communicating with other early education programs. For
successful transitions between programs such workers give
general basic knowledge on enrollment steps and practices,
visiting openings, and program options. These workers maintain
in obtaining written consent from family before sharing the
obtained information concerning a child to other relevant
agencies, provides, and programs (Helm, Katz & NAEYC,
2011). Comment by Carol Todd: What do you mean by the
child’s evolution?
Assessment of Child’s Pprogress
NAEYC Sstandard 4 involves the assessment of the child’s
progress. The program is informed by continued systemic,
formal, and casual informal assessment approaches to give
information concerning child learning and development. Such
assessments happen inside the context of reciprocal
communications with families together with feeling of cultural
contexts. These assessments are essential as they inform sound
decisions, learning, and program enhancement. Teachers are
also able to plan the curriculum appropriately using these
assessments to of the individual child’s strengths and needs.
Furthermore, they are able to identify children having
disabilities and ensuring they receive the services they need
(Akin, 2013). Comment by Carol Todd: What does this mean?
Opportunities and Strengths
The accreditation criteria of this program involves children
learning employing a variety of assessment methods such as
examination, checklists, and score scales. The assessment
techniques are tailored selected according to children age and
level of development and constitute all areas of development.
Teachers use these assessment methods and information to plan
goals for each child and study their progress along with
improving the program and its teaching methods. Consequently,

families are conveyed with information on their children
development and learning on regular routines (Akin, 2013).
Comment by Carol Todd: Children do not employ
assessment. Assessments are administered by adults.
Comment by Carol Todd: What does this mean?
Community Relationships
Standard 8 of the NAEYC Principles of Effective Practice
addresses early childhood development and constitutes
community relationships. The program institutes relationships
and utilizes the resources from of children communities to
promote accomplishment of program objectives. Relationships
with organizations and associations found in the community aid
a program attain its goals and attach families with resources
that promote a child’s well development and learning. The
program joins with and utilizes museums, libraries, parks among
other resources in the community. Representatives of communal
programs including music performers and local artists are
welcomed to share their desires and talents with the children.
The staff establishes professional relationships with these
bodies organizations that heighten the capacity to respond to
needs and interest of children and families. Comment by
Carol Todd: The sentence is convoluted. Comment by Carol
Todd: What do you mean by communal programs?
Opportunities and Responsibilities
This standard is receptive to the desires ofaddresses the
community. Activities developed involve men together with
women and encompasses people of all ages, cultures, and ethnic
origins. The staff accesses community resources and employs
their experience on in community and with families serve as a
focal part of the curriculum and a child’s educational
experience (Abu-Jaber & Ghieth, 2010). They link with and
utilize the community’s urban, rural, and cultural resources.
They update families on community occurrences sponsored by
local groups such as museums, concerts, and stories formulated
for their children. Furthermore, the workers do collaborative
engagements with other community associations and groups to

cosponsor or partake in cultural occasions that improve children
and families experience in the program (Abu-Jaber, & Ghieth,
2010). Comment by Carol Todd: Name the standard.
Comment by Carol Todd: Who is they? Comment by
Carol Todd: Not necessarily. How can an urban community
utilize the resources of a rural community? Comment by
Carol Todd: All this is formulated for the children?
Too many spaces.
Recommendations
The standard Principle 7 of the program that involves families
contains a printed plan that necessitates sophisticated parent or
guardian approval for any health and progressive examination of
children and for availing the services. Moreover, the program’s
child centered policy of evolution for children incoming and
parting the program involves analysis of diverse demands that
the incoming learning environment will render on a child. This
will guarantee an even transition process for the child and
family. Comment by Carol Todd: What does this mean?
In addition, when linking with the community the designated
persons must be familiar and make use of proper use of the
public resources such as collective services, cognitive and
physical health organizations and learning programs including
museums, neighborhood, and libraries. Also it is necessary to
have lively participation in timely infancy programs through a
wide collection of persons and organizations in manners that are
consequential and have relevance to the lives and education of
kids and their families. The staff and program reserves should
mirror the cultural and ethnic populace of the children in the
program.
Program workers in early childhood development are
encouraged to partake in communal and national early
childhood groups by uniting and holding meetings and seminars.
Parents and their family members should embrace community
involvement projects displayed within the program. The workers
should conduct assessments of children progress of all ages.

These programs should have a written child assessment plan
define the purpose and procedures to be employed and use of
results obtained. Additionally, they should utilize effective
assessment techniques that encompass all features of child
growth sensitive to family backgrounds and children’s special
requirements. Each child enrolled in the program need
developmental screening within three months of enrollment and
the screening tools in identifying child’s interests and needs
should meet the professional standards.
To suffice it, NAEYC Early Learning Accreditation Standards
and Assessment tools guide all programs on how to improve.
These standards together with others give a definition of quality
early education programs helping juvenile children birth via
Kindergarten. This supports program liability, and allows
programs provide high quality learning experiences for an
individual child.
5.
References
Aldarab, L & Almohtadi, M. (2015). What is the reality of
preschool in Jordan? Journal of Education and Practice, Vol 9,
pp 180-187

Akin, E. Z. (2013). Examining the beliefs of Turkish preservice
early childhood teachers regarding early childhood curriculum,
Journal of Research in Childhood Education, Vol 27, Issue 3, pp
302-318
Helm, J, Katz, L & National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC). (2011). Young Investigators, The
project approach in the early years, 2nd Edition, New York,
NY: Teachers College Press
Abu –Jaber, M & Ghieth, E. (2010). Kindergarten teachers’
beliefs toward developmentally appropriate practice in Jordan,
Early Childhood Education, Vol 38, pp 65-74
1. Relationships
Program Standard: The program promotes positive relationships

among all children and adults
to encourage each child’s sense of individual worth and
belonging as part of a community and to
foster each child’s ability to contribute as a responsible
community member.
Rationale: Positive relationships are essential for the
development of personal responsibility,
capacity for self-regulation, for constructive interactions with
others, and for fostering academic
functioning and mastery. Warm, sensitive, and responsive
interactions help children develop a
secure, positive sense of self and encourage them to respect and
cooperate with others. Positive
relationships also help children gain the benefits of
instructional experiences and resources.
Children who see themselves as highly valued are more likely to
feel secure, thrive physically,
get along with others, learn well, and feel part of a community.
2. Curriculum
Program Standard: The program implements a curriculum that is
consistent with its goals for
children and promotes learning and development in each of the
following areas: social,

emotional, physical, language, and cognitive.
Rationale: A curriculum that draws on research assists teachers
in identifying important
concepts and skills as well as effective methods for fostering
children’s learning and
development. When informed by teachers’ knowledge of
individual children, a well-articulated
curriculum guides teachers so they can provide children with
experiences that foster growth
across a broad range of developmental and content areas. A
curriculum also helps ensure that
the teacher is intentional in planning a daily schedule that (a)
maximizes children’s learning
through effective use of time, materials used for play, self-
initiated learning, and creative
expression as well as (b) offers opportunities for children to
learn individually and in groups
according to their developmental needs and interests.
3. Teaching
Program Standard: The program uses developmentally,
culturally, and linguistically appropriate
and effective teaching approaches that enhance each child’s
learning and development in the

context of the program’s curriculum goals.
Rationale: Teaching staff who purposefully use multiple
instructional approaches optimize
children’s opportunities for learning. These approaches include
strategies that range from
structured to unstructured and from adult directed to child
directed. Children bring to learning
environments different backgrounds, interests, experiences,
learning styles, needs, and
capacities. Teachers’ consideration of these differences when
selecting and implementing
instructional approaches helps all children succeed.
Instructional approaches also differ in their
effectiveness for teaching different elements of curriculum and
learning. For a program to
address the complexity inherent in any teaching- learning
situation, it must use a variety of
effective instructional approaches. In classrooms and groups
that include teacher assistants or
teacher aides and specialized teaching and support staff, the
expectation is that these teaching
staff work as a team. Whether one teacher works alone or
whether a team works together, the
instructional approach creates a teaching environment that

supports children’s positive learning
and development across all areas.
4. Assessment of Child Progress
Program Standard: The program is informed by ongoing
systematic, formal, and informal
assessment approaches to provide information on children’s
learning and development. These
assessments occur within the context of reciprocal
communications with families and with
sensitivity to the cultural contexts in which children develop.
Assessment results are used to
benefit children by informing sound decisions about children,

teaching, and program
improvement.
Rationale: Teachers’ knowledge of each child helps them to
plan appropriately challenging
curricula and to tailor instruction that responds to each child’s
strengths and needs. Further,
systematic assessment is essential for identifying children who
may benefit from more intensive
instruction or intervention or who may need additional
developmental evaluation. This
information ensures that the program meets its goals for
children’s learning and developmental
progress and also informs program improvement efforts.
5. Health
Program Standard: The program promotes the nutrition and
health of children and protects
children and staff from illness and injury.
Rationale: To benefit from education and maintain quality of
life, children need to be as healthy
as possible. Health is a state of complete physical, oral, mental,
and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health
Organization 1948). Children depend on

adults (who also are as healthy as possible) to make healthy
choices for them and to teach them
to make healthy choices for themselves. Although some degree
of risk taking is desirable for
learning, a quality program prevents hazardous practices and
environments that are likely to
result in adverse consequences for children, staff, families, or
communities.
6. Teachers
Program Standard: The program employs and supports a
teaching staff that has the
educational qualifications, knowledge, and professional
commitment necessary to promote
children’s learning and development and to support families’
diverse needs and interests.
Rationale: Children benefit most when their teachers have high
levels of formal education and
specialized early childhood professional preparation. Teachers
who have specific preparation,
knowledge, and skills in child development and early childhood
education are more likely to
engage in warm, positive interactions with children, offer richer
language experiences, and create

more high-quality learning environments. Opportunities for
teaching staff to receive supportive
supervision and to participate in ongoing professional
development ensure that their knowledge
and skills reflect the profession’s ever-changing knowledge
base.
7. Families
Program Standard: The program establishes and maintains
collaborative relationships with
each child’s family to foster children’s development in all
settings. These relationships are
sensitive to family composition, language, and culture.

Rationale: Young children’s learning and development are
integrally connected to their families.
Consequently, to support and promote children’s optimal
learning and development, programs
need to recognize the primacy of children’s families, establish
relationships with families based on
mutual trust and respect, support and involve families in their
children’s educational growth, and
invite families to fully participate in the program.
8. Community Relationships
Program Standard: The program establishes relationships with
and uses the resources of the
children’s communities to support the achievement of program
goals.
Rationale: As part of the fabric of children’s communities, an
effective program establishes and
maintains reciprocal relationships with agencies and institutions
that can support it in achieving
its goals for the curriculum, health promotion, children’s
transitions, inclusion, and diversity. By
helping to connect families with needed resources, the program
furthers children’s healthy
development and learning.

9. Physical Environment
Program Standard: The program has a safe and healthful
environment that provides
appropriate and well-maintained indoor and outdoor physical
environments. The environment
includes facilities, equipment, and materials to facilitate child
and staff learning and development.
Rationale: The program’s design and maintenance of its
physical environment support high-
quality program activities and services as well as allow for
optimal use and operation. Well-
organized, equipped, and maintained environments support
program quality by fostering the
learning, comfort, health, and safety of those who use the
program. Program quality is enhanced
by also creating a welcoming and accessible setting for
children, families, and staff.
10. Leadership and Management
Program Standard: The program effectively implements
policies, procedures, and systems that
support stable staff and strong personnel, fiscal, and program
management so all children,
families, and staff have high quality experiences.

Rationale: Excellent programming requires effective governance
structures, competent and
knowledgeable leadership, as well as comprehensive and well
functioning administrative policies,
procedures, and systems. Effective leadership and management
create the environment for high-
quality care and education by
• Ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and guidelines;
• promoting fiscal soundness, program accountability, effective
communication, helpful
consultative services, positive community relations, and
comfortable and supportive
workplaces;
• maintaining stable staff; and
• instituting ongoing program planning and career development
opportunities for staff as well
as continuous program improvement.
To Whom It May Concern:

As part of the program completion requirements, students in the
Walden University Master of Science
in Early Childhood Studies program must demonstrate
competencies related to many aspects of
professional practice in the early childhood field, such as
knowledge of the child development
continuum, culturally responsive practices, and planning
developmentally appropriate curriculum.
In order to fulfill these competencies, students need to
interview early childhood professionals and
observe in a variety of early childhood settings.
Walden University does not perform background checks on its
students; therefore, if your establishment
is willing to host student observers, it will be important for your
faculty and/or staff to ensure proper
safeguards are in place to limit or prevent unsupervised contact
with the minor children enrolled in your
establishment. Please be aware that at no time during these
observations will students need to be in
direct contact with or have supervision over any children in
your program.
Thank you for your support.
Best Regards,

Stacy Ness, PhD
Program Director: Early Childhood Studies and Tempo Learning
School of Education and Professional Licensure
100 Washington Avenue South, Suite 900
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Email: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.waldenu.edu/Colleges-and-Schools/College-of-
Education-and-Leadership.htm
http://caepnet.org/

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