Early Childhood & Preschool

Contacts

Dawn Meskil, Early Childhood Section Chief, Preschool Exceptional Children (619) Co-Coordinator

Keashia Walker, Early Childhood Section Chief, Preschool Exceptional Children (619) Co-Coordinator

Find state and local early childhood and preschool exceptional children program contact information.

Listservs

Early Childhood Listserv - PSU Exceptional Children Directors, Preschool Coordinators and interested staff may sign up or submit an update for our listserv.

Other Early Childhood Listservs of Interest - Interested in other listservs and mailing lists from DPI and state and national partners? Check out this list of suggested listservs relevant to preschool exceptional children programs. Have a listserv to suggest? Let us know!

General Resources

NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development (NC FELD)

NC FELD describes goals for all children’s development and learning, no matter what program they may be served in, what language they speak, what disabilities they may have, or what family circumstances they are growing up in. The document provides age-appropriate goals and developmental indicators for each age level - infant, toddler, and preschooler. Foundations is also intended to be a guide for teaching – not a curriculum or checklist that is used to assess children’s development and learning, but a resource to define the skills and abilities we want to support in the learning experiences we provide for children. NC FELD outlines the standards for children from birth through age 5. The K-12 Standards webpage has information regarding North Carolina's Standard Course of Study for older students.

NC Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

The North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five are an expansion of the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development (2013). The Learning Progressions break down the sequence in which children learn skills for emotional and social, health and physical, language and communication, and cognitive development. Skill descriptions at two-, three-, or six-month intervals allow teachers and families to observe and document a child’s current level of development and to track incremental changes over time. Observation guidelines provide situations for observation of skills, strategies for eliciting the skill, if needed, what observed behavior indicates achievement of the skill, and routines-based intervention or embedded instruction.

  • Online Tool | This resource is available publicly through Creative Commons License.
  • Zip File (downloadable version) 
    Once the files are extracted, the ‘Start Here - Early Learning Progressions.html’ file opens the documents up in the same format as they are presented online. If the files are not extracted, it gives a ‘file not found’ error message. The format allows the user to click the hyperlinks and navigate through the domains and age ranges just as they did previously on the website.
  • Printable Tool | Expands the NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development goals into observable behaviors at two-, three-, and six-month intervals. Please note: that the printed version is more than 800 pages.
  • At-A-Glance | Printable listing of the developmental progressions without observation guidelines.
  • Instructions | Navigation guidance for using the NC Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five