The word “program” in early childhood education refers to “the planning of the curriculum, which also includes the instructional practices, the daily schedule, the routines for caring for children, and the recreational activities, such as outdoor play” (Gadikowski, 2013, Section 4.1). Educational administrators are the instructional leaders of their schools and centers primarily in the planning of curriculum. For this assignment, you will choose a particular age group (infants, toddlers, or preschoolers), and design (outline) a program that is developmentally appropriate.

Please review the following web pages for examples:

• Primrose School at East Lake (Links to an external site.)
• Bright Horizons at Hunter’s Green: Our Curriculum (Links to an external site.)

In your paper,

• Describe the role of the early childhood administrator as an instructional leader implementing high-quality program models, theory, and curriculum into your early childhood program.
• Briefly describe the learning and developmental needs of your chosen age group.
• Analyze how your program will address the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of children in this age group (give specific curricular ideas for each area of development), as well as classroom management, individual assessment, and the daily schedule.
• Explain how your program aligns with the philosophy, vision, and mission statements you created in Week
• Discuss how your program aligns with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) indicators of effective curriculum, as outlined in Chapter 4, and found in the position statement Where We Stand on Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation (Links to an external site.).
• Discuss a plan of professional development to train staff on how to implement high-quality program models, theory, and curriculum into their specific environments.

The Program Planning as a Leader paper

• Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.)resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least two credible sources in addition to the course text and the NAEYC position statement.
  • The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  • To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view this Ashford University Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the Ashford University Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips
• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing

The group age I chased is Toddler