A few weeks ago I shared about the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress (ECIPs to those of us in the field – as in “ee-Sips”) produced by the Minnesota Department of Education. The ECIPs are a clear and concise summary of child development for children aged 3 to 5. They are a great tool for family members, teachers, care providers and community members to support the school readiness of their children. Children can be expected to meet the majority of these indicators by the time they reach kindergarten.
This post is the first in a series examining each of the six domains of development and their indicators. This is a general overview of the components of each of the indicators and how we may use these indicators to support our young children. Look forward to following posts describing each of the domains in detail.
Introduction of the indicators for 3-5 year olds
First published in 2000 and based on national models, the ECIPs were developed with five clear goals:
- Raise awareness about all aspects of early childhood development and to offer suggestions for supporting strong development
- Help increase understanding about the various influences on children’s learning and future success
- Support families by giving examples of what to do to enhance development
- Give professionals a common framework and guidelines for teaching and assessing young children
- Be a resource for community members and policy makers for evaluating current policy and resources
Domains and their components:
As described in the publication of the indicators,
"The Early Childhood Indicators of Progress: Minnesota’s Early Learning Standards are intended to provide a framework for understanding and communicating a common set of developmentally appropriate expectations for young children within a context of shared responsibility and accountability for helping children meet these expectations.”
The indicators are divided into six domains that cover the full range of child development. Each domain is broken up into three to five components as follows.
Social and Emotional Development
- Emotional Development
- Self-Concept
- Social Competence and Relationships
Approaches to Learning
- Curiosity
- Risk-Taking
- Imagination and Invention
- Persistence
- Reflection and Interpretation
Language and Literacy Development
- Listening
- Speaking
- Emergent
- Emergent Writing
Creativity and the Arts
- Creating
- Responding
- Evaluating
Cognitive Development
- Mathematical and Logical Thinking
- Number Concepts and Operations
- Patterns and Relationships
- Spatial Relationships/ Geometry
- Measurements
- Mathematical Reasoning
- Scientific Thinking and Problem Solving
- Observing
- Questioning
- Investigating
- Social Systems Understanding
- Human Relationships
- Understanding the World
Physical and Motor Development
- Gross Motor Development
- Fine Motor Development
- Physical Health and Well-Being
How we can use the indicators
These indicators are meant to be used as a resource for family members, teachers and caregivers, community members and policy makers for supporting young children’s development. Each domain and component gives recommendations for what these groups can do to support that domain.
Overall, family members may use the ECIPs to build awareness of child development, become more involved in their child’s learning, and to better understand the systems needed to support their child’s growth and development. Teachers and caregivers may use them to guide planning, curriculum development and teaching strategies; gain direction for authentic assessment for young children; to provide a framework to standards and evaluation of their program; and gain ideas for staff development. Community members may use the ECIPs to assess the needs within the community and to organize advocacy efforts within the community. Policy makers may use these indicators to assess them impact of public policies on young children and their families.
Summary
What do you think? Have you heard or used the ECIPs before?
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