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.