Teaching Strategies for Early Numeracy (Primary grades)

Teaching Math to Young Children (lifted from U.S. Department of Education)

Teach number and operations using a developmental progression.
 First, provide opportunities for children to practice recognizing the total number of objects in
small collections (one to three items) and labeling them with a number word without needing to
count them.
 Next, promote accurate one-to-one counting as a means of identifying the total number of items
in a collection.
 Once children can recognize or count collections, provide opportunities for children to use
number words and counting to compare quantities.
 Encourage children to label collections with number words and numerals.
 Once children develop these fundamental number skills, encourage them to solve basic problems.

Teach geometry, patterns, measurement, and data analysis using a developmental progression.
 Help children to recognize, name, and compare shapes, and then teach them to combine and
separate shapes.
 Encourage children to look for and identify patterns, and then teach them to extend, correct, and
create patterns.
 Promote children’s understanding of measurement by teaching them to make direct comparisons
and to use both informal, and nonstandard (e.g., the child’s hand or foot) and formal or standard
(e.g., a ruler) units and tools.
 Help children to collect and organize information, and then teach them to represent that
information graphically.

Use progress monitoring to ensure that math instruction builds on what each child knows.
 Use introductory activities, observations, and assessments to determine each child’s existing math
knowledge, or the level of understanding or skill he or she has reached on a developmental
progression.
 Tailor instruction to each child’s needs, and relate new ideas to his or her existing knowledge.
 Assess, record, and monitor each child’s progress so that instructional goals and methods can be
adjusted as needed.

Teach children to view and describe their world mathematically.

 Encourage children to use informal methods to represent math concepts, processes, and solutions.
 Help children link formal math vocabulary, symbols, and procedures to their informal knowledge
or experiences.
 Use open-ended questions to prompt children to apply their math knowledge.
 Encourage children to recognize and talk about math in everyday situations.

Dedicate time each day to teaching math, and integrate math instruction throughout the school day.
 Plan daily instruction targeting specific math concepts and skills.
 Embed math in classroom routines and activities.
 Highlight math within topics of study across the curriculum.
 Create a math-rich environment where children can recognize and meaningfully apply math.
 Use games to teach math concepts and skills and to give children practice in applying them.

The Learning Trajectories Approach (by Julie Sarama and Douglas H. Clements)
A. Learning Trajectories
Math learning trajectories have three parts: a mathematical goal, a developmental path along which
children’s math knowledge grows to reach that goal, and a set of instructional tasks, or activities, for each
level of children’s understanding along that path to help them become proficient in that level before
moving on to the next level.

 Goal. Goals should include the big ideas of math, such as “numbers can be used to tell us how
many, describe order, and measure” and “geometry can be used to understand and to represent the
objects, directions, and locations in our world, and the relationship between them” (Clements,
Sarama, & DiBiase 2004). In this article, we look at the goal of knowing how to solve a variety of
addition and subtraction problems.

 Developmental path. The second part of a learning trajectory consists of levels of thinking, each
more sophisticated than the last, leading to achieving the mathematical goal. That is, the
 developmental path describes a typical learning route children follow in developing
understanding of and skill in a particular mathematics topic. Learning trajectories are important
because young children’s ideas and their interpretations of situations are different from those of
adults. Teachers must interpret what the child is doing and thinking and attempt to see the
situation from the child’s viewpoint. Knowledge of developmental paths enhances teachers’
understanding of children’s thinking, helping teachers assess children’s level of understanding
and offer instructional activities at that level. Similarly, effective teachers consider the
instructional tasks from the child’s perspective.

 Instructional tasks. The third part of a learning trajectory consists of sets of instructional tasks or
activities matched to each level of thinking in a developmental progression. The tasks are
designed to help children learn the ideas and practice the skills needed to master that level.
Teachers use instructional tasks to promote children’s growth from one level to the next

B. Teaching Challenging and Interesting Math

The importance of math learning in the primary grades, all children’s potential to learn math, and
teachers’ need to understand children’s learning development—have implications for teaching primary
grade math well. The following approach is suggested:
 Know and use learning trajectories.
 Include a wide variety of instructional activities. The learning trajectories provide a guide as to
which activities are likely to challenge children to invent new strategies and build new
knowledge.
 Use a combination of teaching strategies. One effective approach is to (a) discuss a problem with
a group, (b) follow up by having children work in pairs, and then (c) have the children share
solution strategies back with the group. Discuss strategies with children in pairs and individually.
Differentiate instruction by giving groups or individual children different problem types.

Strategies to Improve All Students’ Mathematics Learning and Achievement (by Arthur, C., Badertscher, E.,
Goldenberg, P., Moeller, B., McLeod, M., Nikula, J., & Reed, K. (2017). Strategies to improve all students’ mathematics learning
and achievement. Waltham, MA: EDC.)

A. Five Key Characteristics of Effective Diversity Training for Teachers

1. Build understanding of assets of other cultures. If you are from a dominant culture, it is easy to
note differences between your culture and that of others. Many of these differences are viewed
with suspicion, which should come as no surprise given that to examine them in a positive light
might threaten the cultural norms you hold dear. Our cultural norms are not all good or often even
productive, nor are the norms of non-dominant cultures all bad.

Understanding and honoring the norms of other cultures is one critical pathway to meeting the
needs of diverse learners. Stories and the spoken word, the importance of extended family,
working together, the use of rhythm and song in daily life, privileging passionate expression,
prizing diplomacy…all of these values and norms are, to some extent, challenging to our
dominant culture and education system.

2. Challenge “deficit perspectives” of cultures of color. We don’t just want to understand and
value other perspectives. We must work against the devaluing of other cultures. Unfortunately,
prejudice is natural—I hold prejudiced views, you do, we all do. The prejudices that we develop
are purely a result of socialization. By default, the dominant culture becomes the “objective”
perspective through which members of the dominant culture view other norms. Of course the
dominant culture’s view is not objective, nor is it better; it happens to be espoused by those
currently in power.

It is important for diversity trainings to help us tease apart the aspects of our socialization that are
the result of dominant cultural beliefs. For example, a skilled diversity trainer can guide teachers
in pinpointing the extent to which student success in mathematics stems from coherence or
disconnects between their cultural norms (e.g., communal effort) and school mathematics norms
(e.g., individual effort or competition). The most beautiful piece I have ever heard about
challenging deficit perspectives is Gloria Ladson-Billings’ spoken word piece “Justification,”
where she highlights why she engages in research with black youth.

3. Demonstrate how the system itself works to maintain difference. As a part of the dominant
culture, I don’t have to think about my culture. Diversity trainings play a key role in helping us
 clearly see and question the status quo, they help us see how we all, with or without intent, have a
role in maintaining the system because of how the system has shaped us. Acknowledging our own
role is an important step in identifying strategies to improve mathematics education for students
of color.

4. Recognize that teachers want what is best for their students but need support. Sometimes
teachers so acutely want the best for their students that they do things like making the curriculum
easier so kids can feel successful. This often happens when teachers have been socialized by the
system to see certain children as less capable.

Teachers are incredibly caring, yet some of them give up on reaching all students because the
system has failed in helping them truly meet students’ needs. If we do right by teachers—by
providing them with opportunities to learn and the resources and support they need to help all
students excel—then they will be prepared to do right by all their students.

5. Focus on learning how to learn in practice. The essential piece to doing right by teachers
means empowering them to learn in and from practice, which also means arming them with the
tools to challenge the dominant system. There is no silver bullet, but we can help them critically
analyze their situation and make purposeful decisions that benefit all of their students.

As the best educators know, teaching is all about tackling and solving problems through study,
experimentation, refinement, re-study, and so on. That means that diversity training, as well as all
other forms of professional development, needs to help teachers be learners for their whole
careers, teachers who learn from students, who learn from families, who learn from other
cultures, and who are willing to try and at times fail in order to get it right in the long-run. Just
like we need to train our students to be learners, we have to teach teachers to be learners in
practice.

B. Math for All: High-Quality Mathematics Instruction for Students with Disabilities
Following the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1997), we define disability broadly, to
include mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language
impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), and serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic
impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities
and developmental delays.
While serving different audiences (elementary versus middle-school teachers) and covering
different mathematics topics, both programs utilize several common approaches to professional
learning, including:
 Fostering collaboration between general and special education teachers
 Engaging teachers in planning, and reflecting on, mathematics classroom practice
 Helping teachers better understand individual students’ strengths and needs in mathematics

As powerful as the collaboration between general and special education teachers can be, it is not a
way of working that will come naturally for all teachers. As teachers often spend many hours working
in isolation, they may need to learn how to collaborate with others. There are a number of strategies
that we use in the Math for All PD to facilitate teachers’ work with each other, including:
 Establishing a community of trust through ice-breaker activities and norms for working with each
other
 Providing teachers with a common framework and language for understanding students’
mathematics learning and development
 Introducing teachers to a process for collaborative lesson planning that scaffolds their interactions
and work with each other

C. Helping Children from Low-Income Communities Become Young Mathematicians

Games are both simple to use and very engaging in the world of Mathematics. Some are quick
and use everyday materials; others use a game board and require more extended play. All of the
games share the following characteristics:
 They can be repeated many times, and their difficulty can be decreased or increased to sustain
challenge as children gain proficiency.
 They engage children in problem solving, puzzling, and discussing strategies as they play.
 They collectively focus on counting, operations, algebraic thinking, and geometry.
 They promote children’s persistence.
 Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP)
Lifted from: Mathematics: Menu of Best Practices and Strategies by Gayle Pauley (2019)
Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 by the National
Association for the Education of Young Children (2009)

The National Research Council (2002) describes five interdependent strands of mathematical
proficiency:
 Conceptual understanding – comprehension of math
concepts, operations, and relationships
 Procedural fluency – skill in carrying out procedures
flexibly and accurately
 Strategic competence – ability to formulate, represent, and
solve problems
 Adaptive reasoning – capacity for logical thought,
explanation, and justification
 Productive disposition – inclination to see mathematics as Reprinted with permission from Adding It Up:
Helping Children Learn Mathematics, (2001) by the
worthwhile and view oneself as mathematically capable National Academy of Sciences, Courtesy of the
National Academies Press, Washington, D.C

Mathematics Teaching Practices

Teachers, coaches, and specialists in mathematics including any interventionists who will be
working to assist children in their mathematics study can implement the following eight strategies. The
mathematical teaching practices reflect the range of instructional strategies and approaches necessary to
promote deep learning of mathematics.
1. Establish mathematics goals to focus learning.
2. Implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving.
3. Use and connect mathematical representations.
4. Facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse.
5. Pose purposeful questions.
6. Build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding.
7. Support productive struggle in learning mathematics.
8. Elicit and use evidence of student thinking.
Depth of Knowledge
Students who are targeted for intervention are sometimes put into remedial skills-based
programs that lack significant rigor. While fluency is an important goal for intervention, evidence
suggests that teaching applicable use of strategies is more effective than rote memorization. Depth of
knowledge refers to a framework of rigor that classifies tasks through levels of increasing cognitive
demand. Webb’s (2002) model has four levels:

Teachers should provide all students access to mathematical tasks at a variety of rigor levels
emphasizing the use of the mathematical practices. This will further enhance their mathematical inquiry
and their ability to indulge in solving problems.
Intervention Materials
According to the What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide for Assisting Students Struggling
with Mathematics, intervention materials should be reviewed by experts knowledgeable in mathematics
instruction. Materials should meet four criteria:
1. The materials integrate computation with solving problems and visual representations rather than
teaching computation apart from problem-solving.
2. The materials stress the reasoning underlying calculation methods and focus student attention on
making sense of the mathematics.
3. The materials ensure that students build algorithmic proficiency.
4. The materials include frequent review for both consolidating and understanding the links of the
mathematical principles.

A systematic curriculum builds proficiency gradually by presenting content in a logical sequence

with multiple models to solve problems, numerous opportunities for practice and application, and
opportunities for students to think aloud to explain concepts and the reasoning behind the procedures.

Classroom Centered Practices in Mathematics

A. Culturally Responsive Teaching
To achieve a high-quality public education for all students, all educators must be able to
work effectively in diverse settings. To become effective in diverse contexts, educators must be
willing to learn about systemic racism and inequities in the public education system and to develop
culturally competent skills and mindsets (EOGOAC, 2017).
Margery Ginsberg suggests a motivational framework for culturally responsive teaching
which can support learning. The framework is made up of four essential motivational conditions,
which Ginsberg has found to act “individually and in concert to enhance students’ intrinsic
motivation to learn.” The conditions are:
1. Establishing Inclusion—the teacher creates a learning environment in which students and
teachers feel respected by and connected to one another.
2. Developing a Positive Attitude—the teacher creates favorable disposition among students
toward learning through personal cultural relevance and student choice.
3. Enhancing Meaning—the teacher creates engaging and challenging learning experiences.
4. Engendering Competence—the teacher creates a shared understanding that students have
effectively and authentically learned something they value.

Teaching mathematics with a culturally responsive lens means that the teacher creates an
inclusive environment, makes the learning relevant with some aspects of student choice, plans and
enacts learning activities that are engaging and challenging, and supports students in knowing what
they have learned and why it is of value.
B. Mathematically Productive Instructional Routines
Mathematically Productive Instructional Routines (MPIRs) are high leverage instructional
routines that focus on student ideas as central to learning, make student thinking visible, and
provide opportunities for mathematical discourse thereby allowing opportunities for students to
make sense of mathematics.
MPIRs can be implemented with students from pre-school to college and are not tied to any
curriculum. It is beneficial to use routines daily, or multiple times a week. Mathematical routines can
cover many different mathematical ideas and can be used across a variety of concepts and topics.
While there are several different formats for these routines, all Mathematically Productive
Instructional Routines share the following attributes:

They are routine. MPIRs are brief and used frequently. Students and teachers engage in these
activities often enough that the routine itself is learned and can be engaged in quickly and
meaningfully. The predictable structure creates a safe time and space for students to take risks
and explore and share their ideas.
They are instructional. While classrooms also rely on routines designed to manage student
behavior, transitions, and supplies, MPIRs are routines that focus on student learning. MPIRs
provide an opportunity for students to share their mathematical ideas and make connections and
deepen their understanding of math concepts as they listen and respond to other students.
Routines also provide an opportunity for the teacher to formatively assess students.
They are mathematically productive. Prompts for each MPIR are carefully chosen to engage
students in making sense of important mathematics concepts and allow opportunities for
students to enact the Standards for Mathematical Practice. Student discussions highlight central
mathematical ideas. Students gain important insights and develop positive dispositions about
engaging in mathematics through their participation in MPIRs.

Mathematically Productive Instructional Routines create a structure where teachers listen

to, build on, and respond to student thinking. Using such routines frequently can support the
development of a classroom culture in which sense-making is at the heart of all learning, and
mistakes are expected, respected, and inspected. The purpose of MPIRs is to provide frequent
 opportunities for students to engage with mathematics in meaningful ways that deepen
understanding and support a growth mindset.

Number Talks
Number Talks are an example of a mathematically productive instructional routine that can
support the development of a classroom culture in which students feel encouraged to share their
thinking, and teachers become skilled at listening to their students’ thinking.
Number talks are the best pedagogical method for developing number sense and helping
students see the flexible and conceptual nature of mathematics (Boaler, 2015).

Clothesline
This instructional routine supports students in developing and deepening their
understanding of numbers and number relationships with the ability to manipulate numbers in space
on an open number line.
In the Clothesline routine, a string is displayed to represent a number line. Based on the
desired topic of mathematics to be explored, algebraic expressions, angles, decimals, fractions, whole
numbers, or various quantities are added to the open number line. Students move the quantities or
expressions, demonstrating and developing their sense of number relationships.

Ten Minute Talks

Ten Minute Talks provide students with opportunities to verbally respond to a
mathematical term, phrase, situation, or prompt, encouraging students to engage in mathematical
discourse and accessing the Standards of Mathematical Practice. In this routine, after private think
time, students share their thinking without guidance and feedback from the teacher. Students
explore mathematical concepts with one another through rich dialogue surrounding a given topic.
In order for students to openly engage in this routine, students must feel safe and secure in
the learning environment, thus norms for effective and appropriate mathematical discourse should be
established. The goal of Ten Minute Talks is for students to construct viable arguments and critique
the reasoning of others through dialogue surrounding a given mathematical prompt.

Notice and Wonder

Notice and Wonder is a routine in which students are provided the opportunity to critique,
question, and explore a given mathematical stimulus. In this routine, the teacher provides the
stimulus, followed by ample think time for students to consider, “What do you notice? What do you
wonder?” Students are then invited into partner conversations to take turns sharing their noticings
and wonderings. Following the partner discussion is a whole group discussion focusing on the
noticings. The process is repeated with wonderings and these questions can influence the focus of
subsequent lessons.

Games
Mathematics games may be used for extended learning time to support instruction and to
help students meet the state standards. Some research has found that game-based learning is an
effective way to enhance motivation and performance.
Choosing which game to play depends on the instructional goal and learning target. Games
can be used both for instruction and practice. Games may also give students the opportunity to apply
new learning. Games may not be appropriate in all situations and are more effective if they are
embedded in instruction and include debriefing and feedback. Also, games should be used as
adjuncts and aids, not as stand-alone instruction.

Technology
When used strategically, technology can provide students with greater access to conceptual
understanding and procedural fluency. Technology can provide students with additional
representations of mathematical ideas, allow inquiry-based exploration, reinforce procedural
learning and fluency, and provide efficient screening and diagnostic assessment data. Teachers must
monitor student progress and adjust instruction based on formative assessment in all formats.

Core considerations in developmentally appropriate practice

In all aspects of their work with children, early childhood practitioners must consider these three areas
of knowledge in making decisions:
1. What is known about child development and learning—referring to knowledge of age-related
characteristics that permits general predictions about what experiences are likely to best
promote children’s learning and development.
 2. What is known about each child as an individual—referring to what practitioners learn about
each child that has implications for how best to adapt and be responsive to that individual
variation.
3. What is known about the social and cultural contexts in which children live—referring to the
values, expectations, and behavioral and linguistic conventions that shape children’s lives at
home and in their communities that practitioners must strive to understand in order to ensure
that learning experiences in the program or school are meaningful, relevant, and respectful for
each child and family.

Principles of child development and learning that inform practice

Developmentally appropriate practice is informed by what we know from theory and literature about
how children develop and learn.
1. All the domains of development and learning—physical, social and emotional, and cognitive—are
important, and they are closely interrelated. Children’s development and learning in one domain
influence and are influenced by what takes place in other domains.
2. Many aspects of children’s learning and development follow well documented sequences, with
later abilities, skills, and knowledge building on those already acquired.
3. Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as at uneven rates
across different areas of a child’s individual functioning.
4. Development and learning result from a dynamic and continuous interaction of biological
maturation and experience.
5. Early experiences have profound effects, both cumulative and delayed, on a child’s development
and learning; and optimal periods exist for certain types of development and learning to occur.
6. Development proceeds toward greater complexity, self-regulation, and symbolic or
representational capacities.
7. Children develop best when they have secure, consistent relationships with responsive adults
and opportunities for positive relationships with peers.
8. Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts.
9. Always mentally active in seeking to understand the world around them, children learn in a
variety of ways; a wide range of teaching strategies and interactions are effective in supporting all
these kinds of learning.
10. Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as for promoting language,
cognition, and social competence.
11. Development and learning advance when children are challenged to achieve at a level just beyond
their current mastery, and also when they have many opportunities to practice newly acquired
skills.
12. Children’s experiences shape their motivation and approaches to learning, such as persistence,
initiative, and flexibility; in turn, these dispositions and behaviors affect their learning and
development.

Guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice

Practice that promotes young children’s optimal learning and development—what this statement terms
developmentally appropriate practice—is grounded both in the research on child development and
learning and in the knowledge base regarding educational effectiveness in early care and education.

The following guidelines address decisions that early childhood professionals make in the five key (and
interrelated) areas of practice: (1) creating a caring community of learners, (2) teaching to enhance development and
learning, (3) planning curriculum to achieve important goals, (4) assessing children’s development and learning, and (5)
establishing reciprocal relationships with families.

1. Creating a caring community of learners

a. Each member of the community is valued by the others. By observing and participating in the
community, children learn about themselves and their world and also how to develop
positive, constructive relationships with other people. Each child has unique strengths,
interests, and perspectives to contribute. Children learn to respect and acknowledge
differences of all kinds and to value each person.

b. Relationships are an important context through which children develop and learn. Children
construct their understandings about the world through interactions with other members of
the community (both adults and peers). Opportunities to play together, collaborate on
investigations and projects, and talk with peers and adults enhance children’s development
and learning. Interacting in small groups provides a context for children to extend their
thinking, build on one another’s ideas, and cooperate to solve problems.
 c. Each member of the community respects and is accountable to the others to behave in a way
that is conducive to the learning and well-being of all.
d. Practitioners design and maintain the physical environment to protect the health and safety
of the learning community members, specifically in support of young children’s physiological
needs for activity, sensory stimulation, fresh air, rest, and nourishment.
e. Practitioners ensure members of the community feel psychologically safe. The overall social
and emotional climate is positive.

2. Teaching to enhance development and learning

From birth, a child’s relationship and interaction with adults are critical determinants of
development and learning.
The following describe teaching practices that are developmentally appropriate for young children
from birth through the primary grades.
a. Teachers are responsible for fostering the caring learning community through their teaching.
b. Teachers make it a priority to know each child well, and also the people most significant in
the child’s life.
c. Teachers take responsibility for knowing what the desired goals for the program are and how
the program’s curriculum is intended to achieve those goals. They carry out that curriculum
through their teaching in ways that are geared to young children in general and these
children in particular.
d. Teachers plan for learning experiences that effectively implement a comprehensive
curriculum so that children attain key goals across the domains (physical, social, emotional,
cognitive) and across the disciplines (language literacy, including English acquisition,
mathematics, social studies, science, art, music, physical education, and health).
e. Teachers plan the environment, schedule, and daily activities to promote each child’s
learning and development.
f. Teachers possess an extensive repertoire of skills and strategies they are able to draw on, and
they know how and when to choose among them, to effectively promote each child’s learning
and development at that moment.
g. Teachers know how and when to scaffold children’s learning—that is, providing just enough
assistance to enable each child to perform at a skill level just beyond what the child can do
on his or her own, then gradually reducing the support as the child begins to master the skill,
and setting the stage for the next challenge.
h. Teachers know how and when to use the various learning formats/contexts most
strategically.
i. When children have missed some of the learning opportunities necessary for school success
(most often children from lowincome households), programs and teachers provide them
with even more extended, enriched, and intensive learning experiences than are provided to
their peers.
j. Teachers make experiences in their classrooms accessible and responsive to all children and
their needs—including children who are English language learners, have special needs or
disabilities, live in poverty or other challenging circumstances, or are from different cultures.

3. Planning curriculum to achieve important goals

The curriculum consists of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and understandings children are to
acquire and the plans for the learning experiences through which those gains will occur.
Implementing a curriculum always yields outcomes of some kind—but which outcomes those are
and how a program achieves them are critical.

The following describe curriculum planning that is developmentally appropriate for children from
birth through the primary grades.
a. Desired goals that are important in young children’s learning and development have been
identified and clearly articulated.
b. The program has a comprehensive, effective curriculum that targets the identified goals,
including all those foundational for later learning and school success.
c. Teachers use the curriculum framework in their planning to ensure there is ample attention
to important learning goals and to enhance the coherence of the classroom experience for
children.
d. Teachers make meaningful connections a priority in the learning experiences they provide
children, to reflect that all learners, and certainly young children, learn best when the
concepts, language, and skills they encounter are related to something they know and care
about, and when the new learnings are themselves interconnected in meaningful, coherent
ways.
 e. Teachers collaborate with those teaching in the preceding and subsequent grade levels,
sharing information about children and working to increase the continuity and coherence
across ages/grades, while protecting the integrity and appropriateness of practices at each
level.
f. In the care of infants and toddlers, practitioners plan curriculum (although they may not
always call it that). They develop plans for the important routines and experiences that will
promote children’s learning and development and enable them to attain desired goals.

4. Assessing children’s development and learning

Assessment of children’s development and learning is essential for teachers and programs in order to
plan, implement, and evaluate the effective ness of the classroom experiences they provide.
Assessment also is a tool for monitoring children’s progress toward a program’s desired goals.

The following describe sound assessment that is developmentally appropriate for children from birth
through the primary grades.
a. Assessment of young children’s progress and achievements is ongoing, strategic, and
purposeful. The results of assessment are used to inform the planning and implementing of
experiences, to communicate with the child’s family, and to evaluate and improve teachers’
and the program’s effectiveness.
b. Assessment focuses on children’s progress toward goals that are developmentally and
educationally significant.
c. There is a system in place to collect, make sense of, and use the assessment information to
guide what goes on in the classroom (formative assessment). Teachers use this information
in planning curriculum and learning experiences and in moment-tomoment interactions
with children—that is, teachers continually engage in assessment for the purpose of
improving teaching and learning.
d. The methods of assessment are appropriate to the developmental status and experiences of
young children, and they recognize individual variation in learners and allow children to
demonstrate their competence in different ways.
e. Assessment looks not only at what children can do independently but also at what they can
do with assistance from other children or adults. Therefore, teachers assess children as they
participate in groups and other situations that are providing scaffolding.
f. In addition to this assessment by teachers, input from families as well as children’s own
evaluations of their work are part of the program’s overall assessment strategy.
g. Assessments are tailored to a specific purpose and used only for the purpose for which they
have been demonstrated to produce reliable, valid information.
h. Decisions that have a major impact on children, such as enrollment or placement, are never
made on the basis of results from a single developmental assessment or screening
instrument/device but are based on multiple sources of relevant information, including that
obtained from observations of and interactions with children by teachers and parents (and
specialists, as needed).
i. When a screening or other assessment identifies children who may have special learning or
developmental needs, there is appropriate follow-up, evaluation, and, if indicated, referral.
Diagnosis or labeling is never the result of a brief screening or one-time assessment. Families
should be involved as important sources of information.

5. Establishing reciprocal relationships with families

Developmentally appropriate practices derive from deep knowledge of child development
principles and of the program’s children in particular, as well as the context within which each
of them is living.

The following describe the kind of relationships that are developmentally appropriate for
children (from birth through the primary grades), in which family members and practitioners
work together as members of the learning community.

a. In reciprocal relationships between practitioners and families, there is mutual respect,

cooperation, shared responsibility, and negotiation of conflicts toward achievement of
shared goals.
b. Practitioners work in collaborative partnerships with families, establishing and
maintaining regular, frequent two-way communication with them (with families who do
not speak English, teachers should use the language of the home if they are able or try to
enlist the help of bilingual volunteers).
c. Family members are welcome in the setting, and there are multiple opportunities for
family participation. Families participate in program decisions about their children’s care
and education.
d. Teachers acknowledge a family’s choices and goals for the child and respond with
sensitivity and respect to those preferences and concerns, but without abdicating the
responsibility that early childhood practitioners have to support children’s learning and
development through developmentally appropriate practices.
e. Teachers and the family share with each other their knowledge of the particular child
and understanding of child development and learning as part of day-to-day
communication and in planned conferences. Teachers support families in ways that
maximally promote family decision-making capabilities and competence.
f. Practitioners involve families as a source of information about the child (before program
entry and on an ongoing basis) and engage them in the planning for their child.
g. The program links families with a range of services, based on identified resources,
priorities, and concerns.