Acknowledgements

The Rhode Island Board of Education adopted the Rhode Island Early Childhood Learning and Development Standards (RIELDS) on May 23, 2013. The Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grant provided funds for the revision and expansion of the state’s early learning and development standards. Throughout 2022, the RIELDS were opened for public comment and revision. On January 24th 2023 the 2023 Rhode Island Early Learning and Development Standards were endorsed by the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education.

Charting the Course for Success: Rhode Island’s Early Childhood Learning and Development Standards were made possible by many dedicated individuals giving countless hours to the project. We are grateful for the multitude of early childhood stakeholders: The RI Early Learning Council (ELC), the Region 2 Comprehensive Center (R2CC), licensed family childcare providers, licensed child care administrators and teachers, Head Start, RI Pre-K administrators and teachers, public school administrators and teachers, and special education programs and parents and community members who provided input and made recommendations that enriched the level of content and quality of the standards.

We must also recognize those who were instrumental in drafting multiple versions of the early learning and development standards:

The Core Team (2013)

Kristen Greene
Rhode Island Department of Education

Michele Palermo
Rhode Island Department of Education

Susan Dickstein, PhD
Bradley Hospital Early Childhood Center/Brown Medical School Rhode Island Association for Infant Mental Health

Ruth Gallucci
Rhode Island Department of Education

Brenda Duhamel
Rhode Island, Office of Health and Human Services

Sara Mickelson
Rhode Island Department of Education

Judi Stevenson-Garcia
Rhode Island Department of Education

(2023)

Amanda Blazka
Rhode Island Department of Education

Elaine Remillard
Rhode Island Department of Education

Lisa Nugent
Rhode Island Department of Education

Zoe McGrath
Rhode Island Department of Education

Consultants and National Experts (2013)

Clancy Blair
Professor of Applied Psychology, New York University

Douglas H. Clements
Kennedy Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning and Professor, University of Denver

Linda Espinosa
Professor of Early Childhood Education (Ret.) University of Missouri, Colombia

Kathleen Hebbeler
Manager of the Community Services and Strategies Program, SRI International

Linda Kimura
Director, Babies Can’t Wait

Jeffrey Capizzano
Policy Equity Group

Catherine Scott-Little
Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, University of North Carolina

Dorothy Strickland
Samuel DeWitt Proctor Professor of Education Emerita, Rutgers, The State University of NJ

Karen Anderson
Education Development Center, Inc

Jackie Bourassa
Education Development Center, Inc

(2023)

Anna Falkner
Assistant Professor, Early Childhood Education, University of Memphis

Oscar A. Barbarin
Professor of African American Studies and Psychology, University of Maryland

Delis Cuellar
Research Associate, WIDA, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Region 2 Comprehensive Center (2023)

Mindy Brookshire
Senior Program Associate, WestEd Center for Child and Family Studies

Cindy Hoisington
Project Director, Education Development Center, Inc.

Clare Waterman
Research Scientist, Education Development Center, Inc.

Georgia Bock
Research Associate, Education Development Center, Inc.

Scroll to Top