Dear Reader,
It is with great pleasure that we present you with the Illinois Early Learning Guidelines for children from birth to three years of age. These Guidelines are the product of two years of intensive labor by many individuals and organizations. We have all focused on building comprehensive developmental learning standards for our youngest learners that form the foundation for all learning and development that is to follow. The myriad stakeholders involved in this project were driven by the following intentions for the use of the Guidelines:
- We hope the Guidelines speak to you, putting into words the development you see occurring each day with children from birth to three
- We hope the Guidelines support you in understanding and discussing child development
- We hope the Guidelines make you better equipped to plan for intentional interactions with children from birth to three
- We hope the Guidelines strengthen your commitment to responsive, developmentally appropriate practice with young children
- We hope the Guidelines enhance your belief system around the individual nature of the developmental trajectory and the crucial role that family and context play in each child’s development
We have had the honor of guiding a process to develop Early Learning Guidelines for birth to three that embody an approach that is responsive to our state early childhood infrastructure’s work and current needs in this area. In this project guidance and management role embedded within the Illinois Early Learning Council, we were able to draw out the best of our colleagues and stakeholders in the areas of knowledge, practice, and cross-system strategizing. Through this work we were establishing a shared set of beliefs around what children from birth to three should know and be able to do and what our responsibility is to seeing these outcomes for children.
Over the course of the two year project term, we asked a lot of everyone involved, and ourselves, and found that a shared commitment to young children drove us to push for the highest quality set of developmental guidelines. Inherent to our definition of quality was the need for this work to cut across all the service systems and sectors serving children from birth to three and their families. Each of these systems and sectors has had a hand in the creation of the Early Learning Guidelines with a careful consideration of the role of this content in their work with children and families. We are eager to continue to learn from one another and support each other in implementing the Guidelines to improve the quality of services delivered to children and families.
With our sincerest thanks,
Jeanna M. Capito
Executive Director
Positive Parenting DuPage
Karen Yarbrough
Director, Policy Planning and Knowledge
Ounce of Prevention Fund