Texas Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines

1. At least once a week, ask your child’s teacher or caregiver how your child is doing, and what is going on in the classroom. Try to set up meetings with the teacher for longer discussions.
2. Ask your child’s teacher if he or she has read the “Little Texans. Big Futures.” Don’t be afraid to download and bring a copy for your child’s teacher to read.
3. Ask the teacher, the director, or administrator about safety. How do they make sure your child is safe?
4. Ask other parents or caregivers with children in the program how they feel about it. Build some relationships and work together. Later if you want to help improve things, it’s good to have partners.
5. If there is a problem you find with the care or the program, ask how it will be fixed or improved. Get a commitment.

1. If you have some time, drop in to the program during the day. It’s your right and you will learn a lot about how the program works. While you’re there join them for lunch, read a book with them, or help with nap time.
2. If you cannot get to the program during the day try to drop off or arrive early some days. This way you can make time to chat with your child’s teacher.
3. Offer the teacher help or support. Build a partnership with your child’s teacher. Consider trying to support special events like field trips or classroom celebrations. If you have anytime to lend, let the teacher know!
4. Always talk to your child about his or her day in the program, even with infants. Leaving care or leaving you is a big transition for them. Your soothing voice and your interest will help them adjust and it shows their care is important to you.
5. Of course you can’t always be there, otherwise you wouldn’t need care. Make sure you and the teacher create ways for you to communicate outside of the program. Exchange email addresses or phone numbers and commit to regular communications.

1. Since you will be talking to your child and your child’s teacher about the program, you will learn about challenges. You can make a difference. You can make a change. When a problem or challenge comes up, stop and think of some solutions or ask for some from the teacher, from your parent partners, or from the director.
2. Does the classroom have everything it needs? Look around. Do the toys and learning tools seem clean and new? Are there enough books? Talk to some of the other parents, are there ways you can all support your child’s program?
3. In Texas we have many types of quality improvement systems for early care and education. Ask the director if the center has any accreditations, is involved with any quality improvement programs, or is working towards any type of quality improvement goal. If the answer is “no,” ask “when can we start?” and “how can I help?”
4. Read “Little Texans. Big Futures.” Learn about the different areas of child development, what skills your child should be gaining, and talk to your child’s teacher about how you both can work together to make sure your child gets support in the classroom and at home.
5. If you ever see something that makes you feel concerned for a child’s safety call the Texas Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400.

To ensure that the Guidelines were created in a manner that represented the diversity of voices throughout the state, the Council appointed a qualified group of stakeholders to guide and influence their development. This talented group of individuals has met four times in person, three times via webinar, and dozens of times through smaller group meetings and conference calls. The Texas Early Learning Council is extremely grateful for all the efforts of the stakeholder group. The Stakeholders separated their work into three key areas:

• Guidelines Development
• Workforce and Professional Development
• Public Knowledge and Engagement

Stakeholders formed small groups that focused on each area. Though the members focused on different areas, a significant amount of the work that went into the Guidelines was accomplished collaboratively. Thus, all members provided feedback and comments on the efforts of each small group. Additionally, the entire stakeholder group took significant steps in the beginning of the process to establish important organizing concepts for the entire development process. With help from ZERO TO THREE®, an organization committed to helping professionals, policymakers, and parents improve the lives of infants and toddlers, the stakeholders developed a vision, mission, guiding principles, and strategic plan for their work.

Vision

For all young children to grow and thrive in their families and in their communities

Mission

To engage in a comprehensive and collaborative process to develop and implement Texas’ Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines

The Guidelines must:

• Be evidence-based
• Support differences in temperament and development
• Be sensitive to family culture and linguistic differences
• Be inclusive and address the needs of young children with special needs, disabilities, and/or developmental delays
• Link to best practices that support optimal growth in all developmental domains for young children
• Be useful to parents, the early childhood workforce, and policymakers

In order to write the actual Guidelines, the Texas Early Learning Council sought support from CLI. Faculty members and other experts at CLI formed a writing team and engaged in an iterative process that included review and response from the stakeholders, Council staff, and the writers at CLI. The stakeholders provided the writers with key examples of Guidelines from other states, preferences for voice and approach, and a draft outline for how the Guidelines should be organized. The writers went through a process of clarifying meanings amongst themselves, whereby they created shared definitions of domains and domain components. In addition, they reviewed all of their drafts collectively before submitting the drafts to the stakeholders. These Guidelines were exchanged between the writers and the stakeholders four times, and significant changes accompanied each exchange. Council staff also worked with select members of the stakeholder group to review the Guidelines for accessible language, sensitivity to special needs, and the presence of professional jargon. Finally, supporting text for the document, like introductory sections and case studies, were authored by a mix of Council staff, Council members, stakeholders, and researchers at CLI.