Criteria

Evidence from research demonstrates the curriculum has been associated with children's positive learning outcomes. The curriculum has been implemented and directly studied in early childhood programs. The research showed significant, positive effects on children's developmental outcomes. Evidence of effectiveness has been obtained in rigorous research studies, such as randomized controlled trials or regression discontinuity designs. Research studies on the curriculum have optimally included multiple, diverse groups of children and providers and educators.

The curriculum provides research-based interactions and teaching practices to support children's development and learning. A research-based curriculum is consistent with research on how children develop and learn. Specifically, it promotes interactions, teaching practices, and learning experiences that research has shown to be effective in supporting children's learning and development.

The curriculum includes an organized developmental scope and sequence to support children's development and learning. A scope and sequence outline the curriculum's focus and how the plans and materials support children at different levels of development. The scope refers to the areas of development addressed by the curriculum. The sequence includes plans and materials for learning experiences that progressively build from less to more complex, with the goal of supporting children as they move through the developmental progressions. A content-rich curriculum ensures sequences of learning experiences include multiple, related opportunities for children to explore a concept or skill with increasing depth. Sequences of learning experiences should be flexible to respond to individual children's interests, strengths, and needs.

The curriculum is aligned with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) and in consideration of the CCDF Final Rule regulations. Aligning a curriculum with the ELOF identifies the extent to which it addresses ELOF domains and sub-domains. Curricula that are fully aligned with the ELOF are comprehensive and cover all areas of children's learning and development. The curriculum is culturally relevant, researched-based, and supports high-quality care as stipulated in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Final Rule.

The curriculum specifies learning goals for children. Learning goals are objectives for children's development and learning across multiple domains that are embedded in a curriculum. Developmentally appropriate learning goals are consistent with well-established developmental progressions. Learning goals are measurable and focused on skills, behaviors, and knowledge. Providers and educators should be able to use a curriculum's learning goals to individualize learning experiences for all children, such as children from diverse cultures, children who are DLLs, children who are tribal language learners, and children with disabilities or other special needs.

The curriculum provides guidance on how to set up rich learning environments and developmentally appropriate routines. Rich learning environments are nurturing spaces that support the development of all young children. They offer developmentally appropriate schedules, routines, and indoor and outdoor opportunities for choice, play, exploration, and experimentation. Learning environments include age-appropriate equipment, materials, and supplies. They also reflect home cultures and are flexible enough to support the changing ages, interests, and characteristics of a group of children over time.

The curriculum provides guidance on ongoing child assessment. Ongoing child assessment is a process of gathering information to understand and support children's development over time. It includes continued observation and documentation of children's development and learning. The curriculum describes a process for ongoing observation and documentation. It also provides supports for providers and educators to use this process.

The curriculum promotes parent and family engagement. Parent and family engagement is a collaborative and strengths-based process through which early childhood providers and educators, families, and children build positive and goal-oriented relationships. It is a shared responsibility of families and staff that is built on mutual respect for the roles and strengths each has to offer. The curriculum provides culturally and linguistically responsive strategies to communicate with families and engage them in children's learning.

The curriculum promotes rich learning experiences and interactions to support development across domains. Rich learning experiences support and extend children's skills, knowledge, and understanding of concepts. As children actively explore their learning environment through manipulating objects and investigating concepts, providers and educators interact with children to extend their exploration, thinking, and communication. Rich learning experiences are often integrated and support children's development across domains. They should be culturally and linguistically responsive and inclusive of children with disabilities and other special needs.

The curriculum supports cultural responsiveness. Cultural responsiveness is a strengths-based approach to teaching and caregiving. It is rooted in respect and appreciation for the role of culture in children's learning and development. A culturally responsive curriculum prompts providers and educators to learn about each child's strengths, abilities, experiences, and interests as developed within the child's family and culture. The curriculum provides guidance on how to modify and enhance plans and materials to build on these strengths, abilities, experiences, and interests in order to incorporate each child's culture into the program.

The curriculum supports linguistic responsiveness. Linguistic responsiveness refers to teaching practices that support the learning, development, and engagement of children from diverse linguistic backgrounds. It includes supports for continued development of children's home or tribal languages by authentically incorporating them into the learning environment. Furthermore, linguistically responsive practices can facilitate English acquisition. Scaffolding strategies support children at any level of English knowledge to fully participate in the curriculum's learning experiences and learning environment.

The curriculum provides guidance on how to individualize for children with disabilities, suspected delays, or other special needs. Individualization for children with disabilities, suspected delays, or other special needs includes providing more specialized supports for them to access and participate in learning and social experiences and activities. Specialized supports may occur in a variety of ways, such as specific teaching practices and ways of interacting with children or adaptations to daily schedules and the learning environment. Individualizing for children with disabilities or other special needs enables all children to access, participate, and thrive in early learning settings.

The curriculum offers guidance on how to individualize based on children's interests, strengths, and needs. Individualization is a process of planning and implementing learning experiences that are responsive to each child's interests, strengths, and needs. Providers and educators reflect on their observations of each child, then plan the most effective ways to support each child's learning and development. When learning experiences are tailored to children's interests, they are more engaging and meaningful to them. Because children may vary in their developmental progressions, it is also important for providers and educators to plan learning experiences that are responsive to individual strengths and needs.

The curriculum offers professional development and materials to support implementation and continuous improvement. Professional development includes gaining the knowledge and skills required for effective implementation of a curriculum. Standardized training procedures include initial and ongoing training to support education staff as they learn to implement a curriculum with fidelity. They also provide consistent content and delivery methods across training sessions. Materials to support implementation include resources that come with a curriculum to help education staff understand how to use it. The materials might also include resources to help education managers, child development specialists, and coaches support education staff to implement the curriculum effectively. Professional development and materials to support implementation and continuous improvement should be designed to benefit providers and educators with a range of backgrounds and learning styles.