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DAP's Goal = to Raise Pre-school Educational Expectations

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DAP was introduced in 1986 in response to concerns over the curriculum ''pushed down'' preschool and the early grades. To what extend do you think this remains the state of affairs in the United States today? give examples to support your ideas.

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* DAP was intended to raise the educational expectation for preschool and early grades. While I was teaching pre-school it was drilled into us that this wasn't just playtime for young children anymore. We were supposed to take advantage of every opportunity to teach through activities. Has this changed? How would we make sure we were teaching to the educational standards? What should the educational standards be, and how do you cover the standards through activities? How do you assess appropriately in order to know students are meeting the standard? How does this affect education overall?

* Some would say students aren't where they used to be with regard to the Literacy and Math overall. I have witnessed a reduction of literary skills as a Language Arts teacher over the years. Are Pre-schoolers and early grade children being held to a high enough standard? Are programs being accredited that don't hold those high standards within their programs? If we are holding high standards and teaching to them, then why are some still falling short? Is a good education in the Pre-school and early grade years really giving children a head start? "Since the late 1980s, there has been an emerging consensus that the early years are critical to children's later literacy development"
(Scarborough, 2001; Snow et al., 1998; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2001).
The Changing Vision of Developmentally Appropriate Literacy Practices

* At the heart of the notion of developmentally appropriate practice is the belief that children's development should be taken into account as adults interact with children, structure their time and space, and plan activities for them. While this core belief may not have changed much over the past 20 years, there have been major
advances in research that have affected interpretations of what is and what is not appropriate practice. Consider the rationale for the initial release of Developmentally Appropriate Practice for Early Childhood Programs (Bredekamp & Copple, 1986). The first two sentences of the rationale read as follows: "In recent years, a trend toward increased emphasis on formal instruction in academic skills has emerged in early childhood programs. This trend toward formal academic instruction for younger children is based
on misconceptions about early learning" (Elkind, 1986, cited in Bredekamp, 1987, p. 1). Later, in the ntroduction to the 4-5 year old section, appears the following statement: "Curriculum issues are of particular concern to early childhood educators in light of the increasingly wide-spread demand for use of inappropriate formal
teaching techniques for young children, over-emphasis on achievement of narrowly defined academic skills" (p. 51). Once again David Elkind is cited.
* Ten years later a remarkable change is evident in the revised DAP (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). Gone are the alarmist concerns about academic pressures, replaced by discussion of increases in the diversity of populations served, with reference to the importance of Head Start and welfare reform efforts. Building on advances in research in the previous ten years, there is discussion of the impact of early childhood programs and concern about shortcomings in their quality (p. 6). Thus, instead of being a bulwark against overly academic pressures, DAP now is at least partly viewed as a means to ensure that disadvantaged populations receive high quality programs."

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* I taught for over 20 years in Illinois. I went to school in the same area where I taught, and both of my parents were teachers in the same area. I attended the school where my Mother taught second grade. I went to this elementary school for all 8 years. As an adult, my first full-time teaching job was pre-school, so I was very familiar with the first years of DAP. I started teaching pre-school in 1990. I later went on to teach primary school, and then later still, middle school. I have also worked with high school students with regard to tutoring.
So, I have literally been focused on education, students, and what students are learning for about 50 years.
* DAP was intended to raise the educational expectation for preschool and early grades. While I was teaching pre-school it was drilled into us that this wasn't just playtime for young children anymore. We were supposed to take advantage of every opportunity to teach through activities. Has this changed? How would we make sure we were teaching to the educational standards? What should the educational standards be, and how do you cover the standards through activities? How do you assess aporpriately in order to know students are meeting the standard? How does this affect education overall?
* Some would say students aren't where they used to be with regard to the Literacy and Math overall. I have witnessed a reduction of literary skills as a Language Arts teacher over the years. Are Pre-schoolers and early grade children being held to a high enough standard? Are programs being accredited that don't hold those high standards within their programs? If we are holding high standards and teaching to them, then why are some still falling short? Is a good education in the Pre-school and early grade years really giving children a head start? "Since the late 1980s, there has been an emerging consensus that the early years are critical to children's later literacy development"
(Scarborough, 2001; Snow et al., 1998; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2001).

You may find your answer here:
"While NAEYC has dramatically changed its recommendations regarding the importance of direct literacy instruction, accreditation procedures and research tools pay very little attention to such instruction. Programs can be accredited and even rated superior despite failing to provide the kind of rich language and literacy environment researchers have demonstrated to be necessary in order that all children learn to read and write. Alternative approaches to evaluating language and literacy instruction are described."

I have attached this article so that you may read it entirely. I think accredidation has its political side, and that often " accreditation procedures ...

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