The Georgia Early
Learning and Development Standards (GELDS) support the growth of the entire
child, from birth to age five. These standards focus on physical development
and motor skills, social and emotional development, approaches to play and
learning, communication, language and literacy, and cognitive development and
general knowledge.
The
purpose of the GELDS is to help guide teachers who work with children during
this period in their lives to ensure that quality learning experiences and
provides, and well as helping to guide the parents in the support of their children’s
growth, development, and learning potential. The GELDS also lay the groundwork
for applying the standards in pre-service training, professional development, curriculum
planning, and child outcome documentation. They also help to create a universal
language for all stakeholders to use regarding the learning and development of children,
as well as raising public awareness about the significance of the early years
as the foundation for school success and lifelong learning (Center on Enhancing
Early Learning Outcomes, 2016). The information can be accessed by visiting GELDS. This program is also similar
to the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE), as one of its programs focuses
on supporting teachers and leader effectiveness to improve student learning in
every classroom in the state (Georgia Department of Education, 2015).
The
National Association for the Education of Young and Children (NAEYC) is one way
similar to the standards of the GELDS in the aspect of involving those who are
around and work with children in the process of carrying out the standards for
healthy development and learning. The intentions are also like the GELDS in
other ways. Another way being to work with individuals regarding child
assessment practices and implementing planning and professional development.
Focusing on the actual assessments of children is needed more in education, due
to over-assessing and creating assessments that are authentic. As Bagnato
(2011) stated, assessment
information should be immediately helpful to teachers and other providers as
they work to identify functional learning targets that are matched to the
child’s skills and guide systematic intervention.
A
way in which they’re different is that the NAEYC seems to also put time into
creating satisfying learning experiences and better educational and developmental
outcomes for all young children. Investments are also being stimulated to
create assessable, affordable, high-quality learning environments that support
the implementation of excellent early childhood curriculum, assessment and
program evaluation. The GELDS does
not appear to focus as much on the assessments and learning experiences as much as the NAEYC, however they still do
shed light on its importance. Both programs could possibly focus on the
importance of feedback regarding the assessments given. To help create a
beneficial learning experience for all students, design one with allows for
enhanced opportunities for in which to give the most specific, individualized
feedback (Wheatley, McInch & Fleming, 2015).
While
both policies have the same intention when it comes to the healthy development
and learning of our children, their approaches tend to lean toward different
ways of reading the intended goal.
Some
questions that may be generated regarding this information may be:
How are schools ensuring that their curriculum and
professional learning for teachers is effective in promoting healthy
development for children?
Are the created assessments effective in preparing the
children for the Georgia Milestone test in April? What measures are put into
place to provide evidence to whether they are or are not?
Are these assessments created by people from the GELDS
or NAEYC? Who is making the assessments for the children?
References
Bagnato, S. J.,
McLean, M., Macy, M., & Neisworth, J. T. (2011). Identifying Instructional
Targets for Early
Childhood via Authentic Assessment: Alignment of Professional Standards and
Practice-Based Evidence. Journal Of Early Intervention, 33(4),
243-253. doi:10.1177/1053815111427565
Center on Enhancing Learning Outcomes (2016).
State-by-state. Retrieved from
Georgia Department of Education (GADOE). (2015).
Retrived from http://www.gadoe.org
National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC). (2003). Early childhood
curriculum,
assessment, and program evaluation. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/postitions/CAPEex-pand.pdf
Wheatley, L. l.,
McInch, A. a., Fleming, S. s., & Lord, R. r. (2015). Feeding back to feed
forward: Formative assessment as a platform for effective
learning. Kentucky Journal Of Higher Education Policy & Practice, 3(2),
34-63.
