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Project-Based Learning and Early Learning Standards: Making the Connection

by Robin Jones
March/April 2007
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/project-based-learning-and-early-learning-standards-making-the-connection/5017408/

Early childhood educators cannot deny it. As Universal Pre-K efforts sweep the nation, so does the development of state standards that define the skills and the knowledge that young children should be developing. The goal of these standards is to ensure the school readiness of all students. While the goals mentioned in this article are taken from the New Jersey Department of Education’s Standards of Quality, the concept of integrating skills into developmentally appropriate practices applies to any and all early learning standards.

With the growing focus on early age education coming to the forefront, there has been a rise in the demand for high-quality programs that meet standards while encouraging developmentally appropriate practices. As Gaye Gronlund (2006) states in her book, Make Early Learning Standards Come Alive, early learning standards present several dangers:

• They lead to teaching with a cookie-cutter style curriculum.
• Direct instruction is described as the only way to guarantee that standards will be addressed.
• They take time for early educators to learn and work through.
• They can lead to testing and other inappropriate assessment methods.
• There is little money to support the education and training of early educators in the standards and ...

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