17 A Look at High-Quality Practices
One of the hallmarks of high-quality practices is the practice of continuously monitoring and evaluating a program’s overall effectiveness for the purpose of accountability. Therefore, in addition to complying with state licensing regulations, high-quality programs may utilize noted assessment tools and resources (e.g. ECERS, CLASS, QRIS, NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice) to evaluate their center and staff. To guide high-quality practices, early childhood educators often look to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to provide ethical pedagogy. NAEYC is a recognized professional organization committed to promoting quality early learning experiences for children, birth through age 8. Grounded by research and theory principles, NAEYC promotes best practices for children, families, teachers, administrators, stakeholders and policy makers. To ensure quality practices are being implemented, it is suggested that teachers follow NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) Framework:
- Teachers encourage children to be active participants in their own learning
- Teachers set reasonable expectations based on what they know about a child’s age and stage of development
- Teachers build on what children know using a variety of learning strategies, materials, meaningful experiences
- Teachers plan activities to support all aspects of development: social, emotional, physical and cognitive
- Teachers value each child’s family, language, and cultural practices
- Teachers are aware of each child’s interests, strengths, abilities and individual needs
- Teachers recognize play as a primary context in which young children learn
- Teachers establish warm, caring and respectful relationships with children, families and colleagues
- Teachers regularly assess the children’s development and the environment, and they self-reflect on their own practices (Gordon and Browne, 2016, Beginning Essentials in early childhood education 3e)