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Professional Standards & Competencies Resource Library
The Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators outline the essential knowledge, skills, and practices that are foundational to high-quality early childhood education. These standards define what early childhood educators should know and be able to do in order to support the learning and development of young children from birth through age 8. They serve as a guiding framework for professional development, practice, and evaluation within the field of early childhood education.
Understanding and implementing these standards is crucial for educators as they help ensure the delivery of equitable, inclusive, and high-quality education that promotes the well-being and success of all children. By adhering to these standards, educators also contribute to the profession's commitment to continuous improvement and accountability.
Please note that while the collection of resources has been organized and tagged according to the Professional Standards and Competencies, only the most applicable competencies have been prioritized for searching and tagging purposes.
For NAEYC resources in the library, you can find policies related to reproducing, distributing, or otherwise using content here. For all other resources, please follow appropriate practices for using/citing sources.
Directions for Using the Professional Standards and Competencies Resource Library
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The PS&Cs Resource Library allows you to peruse ALL of the many resources available (by default) or you can utilize the provided filter and narrow down your search to target specific resources.
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By using the filtering categories, you are able to narrow your search to particular professional standards, one or more of the 22 key competencies, various ECE topics, a variety of age ranges, specific types of resources such as articles or videos or even find resources available in languages other than English.
The robust filters even allow you to choose multiple choices across categories or within the same category to further narrow your search!
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Once you have opened the various filter categories provided in the filter tool, you will notice that “all” is highlighted and checked in each category by default. This means the filter tool will not filter out any of those options within that category. If you wish to narrow your search, you simply click on one or more of the other options within the various filtering categories. Clicking will check that option. Checked options will be utilized for your search!
To remove an option, simply click it again to remove the check from the checkbox.
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The search feature is similar to any other search engine on a website. It can be used for a specific key word or phrase. Although the search may be helpful and is provided, the more robust filter tool may ultimately be more helpful in focusing and narrowing your search for resources.
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Naturally, broken links will occur. Sometimes the resource has been moved to a new web address and other times it has been temporarily or permanently removed. We welcome you to report any broken links you find here. We will do our best to replace the link when possible or remove the resource if it is no longer available.
**As of Feb. 2025, certain webpages and resources, particularly from agencies/organizations/projects that receive federal funds, have been at least temporarily removed in order to comply with federal mandates related to the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders. We will continue to monitor these resource links and update them if and when new links are available.
Start Your Search--Resource Library
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Start Your Search--Resource Library *
Sort quickly through the hundreds of available resources by using the filter tool on the left to populate the specific resources you need!
Inclusion in STEM-STEM starts Now Documentary
Children with disabilities and from underserved communities are often denied STEM learning opportunities. In this 13-minute documentary, practitioners, families of children with disabilities, and people with disabilities discuss why STEM is important and how children with disabilities can engage and excel in it.
Organization/Author: STEMIE Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education
Type of Resource: Video
Publication Date: 2020
Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) for Everyone
Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) for Everyone
Discover ways to support young children with identified disabilities or suspected delays as they acquire science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) skills. Examine effective teaching practices to help them access and explore STEAM materials and concepts. Learn practical strategies to plan the learning environment and embed individualized learning opportunities related to STEAM.
Organization/Author: Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC)
Type of Resource: Training
Publication Date: Unknown
Inclusion: Learning Through Books
Inclusion: Learning Through Books
Check out this series for ways to use children's books to teach about inclusion in your learning environment, or in a child's home.
Organization/Author: Head Start Center for Inclusion
Type of Resource: Website
Publication Date: Unknown
Building Relationships with Families: Planning to Serve the Diego Family
Building Relationships with Families: Planning to Serve the Diego Family
The Diego family story allows participants to consider the family's cultural values and beliefs, experiences, and successes; and to think about how this relates to their work with young children with disabilities and their families in their communities.
Organization/Author: Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC)
Type of Resource: Video and Facilitators Guide
Publication Date: 2007
Supporting Early Literacy: Fostering Family Involvement
Supporting Early Literacy: Fostering Family Involvement
Explore this training to discover strategies for boosting early literacy development through family engagement. Materials include a video presentation and handouts.
Organization/Author: Head Start Center for Inclusion
Type of Resource: Website
Publication Date: unknown
A How To Guide for Book Adaptations
A How To Guide for Book Adaptations
This chart outlines 8 easy at-home storybook adaptations, categorized by the type of support families/practitioners may provide (motor, sensory, communicative/linguistic, visual, or auditory).
Organization/Author: Sarah Pedonti
STEMIE Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education
Type of Resource: Toolkit
Publication Date: 2023
A Guide to Noticing STEM Learning
A Guide to Noticing STEM Learning
All children can develop the foundations for STEM learning from infancy. Young children are active learners who explore their environments and learn from doing, seeing, touching, and/or hearing. Through intentional and careful observation, caregivers can tap into children’s natural curiosity and provide opportunities for children to develop an understanding of the world around them.
Organization/Author: Campbell, P., Waters, V., Lim, C., & Sam, A.
STEMIE Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education
Type of Resource: Toolkit
Publication Date: 2023
A Guide to Dialogic Reading (Using The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
A Guide to Dialogic Reading (Using The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
Learn about dialogic reading and how you can use it to have storybook conversations in STEM with young children. The tip sheet includes an example of prompts that you can use for Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The related blog post includes additional information such as a link to the adaptations tip sheet and a video example of dialogic reading using an augmentative communication device.
Organization/Author: Chih-Ing Lim
STEMIE Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education
Type of Resource: Toolkit
Publication Date: 2023
A Guide to Child-Level Processes
A Guide to Child-Level Processes
In this document, we define and describe child-level processes in STEM learning for all young children, including children with disabilities. We provide definitions, examples, AND now learning progression steps for each child-level process.
Organization/Author: Victoria Waters, Christine Harradine, & Chih-Ing Lim
STEMIE Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education
Type of Resource: Toolkit
Publication Date: 2022
A Guide to Cross-Cutting Concepts
A Guide to Cross-Cutting Concepts
Cross-cutting concepts are a set of overarching big ideas that look and behave similarly across all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) domain areas. In this document, we define and describe cross-cutting concepts in STEM learning for all young children, including children with disabilities. We provide definitions and examples. Learning progression steps for each cross-cutting concept have been added as well.
Organization/Author: Ann Sam, Victoria Waters, Chih-Ing Lim,
STEMIE Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education
Type of Resource: Toolkit
Publication Date: 2021
A Guide to Everyday STEM Talk
Transform everyday routines and activities into playful STEM and brain building opportunities with your young child! Take a moment to expand and extend daily routines and activities by adding STEM concepts and vocabulary, whether it's by posing a question, narrating your observations, modeling curiosity, or posing a problem to solve together.
Organization/Author: STEMIE Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education
Type of Resource: Toolkit
Publication Date: 2024
Using a Universal Design for Learning Framework to Enhance Engagement in the Early Childhood Classroom
This article from the Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship offers ideas for using UDL in inclusive settings that align with both NAEYC and DEC practices.
Organization/Author: Marla J. Lohman, Katrina A. Hovey, and Ariane Gauvreau
Type of Resource: Article
Publication Date: 2018
Take a Look! Visual Supports for Learning
Take a Look! Visual Supports for Learning
With pictures and words, this article defines visual supports and shows how they help all children to understand rules and expectations, engage in daily routine, navigate transitions, communicate thoughts, feelings and needs, and increase independence in child care routines and activities.
Organization/Author: Bonnie Blagojevic, Mary Ellin Logue, V. Susan Bennett-Armistead, Billie Taylor, and Erika Neal, Teaching Young Children
Type of Resource: Article
Publication Date: unknown
Integrating Principles of Universal Design into the Early Childhood Curriculum
Integrating Principles of Universal Design into the Early Childhood Curriculum
The authors offer examples and recommendations for how teachers of young children can support each young learner in diverse early learning settings by using Universal Design for Learning.
Organization/Author: Laurie A. Dinnebeil, Mary Boat, and Youlmi Bae, Dimensions of Early Childhood
Type of Resource: Article
Publication Date: 2013
DEC Recommended Practices in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education 2014
DEC Recommended Practices in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education 2014
The DEC Recommended Practices highlight those practices specifically known to promote the outcomes of young children who have or are at risk for developmental delays/disabilities and to support their families in accordance with the DEC/NAEYC (2009) position statement on early childhood inclusion. Universal Design for Learning principles are specifically highlighted as a practice to create accessible environments (E1).
Organization/Author: Division for Early Childhood Education
Type of Resource: Recommended Practices
Publication Date: 2014
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