Professional Standards: Sort & Match

Professional Standards: Please match the best summary to the standard

Standard 3: Child Observation, Documentation, and Assessment

Standard 2: Family–Teacher Partnerships and Community Connections

Standard 4: Developmentally, Culturally, and Linguistically Appropriate Teaching Practices

Standard 1: Child Development and Learning in Context

Standard 5: Knowledge, Application, and Integration of Academic Content

Standard 6: Professionalism as an Early Childhood Educator

Educators understand how children develop and learn across physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and linguistic domains. They recognize that development occurs within the context of family, culture, language, and community, and they use this knowledge to create supportive and inclusive learning environments.

Teachers use a broad range of effective teaching strategies that are responsive to each child’s developmental level, cultural background, and language. They create engaging, play-based, and inquiry-oriented learning experiences that foster active exploration and meaningful learning.

Teachers build strong, respectful partnerships with families and communities. They value families as the child’s first teachers, communicate effectively, and collaborate to support each child’s learning and development both in and out of the classroom.

Educators use observation, documentation, and assessment to understand children’s progress and plan for individualized instruction. They use assessment ethically and in partnership with families, ensuring that tools and methods are developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate.

Teachers uphold ethical standards, reflect on their practice, and engage in ongoing professional growth. They advocate for children, families, and the early childhood profession, and demonstrate leadership, integrity, and commitment to equity and inclusion.

Educators have a strong understanding of the content areas—such as language and literacy, math, science, social studies, and the arts—and how young children learn them. They design integrated, hands-on learning experiences that promote curiosity, creativity, and foundational knowledge across disciplines.

Match & Sort the Examples to the Standards

Standard 3

Standard 5

Standard 2

Standard 1

Standard 4

Standard 6

A teacher invites parents to share their cultural traditions and foods during a classroom celebration

An educator reflects on a challenging day and develops a plan to improve classroom transitions.

A teacher attends a professional development workshop to learn new strategies for supporting children with special needs.

A teacher keeps notes on each child’s learning progress and uses this information to plan individualized lessons.

An educator shares a child’s portfolio with their parents during a conference to discuss growth and next steps.

A teacher uses a cooking activity to teach math (measuring), science (mixing ingredients), and literacy (reading a recipe).

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An educator encourages learning through play by setting up a dramatic play area that promotes collaboration and creativity.

An educator creates a newsletter in multiple languages to keep families informed about classroom activities.

A teacher adjusts her daily schedule to allow more outdoor playtime after noticing that her students focus better after physical activity.

A teacher uses songs and stories in children’s home languages to help them feel included and confident.

An educator integrates art into a science lesson by having children draw the life cycle of a butterfly.

An educator includes materials that reflect various family structures and cultural traditions in the classroom library.