Helping Families Understand Curriculum, Goals, and Expectations

If we want families and the community to be more involved in our children’s early education, we need to help them understand the nature and purpose of learning standards and how they affect the curriculum as well as the systems in place for achieving accountability to the standards. For instance, we need to explain that a curriculum standard is a statement that reflects society’s current values about what children should know and be able to do. Families also need to know that standards do not dictate the specific curriculum a program or school uses but that school districts, child care, and preschool programs choose or design a curriculum that will address and meet learning standards. Finally, families deserve to know how their children’s growth and progress is documented with respect to standards.