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Early Childhood Standards, Curriculum & Instruction

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A core component of a high-quality early education experience is that children are provided opportunities, experiences, and materials that allow them to engage deeply within developmental/early learning domains to build their school readiness skills. Virginia's Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS), Birth-Five Learning Guidelines articulate the skills and knowledge young children need to demonstrate by the end of preschool in order to be successful in kindergarten. Using effective curricula helps ensure that children are afforded opportunities, activities, and interactions within the classroom that support their learning and development of critical school readiness skills.

Virginia's Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS), Birth-Five Learning Guidelines

As of Fall 2021, Virginia has a new set of comprehensive early learning and development standards for young children, birth to age five. The new standards, Virginia's Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS), Birth-Five Learning Guidelines focus on five Areas of Development:

  1. Approaches to Play and Learning
  2. Social and Emotional Development
  3. Communication, Language, and Literacy Development
  4. Health and Physical Development
  5. Cognitive Development (Science, Social Sciences: People, Community and Culture, Mathematics and Fine Arts)

With the goal of ensuring all Virginia children have an equitable opportunity to enter kindergarten ready to thrive, these new standards have been developed to support birth to five programs to:

  • Understand child development and provide developmentally appropriate practice,
  • Use quality instructional tools and engage in aligned professional development,
  • Individualize care and instruction to meet the needs of all learners, and
  • Promote holistic and intentional learning and development at each age and stage.

The following resources provide introductory and implementation guidance information related to Virginia's Early Learning and Development Standards, Birth-Five Learning Guidelines:

Important to Note: Virginia's new early learning and development standards were approved by the Board of Education on March 18, 2021 and are the replacement for the Foundation Blocks for Early Learning: Comprehensive Standards for Four-Year-Olds and Milestones of Child Development documents. Effective Fall 2021, all birth to five programs are expected to implement the new standards. 

For more information read the press release: Board of Education Approves New Early Childhood Learning and Development Standards (PDF).

Resources

This document is Virginia's new set of comprehensive early learning and development standards for young children, birth to age five. 

The following resources provide introductory and implementation guidance information related to Virginia's Early Learning and Development Standards, Birth-Five Learning Guidelines:

Early Childhood Curriculum

Teachers need effective early childhood curricula that provide stimulating and engaging learning experiences which are proven to promote school readiness. Using a research-based, integrated and comprehensive curriculum package effectively helps ensure children are engaged in developmentally appropriate, child-led and adult-guided activities that promote their school readiness skills.

Virginia's Early Learning and Development Standards, Birth-Five Learning Guidelines are intended to help early childhood educators implement a comprehensive curriculum and effective classroom activities. A program’s curriculum may include one or more commercial curricula, locally developed curriculum and other instructional materials.

Curriculum Vetting

Virginia has been reviewing curriculum at the state level to encourage more programs to use quality instructional tools. A curriculum review process helps programs to identify and implement curricula to best support the learning and development of their children.

Birth to five programs currently operating in Virginia that do not yet have an approved curriculum in use may be eligible for a comprehensive and expert-led review of their curriculum by the VDOE. Interested programs should first review the Overview of the Curriculum Process for Practice Year 2. Effective July 1, 2021, VDOE’s new, multi-level process begins with an interested program leader’s review and completion of the Curriculum Pre-Submission Checklist for Birth to Five Programs.

Note: Completion of the Curriculum Pre-Submission Checklist does not guarantee a comprehensive review will be conducted by VDOE. In 2022-2023, programs that are participating in Practice Year 2 of VQB5, a new quality measurement and improvement system, will be prioritized for a curriculum review if eligible.

Programs that do not have a curriculum that meets VDOE’s Baseline Criteria for High-Quality Birth to Five Curriculum as listed in the pre-submission checklist should not rush to purchase a new product. Additional support in obtaining an appropriate curriculum will be forthcoming from the VDOE.

VDOE-Approved Curriculum List for Birth to Five Programs

This document includes a list of currently approved early childhood curriculum options. This document will be updated on a monthly basis.

Resources

The following document describes Virginia's early childhood curriculum options for VQB5 Practice Year 2.

As a follow up to the Quality Matters: Practice Years Update Webinar, VDOE has released a pre-recorded webinar which focuses on the multiple ways Virginia is expanding access to quality early childhood curriculum options for programs participating in VQB5.

The following document describes how the CLASS Framework and a high-quality curriculum play complementary roles in promoting positive outcomes for young children.

Inclusive Practices

Research shows that participation in programs with typically developing peers is beneficial to both children with and without disabilities. For those with disabilities, inclusion enhances language and social skills. Children without disabilities appreciate diversity and show greater empathy. Please see the EC Inclusive Practices page for resources.

Virginia Early Childhood Inclusion Guidance Document

This guidance document is designed to assist Virginia’s school divisions and early childhood communities in identifying, developing and sustaining inclusive opportunities within high-quality, early childhood programs for children with disabilities.

Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC)

House Joint Resolution 51 (HJ51) was passed by the Virginia General Assembly in the 2020 legislative session, establishing the support, need, and research-base for a statewide Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) program to prevent young children's suspension and expulsion from early learning programs. ECMHC is an intervention strategy that aims to promote young children’s social-emotional development and mental health well-being.

Following HJ51 recommendations, piloting of an ECMHC model began during the 2021-2022 School Year by the Child Development Resources (CDR) (specifically the Virginia Infant Toddler Specialist Network (VA ITSN)) and The University of Virginia's Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (UVA-CASTL) in two Preschool Development, Birth to Five (PDG B-5) Communities: Henrico (including the City of Richmond; Charles City; and Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan counties) and Chesterfield (including the City of Colonial Heights and Chesterfield County). CDR and UVA-CASTL will continue to lead Year 2 ECMHC Pilot efforts during the 2022-2023 School Year within Ready Region Central, Albemarle County and Charlottesville.

Early childhood education programs serving children ages birth-to-five (infant, toddler, and/or preschool) that are within the target region and are receiving any public funds (including but not limited to child care subsidy, Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) and Head Start/Early Head Start funding) are eligible to participate in the Virginia ECMHC program.

Resources

This document provides answers to frequently asked questions about Virginia's ECMHC Pilot Program for the 2022-2023 School Year. The document includes information about the ECMHC program model, benefits, format and eligibility criteria:

The following resources provide an overview of three social-emotional supports available to publicly-funded birth to five educators/programs, including Virginia's ECMHC Pilot Program: