Early Learning Guidelines and Foundations

The Early Learning Guidelines and Foundations ARE:

A guide to observe young children’s development and learning
Evidence that sharing responsibility for early child care and education is key to success
Educational tools that help teachers and administrators assess school readiness
A framework to help communities guide children from early childhood settings to kindergarten

The Early Learning Guidelines and Foundations are NOT:

Intended to discredit the values, beliefs or culture of any family
A specific curriculum, endorsement or mandate of specific teaching practices or materials
A formal assessment of proficiency or lack of proficiency of children
Intended to prohibit children from transitioning into kindergarten

Connecting to the Domains of Development

The current Early Learning Guidelines and Foundations are based on the revised Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework. If you’re wondering where the Guidelines and Foundations connect with Wyoming’s 4 Domains of Development, here is a chart to help.

History of the Wyoming Early Learning Guidelines and Early Learning Foundations

The Wyoming Early Learning Guidelines (birth to age 3) and Early Learning Foundations (ages 3 to 5) are a set of documents established by a group of experts based on the following:

The family environment is a child’s first classroom. Parents and other family members are a child’s first teachers. Good learning habits and natural curiosity start here, and should be nurtured and reinforced in preschool.
There is no such thing as a “standard” child. As adults—both inside and outside the classroom—we need to work together to understand how children learn differently, therefore ensuring that children from diverse communities and diverse situations are provided with the right challenges for their ongoing growth.

In 2001, Wyoming was among the first states to develop school readiness standards for preschool. Next Wyoming adopted the Common Core Standards for Kindergarten, with the goal of supporting young learners not only in learning reading, writing and math, but also in becoming critical thinkers and problem solvers in academic and social situations. The current Early Learning Guidelines and Foundations are based on the revised Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework, which address 10 Domains of Development.