What is Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP)?
DAP describes an approach to education that guides educators in their everyday practice. DAP comes from more than 75 years of research on child development and early learning. It gives educators information from which to make decisions based on their knowledge of child development and what is known about how young children learn. DAP considers: • Age appropriateness: what is best for most children of a particular age. • Individual appropriateness: what is best for a specific childs development. • Cultural and social context appropriateness: what is most relevant to and respectful of a child and the childs family, neighborhood, and community.
