Developmentally Appropriate Practices : Right For All Kids

Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) describes an approach to education that focuses on the child as a developing human being and life long learner. This approach recognized the child as an active participant in the learning process; a participant who constructs meaning and knowledge through interaction with others, friends and family, materials and environment. The teacher is an active facilitator who helps the child make meaning of the various activities and interactions encountered throughout the day.

Developmentally appropriate practices require teachers to make decisions in the classroom by combining their knowledge of child development with an understanding of the individual child to achieve desired and meaningful outcomes. The term developmentally appropriate practices was popularized by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

NAEYC developed the position statement to support its early childhood program accreditation system, which acknowledges and endorses programs offering appropriate early childhood practices. With this system, early childhood educators can have a clear sense of appropriate early childhood practices. This way they might not use inappropriate developmental and academic expectations to prepare children for public school kindergarten programs.