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Office of Early Childhood outlines updates to Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards
Summary
An unidentified presenter from the Office of Early Childhood summarized revisions to the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards (CTLs), saying the update began in 2024, incorporated 559 survey responses and expert review, and includes formatting changes, cross-domain references, multilingual learner guidance and domain-specific adjustments.
An unidentified presenter from the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) presented a detailed overview of revisions to the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards (CTLs), saying the update process began in 2024 and incorporated survey feedback and expert review. "The CTLs are not an assessment or screening tool," the presenter said, stressing the document is intended as a guide to support learning and development.
The presenter said the update was led by OEC with support from cooperative educational services, cross-sector advisory input and a content validation process that included the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The state first rolled out an earlier version of the CTLs in 2013 and published them in 2014; OEC reported it received 559 survey responses in 2024 that directly informed the revisions.
Key format changes include relabeling age bands by developmental period (for example, "young infants," with skills commonly seen around six months), numbering learning progressions within strands to emphasize skill development over time (for example, "a1"), and adding cross-references that link indicators across domains using domain abbreviations (for example, COG for cognition). The presenter said those cross references are intended to show how skills in one domain relate to progressions in others.
The update also adds explicit considerations for multilingual learners within the language and literacy domain and strengthens many early literacy progressions to align with Connecticut’s broader birth-to-5 literacy plan. "These considerations address how the skills in the CTLs may vary depending upon the experiences of young children who are learning multiple languages," the presenter said.
Domain-specific changes called out by OEC include strengthening executive function progressions in cognition (with more detail on cognitive flexibility and working memory) and increasing the role of play as an instructional context; coordinating self-regulation progressions between cognition and social-emotional development; expanding fine-motor indicators in preschool beyond writing implements; reorganizing creative arts into two strands (perform/create and respond/connect) aligned with national core arts standards; adding patterning and early numeral writing and comparison in mathematics; and aligning science progressions to emphasize both exploration and cause-and-effect relationships.
OEC said several resources previously embedded in the CTLs will be published separately: Connecticut ELD action guides in English and Spanish will be available as brochures, and crosswalks to kindergarten standards have been consolidated into a single document that OEC will post online once updated. The agency also plans updates to the Connecticut documentation and observation for teaching system (CT Dots), including expanded age bands in an updated CT Dots 2, and will hold focus groups with providers and families to guide the rollout.
The presenter closed by encouraging providers and families to use the CTLs as a developmental guide rather than a screening tool and directed listeners to ctoec.org for the report documenting the update process, survey results and related resources. OEC said it will publish the crosswalks and supplemental guidance online once they are finalized.
