North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development

Location: North Carolina, US

Authors: North Carolina Foundations Task Force

The North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development document (referred to as Foundations) works are a shared vision of educators, parents, and the state to answer the question as to what children should know prior to beginning kindergarten. The Foundations serve as a standard of goals and developmental indicators for children from birth to kindergarten. Foundations works to improve and guide the knowledge and curriculum building of teachers while establishing developmentally appropriate goals and informing parents of their child’s development.

Foundations operates under five main domains, they are; approaches to learning, emotional and social development, health and physical development, language development and communication, and cognitive development. As each domain covers a broad array of topics a goal and indicator are also added to the developmental observation in order to give specific examples and outcomes.

It is to be of note, that although Foundations allows for a greater insight into the development of a child, it is not to be used to diagnose or hold a child back. Foundations is also not to be used as a curriculum, rather it should assist the teachers in creating curriculums and compliment learning.

For more information, visit the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development website.