Featured Courses

The Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five describes the skills, behaviors, and knowledge that programs must foster in all children.

The Framework is grounded in a comprehensive body of research about what young children should know and be able to do to succeed in school. It describes how children progress across key areas of learning and development and specifies learning outcomes in these areas. This information will help adults better understand what they should be doing to provide effective learning experiences that support important early learning outcomes.

Early Head Start-Child Care (EHS-CC) Partnerships must find innovative ways to promote children’s learning and development and support family well-being. Learn how programs can communicate the benefits of the collaborative EHS-CC Partnership program for all children. Discover the critical role parents play in the lives of their children and these programs.

This webinar discusses how to integrate data from assessments into daily experiences. Early Head Start staff also learn how to identify behavioral and developmental concerns observed while working with infants and toddlers.

Ongoing child assessment determines how children are developing across all developmental domains. It also measures and documents growth, development, and learning over time. Assessment tools support this process. Some of these tools involve formally observing children and documenting those observations and other related examples of children’s knowledge and skills. Discover resources for using observation as part of your ongoing assessment of infants and toddlers.

Health screening is a key part of children’s overall health care. It can help identify concerns early. Explore basic information about screening, as well as resources about screening infants and toddlers. Also, learn about culturally and linguistically responsive screening, lead screening, sensory screening, and social, emotional, and behavioral screening. You’ll also find helpful, practical tools.

Young children need safe, healthy places to learn and grow. In this webinar, learn more about what Head Start and child care programs can do to keep kids safe and healthy. Explore Caring for Our Children (CFOC) and CFOC Basics.

Practice-Based Coaching (PBC) is a professional development strategy that uses a cyclical process. This process supports teachers’ use of effective teaching practices that lead to positive outcomes for children. PBC occurs in the context of collaborative partnerships. View the videos below to learn more about PBC.

EHS Training Tier 1 Trauma Informed Practices Training

EHS Tier 1 Trauma Training: Building Protective Factors with Families.

EHS Trauma Informed Care Training

The Approaches to Learning domain, unlike the other essential domains, presents a different way of thinking about learning. It doesn’t focus on what skills, concepts, or behaviors children acquire across all domains, but on how children acquire them. Part 1 of the News You Can Use series on approaches toward learning describes the domain and highlights the concept of self-regulation: why it is important, how it relates to approaches toward learning, and strategies for helping infants and toddlers develop this skill. This information may be useful to teachers, home visitors, and family child care providers.

Approaches Toward Learning—Foundations of School Readiness Part 1 
Approaches Toward Learning and School Readiness Goals for Infants and Toddlers 
What Are Approaches Toward Learning? 
Self-Regulation and Approaches Toward Learning 
Conclusion 
Study Guide

Nurturing, responsive, and effective interactions and engaging environments are the foundation of effective teaching practices. In this Teacher Time episode, find out how to create and support positive and safe learning environments for infants and toddlers. Discover ways to keep all children physically and emotionally safe every day.

Note: The evaluation, certificate, and engagement tools mentioned in the video were for the participants of the live webinar and are no longer available. For information about webinars that will be broadcast live soon, visit Upcoming Events.

The toddler years are a time when children are building skills in all areas. They remember what they learn and share it with others. They understand things more deeply, make choices, and engage with others in new ways. The changes in their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development help them to build new skills that prepare them for school and later learning.

During the toddler years, children begin to use their large and small muscles in new ways. They like to go fast and practice running, jumping, kicking, and throwing. Although unsteady at first, with practice, many children begin to climb stairs by the time they reach age 2. By 2-and-a-half, most toddlers have generally mastered stairs and are ready to begin climbing more challenging playground equipment. But as their mobility increases, so do the safety hazards. Caregivers need to supervise their activity closely, especially when toddlers are climbing. As for children of all ages, playground surfacing in outdoor play areas must meet regulations so that it cushions toddlers' many falls. Safety gates are another important piece of safety equipment for children in this age group.

Head Start staff are encouraged to watch this webinar about the importance of active supervision. It was part of a week of interactive webinars and online discussion around keeping children safe. Discover practical active supervision strategies for use in the classroom and at home. Note: The survey and certificate mentioned in the video were for the participants of the live webinar and are no longer available.

ELOF2GO is a mobile resource for teachers who want to access and learn more about the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF). It's your on-the-go guide to children’s development and learning.

Head Start and Early Head Start programs must implement a research-based early childhood curriculum with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five (ELOF). This ensures that programs can plan and implement effective teaching practices to promote positive learning outcomes for children in all developmental domains. Use this guide to help align your curriculum with the ELOF. Find ways to strengthen intentional teaching practices in ELOF sub-domains identified during the alignment process. Also, learn how to provide program level supports for curriculum planning and implementation.

The Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) Effective Practice Guides provide information about domain-specific teaching practices that support children’s development. The guides show what these practices look like in early learning settings. They also help staff reflect on and improve their teaching practices. In home-based settings, teaching practices are the ways that home visitors work with families to provide experiences that support the child’s development and learning, engage in responsive interactions, and use the home as the learning environment.

Early childhood professionals have opportunities to build relationships that can positively impact children and their families for a lifetime. Strong relationships with families promote family well-being, positive parent-child relationships, and the ongoing learning and development of children and parents. 

Find tips classroom staff and home visitors can use when they do not speak the languages of the children in their care. Explore additional resources that support the Planned Language Approach and include strategies for working with DLLs. 

ELOF2GO is a mobile resource for teachers who want to access and learn more about the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF). It's your on-the-go guide to children’s development and learning.

These episodes explore effective teaching practices to support children's development and learning related to the domains and sub-domains in the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF).

The Practice-Based Coaching (PBC) Implementation Screener Needs Assessment is a list of questions and indicators related to the effective implementation of PBC. This screener was developed for a program’s PBC Implementation Team to use as they review their current and future implementation of PBC. This screener allows a program to identify their current strengths as well as areas of need to guide planning for continued improvement of PBC implementation. 

This webisode is all about supporting you! It is important to take care of yourself before meeting the needs of young children. Self-care leads to better interactions at work and at home. Hear from adult health and wellness experts about strategies to support your overall well-being. Many ideas can be used with children to create positive learning environments.

Note: The evaluation, certificate, and engagement tools mentioned in the video were for the participants of the live webinar and are no longer available. 

Completing this Skill Profile supports the development of an individualized staff development plan for each staff member in early childhood program. The skill profile for each position includes a list of skill indicators with a brief description of skills that an employee needs to use in carrying out his or her job responsibilities. 

Explore how engaging and responsive learning environments help infants and toddlers achieve school readiness. Marley Jarvis, Ph.D., Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, talks about how to define responsive learning environments for children ages birth to 3. She also offers strategies for integrating children’s languages and cultures. Find examples of how responsive, engaging learning environments support school readiness. Note: The evaluation and certificate mentioned in the video were for the participants of the live webinar and are no longer available.

For infants and toddlers, development and learning is holistic and integrated. It should happen within the context of secure relationships with adults. View this webisode to hear from Ron Lally, co-director of the West Ed Center for Child and Family Studies, and other experts to explore the heart of school readiness for infants and toddlers. Learn more about the importance of routines and learning experiences. Use the Quick Start Guide to review the essentials of infant toddler school readiness and to deepen your practice.

The Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five (ELOF) presents five broad areas of early learning, referred to as central domains. The framework is designed to show the continuum of learning for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. It is grounded in comprehensive research around what young children should know and be able to do during their early years. 

The Planned Language Approach (PLA) is a comprehensive, systemic, research-based way for Head Start and Early Head Start programs to ensure optimal language and literacy services for children who speak English and for those who are dual language learners (DLLs).

This in-service suite provides an overview of the role ongoing assessment plays in supporting quality teaching and learning.
 

Learn the brain science behind behaviors that impact adults and children.

In this Teacher Time episode, find out what it means to implement an infant and toddler curriculum with fidelity. Learn how teachers and family child care providers can do this by using the curriculum in the way the developers intended for it to be used. Explore ways to individualize a curriculum to meet children's and families' diverse needs, interests, and cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

In order to be ready for school, young children who are dual language learners (DLLs) and those who speak English all require high-quality experiences in each of the Big 5—ALL day, EVERY day, EVERY child. The Big 5 are: Background Knowledge; Oral Language and Vocabulary; Book Knowledge and Print Concepts; Alphabet Knowledge and Early Writing; and Phonological Awareness.

You will find all the resources organized by the five key skills that lead to later school success for all children. Early education staff and families can explore any of the five skills to understand research about each area; learn how development progresses from birth to age five; learn support strategies; and see examples in different early learning settings.

In this webinar, learn how to plan for and use ongoing child assessment to provide quality teaching and learning for children with disabilities. Walk through the process of understanding the annual Individualized Education Program (IEP). Disabilities coordinators and staff will learn how to use data to determine teaching effectiveness.
 

Use this guide to see if your assessment instruments are aligned with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF). This will ensure that your program assesses children’s development and learning in all domains important for school and long-term success.

For infants and toddlers, all learning happens within the context of their relationships with important adults in their lives. Education staff use effective teaching practices to:

Establish strong relationships with young children and their families
Create learning environments that foster children’s trust and emotional security and respond to their interests and needs
Support and extend children’s learning in culturally and linguistically responsive ways
Use the resources on this page to strengthen infant and toddler teaching practices.

Ongoing child assessment determines how children are developing across all developmental domains. It also measures and documents growth, development, and learning over time. Assessment tools support this process. Some of these tools involve formally observing children and documenting those observations and other related examples of children’s knowledge and skills. Discover resources for using observation as part of your ongoing assessment of infants and toddlers.

This course gives content that helps to frame the importance of thriving and helping the children we work with thrive as well.

In this episode of Teacher Time, learn more about transitions between programs as well as those that happen throughout the day in an infant/toddler program. Explore how to use or plan for transitions between routines and activities to support children’s learning. Hear tips and strategies related to supporting infants, toddlers, and their families through transitions.

Head Start and Early Head Start programs must provide staff with professional development that focuses on promoting children’s development aligned with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF). Explore this implementation guide to find ways to help your program plan ELOF-related professional development. Doing so will build staff’s knowledge of development and learning for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Head Start and Early Head Start managers and staff can explore this brief to learn about how to strengthen trauma-informed practices for staff. Review three strategies staff can use to practice trauma-informed care. Find examples of how managers can support staff in a trauma-informed program.

The curriculum promotes rich learning experiences and interactions to support development across domains. For infants and toddlers, rich learning experiences take place within the context of an engaging play environment, interactions and conversations with caregivers and peers, and daily caregiving routines. Rich learning experiences support and extend children's knowledge, understanding of concepts, and skills across domains. Infants and toddlers develop and learn by freely moving their bodies and actively exploring their environments in open-ended ways. The curriculum offers infants and toddlers ample opportunities to move and explore and provides teachers with guidance on how to interact with children to extend exploration, thinking, and communication. Rich learning experiences should be culturally and linguistically responsive and inclusive of children with disabilities, suspected delays, or other special needs.

Explore this resource to understand the differences between parent involvement and family engagement. Learn why moving from parent involvement to family engagement practices can help you build strong relationships with families.

These four episodes focus on supporting the four sub-domains of the ELOF Approaches to Learning domain with infants, toddlers, and their families:

Supporting Infants' and Toddlers' Emotional and Behavioral Self-regulation
Supporting Infants’ and Toddlers' Cognitive Self-regulation
Supporting Initiative and Curiosity in Infants and Toddlers
Supporting Creativity in Infants and Toddlers

The Head Start Program Performance Standards require grantees to implement program and teaching practices that are aligned with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF). This toolkit guides the alignment process and helps strengthen practices to promote children’s development in all ELOF domains. After completing the toolkit, Head Start leaders and staff will be able to plan and implement program and teaching practices that support children’s outcomes.

Cognition, or cognitive development, includes reasoning, memory, problem-solving, and thinking skills. Young children use these abilities to make sense of and organize their world. By the time children reach the preschool years, their cognitive skills have grown so much that they can engage in complex mathematical thinking and scientific reasoning.

Infants and toddlers play an active role in their own cognitive development by exploring and testing the world around them. Through these explorations and experiments, and with the support of parents, teachers, and other adults, infants and toddlers begin to understand basic mathematical, spatial, and causal relationships. More and more, infants and toddlers can rely on their developing memory to help them make sense of the world. All this activity in the first three years lays the foundation for the more complex cognitive skills children will build as preschoolers.