Georgia has a long history as a leader in promoting early learning and development outcomes for children. Over the last decade, Georgia has worked to extend the standards down to birth and to align them to the K-12 system. In 2013, Georgia introduced its latest set of high-quality, research-based early learning standards for children birth to age five called the Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards (GELDS). The GELDS are the result of a two-year alignment study and revision project that began in 2010. The purpose of the GELDS is to promote quality learning experiences for children and address the question, “What should children from birth to age five know and be able to do?” They are a set of appropriate, attainable standards for Georgia’s youngest learners and are designed to be flexible enough to support children’s individual rates of development, approaches to learning, and cultural context.
The standards are written as a continuum of skills, behaviors, and concepts that children develop throughout this time of life. They are divided into age groups for convenience and serve as a framework for learning. The GELDS take the place of the Georgia Early Learning Standards (GELS) for birth to three and the Pre-K Content Standards, creating a seamless system of standards in Georgia for birth to five. The GELDS are aligned with the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework, the CCGPS for K-12, the Work Sampling System Assessment.
