Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Building A Research Base For Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Rosalind Charlesworth, Craig H. Hart, Diane C. Burts, Michele Dewolf

Faculty Publications

For five years a group of researchers at Lousiana State Uinversity has been studying the effects of devlopmentally appropriate and developmentally inappropriate instructional practices on the behavior and achievement of young children. This paper begins with an overview of the extent of this work. The major arguments of the critics who have examined child development as the conceptual base for early childhood education and a construct of developmentally appropriate practice from the conceptualization view are then examined. Finally, the results of the LSU studies are summarized and a case is made in support of a construct of developmentally appropriate practice. …