Copyright © 2009 by the National Association for the Education of Young ChildrenThe purpose of this position statement is to pro-mote excellence in early childhood education by providing a framework for best practice. Grounded both in the research on child development and learning and in the knowledge base regarding educational effectiveness, the framework outlines practice that promotes young children’s optimal learning and development. Since its first adoption in 1986, this framework has been known as devel-opmentally appropriate practice.1 The profession’s responsibility to promote quality in the care and education of young children compels us to revisit regularly the validity and cur-rency of our core knowledge and positions, such as this one on issues of practice. Does the position need modification in light of a changed context? Is there new knowledge to inform the statement? Are there aspects of the existing statement that have given rise to misunderstandings and misconcep-tions that need correcting? Over the several years spent in developing this revision, NAEYC invited the comment of early childhood educators with experience and exper-tise from infancy to the primary grades, including Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8Note : Throughout this statement, the terms teacher, practitioner, and educator are variously used to refer to those working in the early childhood field. The word teacher is always intended to refer to any adult responsible for the direct care and education of a group of children in any early childhood setting. Included are not only classroom teachers but also infant/toddler caregivers, family child care providers, and specialists in other disciplines who fulfill the role of teacher. In more instances, the term prac-titioners is intended to also include a program’s administrators. Educators is intended to also include college and university faculty and other teacher trainers.Adopted 2009POSITION STATEMENTa late 2006 convening of respected leaders in the field. The result of this broad gathering of views is this updated position statement, which addresses the current context and the relevant knowledge base for developmentally appropriate practice and seeks to convey the nature of such practice clearly and usefully. This statement is intended to complement NAEYC’s other position statements on practice, which include Early Learning Standards and Early Childhood Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation, as well as the Code of Ethical Conduct and NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria.2A position statement of the National Asssociation for the Education of Young Children2Copyright © 2009 by the National Association for the Education of Young ChildrenSince the 1996 version of this position statement, the landscape of early childhood education in the United States has changed significantly and a num-ber of issues have grown in importance. Shortage of good care for children in the highly vulnerable infant and toddler years has become critical.3 Issues of home language and culture, second language learning, and school culture have increased with the steady growth in the number of immigrant fami-lies and children in our population.4 In addition, far more children with special needs (including those with disabilities, those at risk for disabilities, and those with challenging behaviors) participate in typ-ical early childhood settings today than in the past.5 As for teachers, the nation continues to struggle to develop and maintain a qualified teaching force.6 This difficulty is especially acute in the under-funded early childhood arena, especially the child care sector, which is losing well prepared teaching staff and administrators at an alarming rate.7 Looking forward, demographic trends predict a modest growth in the number of young children in the population, significant increases in the demand for early care and education, dramatic increases in children’s cultural and linguistic diver-sity, and unless conditions change, a greater share of children living in poverty. Among these, the biggest single child-specific demographic change in the United States over the next 20 years is pre-dicted to be an increase in children whose home language is not English.8 Also significant is that policy makers and the public are far more aware of the importance of the early childhood years in shaping children’s futures. Based on this widespread recognition and the context of early childhood education today, it was decided this statement would highlight three challenges: reducing learning gaps and increasing the achievement of all children; creating improved, better connected education for preschool and elementary children; and recognizing teacher knowledge and decision making as vital to educa-tional effectiveness.Reducing learning gaps and increasing the achievement of all childrenAll families, educators, and the larger society hope that children will achieve in school and go on to lead satisfying and productive lives. But that optimistic future is not equally likely for all of the nation’s schoolchildren. Most disturbing, low- income and African American and Hispanic stu-dents lag significantly behind their peers on stan-dardized comparisons of academic achievement throughout the school years, and they experience more difficulties while in the school setting.9 Behind these disparities in school-related performance lie dramatic differences in children’s early experiences and access to good programs and schools. Often there is also a mismatch between the “school” culture and children’s cul-tural backgrounds.10 A prime difference in chil-dren’s early experience is in their exposure to language, which is fundamental in literacy devel-opment and indeed in all areas of thinking and learning. On average, children growing up in low- income families have dramatically less rich experi-ence with language in their homes than do middle-class children:11 They hear far fewer words and are engaged in fewer extended conversations. By 36 months of age, substantial socioeconomic dispari-ties already exist in vocabulary knowledge,12 to name one area. Children from families living in poverty or in households in which parent education is low typi-cally enter school with lower levels of foundational skills, such as those in language, reading, and