Guidelines for Appropriate Curriculum Content and Assessment in Programs Serving Children Ages 3 Through 8

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) jointly developed these guidelines to inform decisions about curriculum content and assessment in programs serving children 3 through 8 years of age. The purpose of this document is to guide teachers and supervisors to: (1) make informed decisions about appropriate curriculum content and assessment, (2) evaluate existing curriculum and assessment practices, and (3) advocate for more appropriate approaches. This document is designed to assist teachers and administrators with only one part of their complex jobs—their important roles as curriculum decision makers and evaluators. Curriculum decisions not only involve questions about how children learn, but also what learning is appropriate and when it is best learned (Katz, 1989). In addition, the way learning is assessed directly influences what is taught and when it is expected to be learned. Therefore, these guidelines address both curriculum and assessment. The early childhood profession believes that curriculum and assessment should be planned based on the best knowledge of theory and research about how children develop and learn, with attention given to individual children’s needs and interests in relation to program goals. Curriculum is an organized framework that delineates the content children are to learn, the processes through which children achieve the identified curricular goals, what teachers do to help children achieve these goals, and the context in which teaching and learning occur. The early childhood profession defines curriculum in its broadest sense, encompassing prevailing theories, approaches, and models. Assessment is the process of observing, recording and otherwise documenting the work children do and how they do it, as a basis for a variety of educational decisions that affect the child, including planning for groups and individual children and communicating with parents. Assessment encompasses the many forms of evaluation available to educational decision makers. Assessment in the service of curriculum and learning requires teachers to observe and analyze regularly what the children are doing in light of the content goals and the learning processes.