6.4 Early Learning and Developmental Guidelines

Lead Agencies must develop, maintain, or implement early learning and developmental guidelines appropriate for children from birth to kindergarten entry. Early learning and developmental guidelines should describe what children should know and be able to do at different ages and cover the essential domains of early childhood development, which at a minimum includes cognition, including language arts and mathematics; social, emotional, and physical development; and approaches toward learning. 6.4.1 Early learning and developmental guidelines a. Check the boxes below to certify the Lead Agency’s early learning and developmental guidelines are: i. [x] Research-based. ii. [x] Developmentally appropriate. iii. [x] Culturally and linguistically appropriate. iv. [x] Aligned with kindergarten entry. v. [x] Appropriate for all children from birth to kindergarten entry. vi. [ ] Implemented in consultation with the educational agency and the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care or similar coordinating body. vii. If any components above are not checked, describe: The SD Early Learning Guidelines document and plans for implementation and dissemination through training opportunities with child care providers have been shared with the Child and Family Services workgroup. b. Check the boxes below to certify that the required domains are included in the Lead Agency’s early learning and developmental guidelines. i. [x] Cognition, including language arts and mathematics. ii. [x] Social development. iii. [x] Emotional development. iv. [x] Physical development. v. [x] Approaches toward learning. vi. [ ] Other optional domains. Describe any optional domains: vii. If any components above are not checked, describe: This document, for children birth to age five years, also includes information on working with English Language Learners and a variety of strategies and suggestions for setting up the environment. c. When were the Lead Agency’s early learning and developmental guidelines most recently updated and for what reason? The SD Early Learning Guidelines were last updated in 2023 to be in line with the identified 5-year review plan. CCS will work with the South Dakota Head Start Collaboration Office and the Department of Education to continue to conduct a review of the Early Learning and Development Guidelines document every five years. d. Provide the Web link to the Lead Agency's early learning and developmental guidelines. https://dss.sd.gov/docs/childcare/early_learning_guidelines.pdf 6.4.2 Use of early learning and developmental guidelines a. Describe how the Lead Agency uses its early learning and developmental guidelines. The South Dakota ELG are not a curriculum or an assessment tool. They are a resource that is helpful for choosing curricula and planning daily activities. This document describes the skills and knowledge goals for children as they develop. This document does not inform which curriculum, activities, or materials to select, but rather helps guide what experiences are best suited to help children develop and learn. Once there is a good understanding of the Goals and Developmental Indicators that are important for the age/developmental level being served, providers use curriculum that will help provide appropriate play-based experiences to help children develop the skills described in the ELG. A statewide online on-demand ELG training series is available to providers at no cost. In addition, training on the ELG is embedded into other offerings such as the SD CDA Training program through the ECE agencies. The goal of these trainings is to increase caregiver’s understanding of age-appropriate expectations for children’s development and learning and increase their ability to establish goals for children’s individual development and learning and to develop age-appropriate curricula and activities. b. Check the boxes below to certify that CCDF funds are not used to develop or implement an assessment for children that: i. [x] Will be the primary or sole basis to determine a child care provider ineligible to participate in the CCDF. ii. [x] Will be used as the primary or sole basis to provide a reward or sanction for an individual provider. iii. [x] Will be used as the primary or sole method for assessing program effectiveness. iv. [x] Will be used to deny children eligibility to participate in CCDF. v. If any components above are not checked, describe: 7 Quality Improvement Activities The quality of child care directly affects children’s safety and healthy development while in care settings, and high-quality child care can be foundational across the lifespan. Lead Agencies may use CCDF for quality improvement activities for all children in care, not just those receiving child care subsidies. OCC will collect the most detailed Lead Agency information about quality improvement activities in annual reports instead of this Plan. Lead Agencies must report on CCDF child care quality improvement investments in three ways: 1. In this Plan, Lead Agencies will describe the types of activities supported by quality investments over the 3-year period. 2. An annual expenditure report (the ACF-696). Lead Agencies will provide data on how much CCDF funding is spent on quality activities. This report will be used to determine compliance with the required quality and infant and toddler spending requirements. 3. An annual Quality Progress Report (the ACF-218). Lead Agencies will provide a description of activities funded by quality expenditures, the measures used to evaluate its progress in improving the quality of child care programs and services within the State/Territory, and progress or barriers encountered on those measures. In this section of the Plan, Lead Agencies will describe their quality activities needs assessment and identify the types of quality improvement activities where CCDF investments are being made using quality set-aside funds.