Recent research has shown that even the youngest children are capable of learning complex language, concepts, and skills. Well planned, evidence-based curricula can contribute significantly to positive outcomes for children. The term curriculum has been a topic for debate among early educators. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS/SDE) joint position statement, the following is a broad definition of curriculum:
A curriculum is a complex idea containing multiple components, such as goals, content, pedagogy, or instructional practices. Curriculum is influenced by many factors, including society’s values, content standards, accountability systems, research findings, community expectations, culture and language, and individual children’s characteristics. (p. 6)
This position statement is available at www.naeyc.org/about/positions/pdf/CAPEexpand.pdf.
This document provides an overview of research, curricula/teaching approaches for preschool care, and State implementation and training activities related to curricula/teaching approaches for preschool care. NCCIC does not endorse any practice, organization, publication, or resource.
This resource is available at www.naeyc.org/about/positions/pdf/capeexpand.pdf.
There are many different types of curricula/teaching approaches for young children. Preschool curricula vary based on their focus. They can focus on developmental growth in young children within a single area or multiple areas. The following is an overview of these different types of preschool curricula:
The following is a sample of preschool curricula, teaching approaches, and related resources in alphabetical order by title. Curricula are grouped by the number of domains they cover. Visit NCCIC’s Online Library, which can be accessed at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/library/index.cfm?do=oll.search, for more resources with information about early learning. Additional resources are also available on NCCIC’c Web site at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/topics/topic/index.cfm?topicId=11.
Curriculum | Curriculum Description | Publisher |
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Curricula/Teaching Approaches: Multi-Domain | ||
Bank Street Developmental Interaction Approach | The Bank Street Developmental Interaction Approach recognizes that while development occurs on a continuum, it happens at different times for different children. Teachers rely on research and practice to choose topics and design experiences that will engage and challenge children. The Bank Street School for Children Curriculum Guide covers curricula for children from 3 years through high school. The areas covered in the curriculum are social studies, literacy, mathematics, science, Spanish and French, art and shop, music, library, and physical education. | Bank Street Developmental Interaction Approach Phone: 212-875-4400 Web site: http://www.bnkst.edu/fc/ curriculum.html |
The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool | The Creative Curriculum series, developed by Teaching Strategies, Inc., includes specific resources for curriculum development for infants and toddlers, preschool-age children, school-age children, and children in family child care. This curriculum focuses on how children learn, what children learn, the parent’s role, the teacher’s or provider’s role, and the physical environment. Teaching Strategies has aligned The Creative Curriculum for Preschool and The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum for Ages 3-5 with the Head Start Outcomes Framework, the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria, and many State early learning standards. Additional information is available at www.teachingstrategies.com/pages/page.cfm ?pageID=226. |
Teaching Strategies, Inc. Phone: 800-637-3652 Web site: www.teachingstrategies.com |
The High/Scope Curriculum for Preschool® | The High/Scope educational approach is a set of guiding principles and practices that adults follow as they work with and care for infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary and adolescent students. These principles are intended to be an open framework that teams of adults are free to adapt to the special needs and conditions of their group, setting, and community. Active learning—the belief that children learn best through active experiences with people, materials, events, and ideas, rather than through direct teaching or sequenced exercises—is a central tenet of the High/Scope approach for all age levels. | High/Scope Educational Research Foundation Phone: 734-485-2000 Web site: www.highscope.org |
Learningames | Learningames, first published in 1979 and revised in 2004, has been used as the Abecedarian Project curriculum. It is a home-based, center-based, or parent groups’ curriculum for children birth through 5 years. Activities are derived from developmental milestones in the domains of social-emotional development and cognitive/creative development, language, and motor skills. Each game provides caregivers with an example of how to enhance child development. In addition to the games, the curriculum includes a user’s guide and an assessment instrument. | MindNurture, Inc. Phone: 919-967-0126 Web site: http://mindnurture.com |
Montessori Preschool Curriculum | This curriculum provides information for implementation, classroom start-up, normalization, assessment, observation, and classroom management for children birth to school age. The North American Montessori Center (NAMC) also offers distance-learning opportunities and certification with the Montessori approach. | NAMC Phone: 877-531-6665 Web site: www.montessoritraining.net/ |
Opening the World of Learning (OWL) | OWL is a comprehensive literacy-based curriculum for use with preschoolers that covers all domains of early learning (i.e., language and literacy, mathematics, social studies and science, the arts, physical development, and social-emotional development). The OWL includes six units, each which provide 4 weeks of activities. The content of each unit is built around a carefully crafted daily routine within an activity-center day. Support to teachers to individualize instruction is provided in an ongoing assessment tool. | Pearson Learning Group Phone: 800-526-9907 Web site: www.pearsonearlylearning. com/products/curriculum/ owl/index.html |
Project Approach | The Project Approach builds on the familiar experiences of children and provides multiple ways of active interaction with people, objects, and the environment. The goal of the Project Approach is to learn more about a topic through active learning. It allows an in-depth investigation of a topic by a small group of children within a class, by the whole class, or occasionally by an individual child. It is an integral component to a curriculum that provides a context for applying mathematical concepts and other skills, and involves themes and preplanned lessons and activities. | The Project Approach Phone: 780 434-7416 Web site: www.projectapproach.org/ index.php?option=com_front page&Itemid=1 |
Reggio Emilia Approach | The Reggio Emilia Approach is based on years of experience in the Reggio Emilia Municipal Infant/Toddler and Preschool Centers in Italy. It places emphasis on children’s symbolic languages in the context of a project-oriented curriculum. Learning is viewed as a journey; and education as building relationships with people (both children and adults) and creating connections between ideas and the environment. Through this approach, adults help children understand the meaning of their experience more completely through documentation of children’s work, observations, and continuous teacher dialogue. In addition, the Reggio Approach guides children’s ideas with provocations—not predetermined curricula. There is collaboration on many levels: parent participation, teacher discussions, community members, and city administrators. | Reggio Emilia Approach Phone: 770-552-0179 Web site: www.reggioalliance.org |
Scholastic Early Childhood Program (SECP) | SECP is a comprehensive, year-long curriculum for prekindergarten children that provides a rich environment of print and nonprint experiences to support literacy success. Focusing on the cognitive, language, and literacy development of young learners, SECP is based on these key concepts of teaching and learning:
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Scholastic, Inc. Phone: 1-800-SCHOLASTIC Web site: http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/secp/index.htm |
Waldorf Approach | The concept of Waldorf education was developed by Rudolf Steiner in Europe in the 1920s. Today there are more than 500 Waldorf schools worldwide and more than 100 Waldorf schools in the United States. The aim of Waldorf education is to educate the whole child—head, heart, and hands. The curriculum is geared to the child’s stages of development and brings together all elements of development—intellectual, artistic, spiritual, and movement. The curriculum is designed for children from preschool through high school. | The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America Phone: 916-961-0927 Web site: www.awsna.org |
Curricula/Teaching Approaches: Single-Domain | ||
Breakthrough to Literacy | Breakthrough to Literacy helps children build their expressive and receptive language and vocabularies, enhance their awareness of print, increase their knowledge of the alphabet, increase phonological/phonemic awareness and knowledge of sound/symbol relationships, and help them make a smooth transition to print. The curriculum covers prekindergarten through second grade. The prekindergarten curriculum includes whole group and small group instruction, individualized software instruction, literacy centers, writing instruction and workshops, home connections, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, and professional development. It also offers a component for English language learners—Breakthrough to Literacy and English Language Learners, which is available at www.breakthroughtoliteracy.com/index.html?SID& page=df_lr_breakell. |
Breakthrough to Literacy Phone: 800-874-2851 Web site: www.breakthroughtoliteracy. com/ |
Building Language for Literacy | Building Language for Literacy, created by Catherine Snow, Susan Neuman, and Susan Canizares, is designed to equip prekindergarten and kindergarten children with foundational language and literacy skills and experiences. Building Language for Literacy uses three language-loving characters to teach literacy behaviors and motivate learning. Each character represents one of three areas of literacy development (i.e., oral language, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge), with all of them representing the fourth (print awareness). | Scholastic Phone: 800-SCHOLASTIC (724-6527) Web site: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bll/ |
The Creative Curriculum | Literacy: The Creative Curriculum Approach Literacy: The Creative Curriculum Approach shows teachers how to create literacy learning opportunities within the structure of a comprehensive, integrated curriculum. The curriculum presents a review of the latest research for teachers about literacy development and describes the seven components of literacy in detail: literacy as a source of enjoyment, vocabulary and language, phonological awareness, knowledge of print, letters and words, comprehension, and books and other texts. |
Teaching Strategies, Inc. Phone: 800-637-3652 Web site: www.teachingstrategies.com |
Mathematics: The Creative Curriculum Approach This curriculum supplements The Creative Curriculum for Preschool with detailed information about the following:
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Curiosity Corner | Curiosity Corner provides teachers with well-structured thematic units aligned with State and national early learning guidelines. The program includes detailed instructions and provides many of the materials necessary for implementing a stimulating, engaging program as well as training and support for educators implementing the program. The two separate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children are based on the same themes, with variations in books and activities for each age group, to meet the developmental needs of young children. | Success for All Foundation Phone: 800-548-4998, ext. 2372 Web site: www.successforall.net/early/ early_curiosity.htm |
Resources for Preschool Curricula/Teaching Approaches | ||
Active Learning | The Active Learning Series from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, published by the Pearson Learning Group, devotes a volume to each specific age group, including infants and toddlers as well as children with disabilities. Each volume contains more than 300 clearly formatted activities that have been carefully field-tested to ensure their effectiveness in care and education. These materials are intended for use in home visiting programs or center-based early care and education programs. | Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute University of North Carolina Phone: 919-966-2622 Web site: http://www.fpg.unc.edu/ ~ECERS/rw_als.htm |
Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System® (AEPS) for Infants and Children, Second Edition | AEPS links assessment, intervention, and evaluation for children from birth to 6 years who have disabilities or are at risk for developmental delays. AEPS helps identify targets tailored for each child’s needs, formulate developmentally appropriate goals, conduct evaluations before and after to ensure that interventions are working, and involve families in the whole process. | Brookes Publishing Company Phone: 800-638-3775 Web site: www.brookespublishing.com /index.htm |
Hawaii> Early Learning Profile® (HELP) | HELP (0–3) is a center-based curriculum for children from birth through age 3. It is a curriculum-based assessment used to identify needs and track growth and development. It provides play-based activities and intervention strategies for each of the 685 skills in 6 developmental domains: cognitive, language, gross motor, fine motor, social, and self-help. It promotes a cross-disciplinary, integrated approach that can be used by physical, speech, and occupational therapists; early childhood educators; infant specialists; psychologists; social workers; and nurses. | VORT Corporation Phone: 650-322-8282 Web site: www.vort.com |
HighReach Learning® (HRL) | The HRL curriculum, designed for children ages 12 months to 5 years, emphasizes a blend of teacher-facilitated and child-initiated activities. The curriculum is delivered through monthly theme-based curriculum programs, integrating language, literacy, mathematics, science, creative arts, physical, health, and social-emotional domains while attending to children’s approaches to learning and individual learning styles. The curriculum provides training for teachers and materials to facilitate teachers’ documentation of student learning. | HRL Phone: 800-729-9988 Web site: www.highreach.com/Scripts/default.asp |
The following are some examples of State activities related to preschool curricula/teaching approaches from Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plans for FY 2008–2009. These examples do not include all States, but are meant to represent a range of approaches States have taken to develop/implement curricula and teaching approaches for preschool care and education. Minor revisions were incorporated to enhance readability. CCDF Plans are available on NCCIC’s Web site at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/ stateplan/stateplan-intro.html.
Adventures in Learning is a comprehensive curriculum for children from three to five featuring 40 topics of study in 9 focus areas. The curriculum can also be a supplement to an established curriculum and features 40 topics of study in nine focus areas. Each topic is introduced with familiar children’s books and has a strong language and literacy emphasis. Curriculum activities within the topics of study are based on the Arkansas Early Childhood Education Framework Developmental Learning Strands and address each of the Benchmarks. Many of the resources available from the Division are included in the development of Adventures in Learning.
Adventures in Learning is a flexible curriculum that allows teachers to choose from 40 topics of study and to decide when and how long to explore the topics with the children. For each of the 40 topics of study, there is a weekly plan sheet, plus 11 additional review week plan sheets for a total of 51 plans. These weekly plan sheets are intended as a guide for teachers. Plans can be expanded to cover more than a week of study, for example, and can be adapted for individual classrooms.
The Department of Early Care and Education (EEC) is promoting the use of the LearningGames curriculum, a comprehensive package of developmentally appropriate activities that encourage concept and language development in young children from birth through age five, in family child care settings. Through one-on-one coaching and periodic monitoring visits, family child care providers are trained on how to implement the curriculum and the children in their care are assessed to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum in improving the children’s development.
EEC is collaborating with Abt Associates, MindNurture, and family child care systems to conduct a national study of the LearningGames approach in family child care systems. LearningGames is a developmental curriculum that grew out of the Abecedarian Project and is built on evidence from 30 years of research that children learn best in individual interactions with responsive caregivers who provide rich language stimulation. The curriculum consists of approximately 200 simple everyday activities to help parents and caregivers enhance the development of children birth to 60 months. The study will test this curriculum and assess its effectiveness in helping family child care providers improve children’s development. The study will also assess the difficulties of implementing a new mentoring system and identify the difficulties encountered when training and monitoring a new curriculum approach. The study is funded through a grant from the Administration for Children and Families to determine the effectiveness of implementing LearningGames in a family child care network environment. Preliminary results of the study are expected by the fall of 2007.
Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota and Lakes and Prairies Community Action Partnership, Inc., CCR&Rs deliver training opportunities which include Care to Read, Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Creative Curriculum, and Safe Active Play.
The Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS) have been correlated with the Environment Rating Scales, Head Start curriculum, K-12 curriculum, Creative Curriculum and are being used by special education to align with the objectives in individualized education plans and individual family service plans. Plans are also being made to introduce the TN-ELDS to parents and to local community agencies working with children and parents. There are additional plans being made to include the usage of the TN-ELDS in the criteria for the Report Card and Star Quality Program.
States are increasing their investment in prekindergarten education and are giving guidelines about the use of evidence-based curricula. These guidelines encourage child initiative, individualization, and direct instruction and at the same time are directly tied to individual assessment, program evaluation, and professional development. The following is information about State guidance on curricula from selected States.
Curriculum | Publisher |
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The Core Knowledge Preschool | CORE Knowledge Foundation |
Little Treasures/Treasures | MacMillan-McGraw-Hill |
Opening the World of Learning | Pearson Early Learning |
Creative Curriculum | Teaching Strategies, Inc. |
Houghton Mifflin PreK | Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company |
Success for All Kinder Corner | Success for All Foundation |
This resource is available at http://marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisions/child_care/preschool_curriculum/matrix.htm. Additional information about Preschool Curriculum Project is available at http://marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisions/child_care/preschool_curriculum
The State Preschool Program section of the Missouri Starting at 3 Web site has the following information about curricula choices:
2.1.10 The program must adopt one of the three approved research-based curriculums (High/Scope, Project Construct, or The Creative Curriculum). Lead teachers and teacher assistants in the MPP [Missouri Preschool Project] classroom must be trained in the curriculum.
This information is available at www.startingat3.org/state_laws/statelawsMOdetail.html.
The report is available at www.pde.state.pa.us/early_childhood/lib/early_childhood/Build_9-06_AssessB-8.pdf. The accompanying tables are available at www.pde.state.pa.us/early_childhood/lib/early_childhood/Assessment_curriculum.pdf.
Updated September 2008