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Growing Professionals: Kentucky's Guide to Early Childhood Development

Support your growth, elevate practice, and advance high-quality learning for young children across the Commonwealth

Core Content Standards

Early childhood and school-age youth development professionals are grounded in an understanding of the development of all children regardless of age (birth through 12) across developmental domains (physical, cognitive, social-emotional, and linguistic)

  1. They understand each child as an individual with unique developmental variations.
  2. They understand that children learn and develop within relationships and within multiple abilities and contexts, including families, cultures, languages, communities, and society.
  3. They use this multidimensional knowledge to make evidence-based decisions about how to carry out their responsibilities.
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Early childhood and school-age youth development professionals provide a safe and healthy environment.

  1. They must adhere to federal and state health, safety, and nutrition ​regulations, including special education standards and regulations.
  2. They promote both physical and mental well-being to keep adults and children healthy, safe, and supported to reduce risks in the environment.​
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Early childhood and school-age youth development professionals identify, model, and participate as members of the early childhood profession.

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  1. They serve as informed advocates for children, families, and the early childhood and school-age youth development profession.
  2. They know and follow the applicable national codes of ethics.
  3. They have professional skills that include competency in formal and informal verbal and written communication and emerging technology, which effectively support their relationships and work with children, families, and colleagues.
  4. Professional development plans are collaboratively created and updated at least annually and as needed for continuous professional growth specific to their individual needs.
  5. They engage in continuous, collaborative learning to inform teaching practices that are responsive to the learning needs of each child.
  6. They develop and sustain the habit of reflective and intentional practice in their daily work with children as members of the early childhood and school-age youth development profession.
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Early childhood and school-age youth development professionals know that developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate environments and curricula have a positive impact on the whole child.

  1. They create nurturing, engaging, accessible indoor and outdoor environments, which are inquirybased and play-based enabling children to thrive.
  2. They know and demonstrate that positive, caring, supportive relationships between peers and nurturing adults are the foundation for their work with children.
  3. They use varied approaches to positive guidance strategies for individual children and groups to help children learn skills for self-regulation, resolving problems, developing empathy and positive attitudes about learning.
  4. They plan individualized, diverse activities and experiences to aid children's development across applicable learning standards and developmental milestones.
  5. They link observation and documentation to curriculum planning to meet the needs of each individual child.
  6. They select and implement an evidenced-based curriculum that is culturally and linguistically responsive to the needs and abilities of the children and families they serve.
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Ongoing assessment and observation help early childhood and school-age youth development professionals help evaluate all areas of a child's growth and development.

  1. They ensure children (birth through 5) receive a developmental screening and use results to determine the need for further evaluation and interventions.
  2. They observe, assess, interpret, and document children's skills, behaviors, and abilities.
  3. They use screening and assessment (birth through five) approaches and tools that are ethically grounded and developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate to document developmental progress and promote positive outcomes for each child.
  4. They build collaborative partnerships with families and professional colleagues around screening and assessment.
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Early childhood and school-age youth development professionals collaborate with the families of the children they serve.

  1. They appreciate and value the diversity in family characteristics and acknowledge families as the primary influence and are responsible for their children's development.
  2. They initiate respectful, responsive, reciprocal relationships with families to engage as partners in their children's development and learning.
  3. They use community resources to support children and families' learning and development.
  4. They build connections between early learning settings, schools, and community organizations and agencies. These connections will support seamless transitions to promote continuity of care.
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Early childhood and school-age youth development professionals sustain a program that is respectful and responsive to children and families using all available resources to deliver comprehensive services.

  1. They participate in a collaborative effort of ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the program's daily practices for continuous quality improvement.
  2. Evaluation of the program should include input from staff, families, and the community.
  3. Programs must develop policies that are equitable and promote recommended practices.
  4. They engage in a collaborative staff evaluation that includes feedback from the educator and various stakeholders.
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