The Standards support the development and well-being of young children to foster their learning.  Ohio’s Early Learning & Development Standards present a continuum of learning and development from birth to age five in each of the five domains:

 

• Approaches Toward Learning

• Cognition and General Knowledge

• Language and Literacy

• Physical Well-Being and Motor Development

• Social and Emotional Development

 

Because the infant/toddler years are marked by rapid developmental change, the Standards are divided into three meaningful transitional periods: Infants (birth to around 8 months), Young Toddlers (6 to around 18 months), and Older Toddlers (16 to around 36 months). The Standards

during the pre-kindergarten years (3-5 years), describe those developmental skills and concepts children should know and be able to do at the end of their pre-kindergarten experience.

 

Organization of the Standards

​

The Standards within each domain are organized according to strands: the developmental or conceptual components within each domain. Each strand contains one or more topics, the area of focus within each strand, and the standard statements: those concepts and skills children should know and be able to do for the different age groups.

 

Some topics reflect learning and development across the birth-to-five continuum, with Standards for all age levels: infants, young toddlers, older toddlers, and Pre-K, while other topics pertain only to a specific age.

 

For example, some knowledge and skills – the ability to identify and describe shapes or skills related to social studies and science – emerge in preschool. Topics that address those competencies include Standards only at the Pre-K level. Other topics such as Self Comforting and Social Identity have Standards only at the infant-toddler levels, because these foundational skills developed during the early years lead to more specific competencies at the preschool level. Each domain also contains a Learning and Development Progression which shows at a glance what skills are developed by children and when.

 

To learn more and download all five domains, please visit www.earlychildhoodohio.org.