A POSITION STATEMENT HELD ON BEHALF OF THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROFESSION | 52
APPENDIX C: GLOSSARY
dierentiated instruction. An approach whereby teachers adjust
the curriculum and their instruction to maximize the learning of
all students: average learners, dual language learners, struggling
students, students with learning disabilities, and gifted and talented
students. Dierentiated instruction is not a single strategy but
rather a framework that teachers use to implement a variety of
strategies, many of which are evidence based (IRIS Center n.d.)
disability or developmental delay. Legally dened for young
children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), disabilities include intellectual disability; hearing, speech
or language, visual, and/or orthopedic impairment; autism; and
traumatic brain injury. Under IDEA, states dene developmental
delays to include delays in physical, cognitive, communication, social
or emotional, and adaptive development. These legal denitions
are important for determining access to early intervention and
early childhood special education services (Beneke et al. 2019).
dispositions. Individual attitudes, beliefs, values, habits, and
tendencies toward particular actions. Professional dispositions are
considered important for eective work in a specic profession and
are expected of all members of that profession. Critical dispositions
for educators have been dened in the CCSSO’s Interstate Teacher
Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Standards (CCSSO,
2013) and in the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
(NBPTS). NBPTS dispositions for early childhood educators include
collaboration, respect, integrity, honesty, fairness, and compassion;
educators with these characteristics promote equity, fairness, and
appreciation of diversity in their classrooms (NBPTS 2012).
diversity. Variations among individuals, as well as within and
across groups of individuals, in terms of their backgrounds and
lived experiences. These experiences are related to social identities,
including race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, gender
identity and expression, social and economic status, religion, ability
status, and country of origin. The terms diverse and diversity are
sometimes used as euphemisms for nonwhite. NAEYC specically
rejects this usage as it implies whiteness as the norm.
early childhood. The rst period in child development,
beginning at birth. Although developmental periods do not rigidly
correspond to chronological ages, early childhood is generally
dened as including all children from birth through age 8.
early childhood education (ECE). A term dened using
the developmental denition of birth through approximately
age 8, regardless of programmatic, regulatory, funding, or
delivery sectors or mechanisms (NAEYC 2016, 12).
early childhood educator. An individual who cares for and
promotes the learning, development, and well-being of children
birth through age 8 in all early childhood education settings,
while meeting the qualications of the profession and having
mastery of its specialized knowledge, skills, and competencies.
early childhood education profession. Members of the
profession care for and promote the learning, development,
and well-being of children birth through age 8 to establish
a foundation for lifelong learning and success.
early learning settings. These include programs serving children
from birth through age 8. Settings refers to the locations in which
early childhood education takes place—child care centers, child care
homes, elementary schools, religious-based centers, and many others.
equity. The state achieved if the way one fares in society was no
longer predictable by race, gender, class, language, or any other
social/cultural characteristic. Equity in practice means each student/
family receives necessary supports in a timely fashion to develop
their full intellectual, social, and physical potential. Advancing equity
requires remediating dierences in outcomes that can be traced to
biased treatment of individuals as a result of their social identities.
Equity is not the same as equality. Equal treatment, laid upon
unequal starting points, is inequitable. Instead of equal treatment,
early childhood professionals aim for equal opportunities. That
requires considering individuals’ and groups’ starting points, then
distributing resources equitably (not equally) to meet their needs.
Attempting to achieve equality of opportunity without consideration
of historic and present inequities is ineective, unjust, and unfair.
evidence based. Using multiple sources as the foundation for
decisions about practice, including best available research; professional
wisdom, values, knowledge, and expertise; and knowledge about
the interests, values, cultures, needs, and choices of children,
families, and communities served (Buysse & Wesley 2006).
executive function skills. Executive function skills include the
ability to remember and use information; to sustain and shift mental
focus and exibility; and to exercise self-regulation, set priorities, and
resist impulsive actions (Center on the Developing Child). Related life
skill include the development of focus and self-regulation, perspective
taking, communication skills, the ability to make connections,
critical thinking, the ability to take on challenges, and self-directed
engaged learning (Galinsky 2010; Shonko 2019). These are Mental
processes that begin to develop early and are crucial to children’s
learning and development. Their development requires supportive
scaolding from adults and is endangered by toxic stress and
adversity, which can interfere with healthy development of the brain.
family structure. The household make-up to which children
belong. Family members may include biological or adoptive
parents, guardians, single or married adults, foster parents or group
homes, grandparents, blended families, siblings, and individuals
who are LGBTQ, multiracial, multilingual, multigenerational,
and others. Pets may be viewed as family members in some
households. These examples of family structures are not exhaustive,
and they are intended to provide insight into the diversity of
familial identities (Koralek, Nemeth, & Ramsey 2019).
eld experience. Includes informal and formal opportunities
for eld observations, eld work, practicum, student teaching,
residencies, internships, clinical practice, and other learning
experiences that take place in an early education setting with
guidance from a skilled mentor, coach, or early childhood
instructor. A planned sequence of these experiences supports
candidate development of understanding, competence, and
dispositions in a specialized area of practice (NAEYC 2017, 42).