The DRDP Fundamental View for Preschoolers: What is it?
For educators, childcare workers, and parents alike, taking responsibility for a child’s development is no small commitment. Creating a program that improves the well-being of children and families is a challenging task but a necessary one. Thankfully, the State of California created the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) with the goal of improving program quality for early education programs. You might be asking now, what’s the DRDP Fundamental View for preschoolers? Let’s dig in!
The DRDP is required in California for all children under the age of 12 who are involved in early care educational programs and before- and after-school programs. With the Desired Results program, California educators can improve outcomes for childhood education and better prepare children for the ongoing education process. The program is organized around six desired outcomes:
- Children are personally and socially competent.
- Children are effective learners.
- Children show physical and motor competence.
- Children are safe and healthy.
- Families can support the child’s learning and development.
- Families achieve their goals.
So, how does the DRDP help programs achieve these goals? The DRDP works by applying a system to measure each child’s progress toward these outcomes. These measurements can then be used to tailor the educational programs to the needs of the child or children who are enrolled in a given educational or childcare program.
There are four components to the Desired Results system:
- The Desired Results Developmental Profile 2015 (DRDP 2015 Checklists), which is completed by educators and professional caregivers
- The Desired Results Parents Survey, which allows parents to rate the educational program and assess their family’s progress toward the family-centered results above
- The Environmental Rating Scales, which measures specifics about the program’s environment, such as child-teacher interactions, activities, and health and safety
- The Program Self-Evaluation, which consists of an honest look at program quality using equal access, professional growth, and approaches to teaching and learning
Since the Desired Results program covers a range of children from birth to 12 years old, there are several different approaches to measurement, known as “Views.” Each educational program will need to choose a specific View to use for measuring DRDP. The available Views represent various age groups, and within each age group there are additional choices. Options are also available for children with disabilities and children who are multilingual, bilingual, or for whom English is not the first language. The DRDP 2015 views are as follows:
DRDP Infant Toddler
- DRDP Comprehensive View
- DRDP Essential View
- DRDP Modified Essential View
DRDP Preschool
- DRDP Comprehensive View
- DRDP Fundamental View
- DRDP Essential View
- DRDP Modified Essential View
DRDP Kindergarten
- DRDP Comprehensive View
- DRDP Fundamental View
- DRDP Essential View
DRDP School Age
- DRDP Complete Version
- DRDP Simplified Version
A Deeper Look: DRDP Fundamental View for Preschoolers
Don’t worry if the above information hasn’t answered all of your questions about the DRDP Fundamental View. We’re about to take a more in-depth look at how the DRDP works and how the DRDP Preschool Fundamental View compares with other preschool views.
Whether you’re a parent, an educator, or a caregiver, the first thing you probably want to know about the DRDP 2015 is how it is measured. If you are envisioning a lengthy testing process and a lot of anxiety for everyone involved, you can rest easy. The DRDP 2015 is based on everyday classroom activities, and there is no special testing process required. However, if you are an educator, you can plan classroom activities that will help you complete the DRDP.
Getting into the nitty-gritty of the measurements, we will look at how the DRDP is organized and what developmental milestones are measured. Each View is divided into scoring categories, called domains, which are further divided into subdomains. Each domain has a specific number of measures related to distinct areas of development. In the Preschool category, the main difference is the number of domains and subdomains included in each View. There are a total of eight domains:
- Approaches to Learning and Self-Regulation (ATL-REG)
- Social and Emotional Development (SED)
- Language and Literacy Development (LLD)
- English Language Development (ELD)
- Cognition, Including Math and Science (COG)
- Physical Development-Health (PD-HLTH)
- History and Social Science (HSS)
- Visual and Performing Arts (VPA)
The DRDP Preschool Comprehensive View is the most involved of the three Views, incorporating 56 measures among all eight domains. The remaining Views, the DRDP Preschool Fundamental View and the DRDP Preschool Essential View, include only six domains. Neither View includes History and Social Science or Visual and Performing Arts.
The main difference between the two views is the number of measures each contains. The DRDP Preschool Fundamental View includes 43 measures total. The DRDP Preschool Essential View, on the other hand, incorporates only 29 measures, and although the measures incorporate all six domains, some subdomains are not included. Of note, Essential DRDP Views do not meet special education requirements.
| DRDP Preschool Comprehensive View | DRDP Preschool Fundamental View | DRDP Preschool Essential View (Does not include all measures in each domain) | |
| Approaches to Learning and Self-Regulation (ATL-REG) | Included | Included | Included |
| Social and Emotional Development (SED) | Included | Included | Included |
| Language and Literacy Development (LLD) | Included | Included | Included |
| English Language Development (ELD) | Included | Included | Included |
| Cognition, Including Math and Science (COG) | Included | Included | Included (Cog-Math only) |
| Physical Development-Health (PD-HLTH) | Included | Included | Included |
| History and Social Science (HSS) | Included | Not Included | Not Included |
| Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) | Included | Not Included | Not Included |
| Total number of Measures | 56 | 43 | 29 |
To have a solid understanding of how the DRDP is scored, you will want to know more about the measures themselves. Each measure represents various developmental milestones for the specific subdomain in which it is categorized. The person who is measuring needs only to observe which milestone the child has reached under the specified category.
Although it is not possible to list all of the measures here, the charts below contain a few example items from the various domains, using some developmental milestones. For additional examples of the DRDP measures included in the DRDP Preschool Fundamental View, you can look at the template here. This first chart shows the first two developmental milestones in three categories:
| Domain | Sub-domain | Responding Earlier | Responding Later |
| ATL-REG | Curiosity and Initiative in Learning | An infant orients towards a noise. | An infant smiles when an adult sings a song. |
| LLD | Responsiveness to Language | An infant sustains a gaze at an adult’s smiling face. | An infant moves towards a familiar adult’s open arms. |
| COG | Classification | An infant looks at people’s faces. | An infant smiles at a familiar adult’s face or voice. |
Examples from the same subdomain for the next level of developmental milestones include:
Domain Sub-domain Exploring Earlier Exploring Later ATL-REG Curiosity and Initiative in Learning A child repeatedly bangs a drum with their hands. A child molds sand using a cup. LLD Responsiveness to Language A child signs “more” after an adult asks, “more milk?” A child communicates, “Ok,” when an adult says, “Your friend wants to play too.” COG Classification A child looks for a baby bottle when playing with a doll. A child picks out train cars from a box of toys.
The next set of developmental milestones in the same sub-domains include:
Domain Sub-domain Building Earlier Building Middle Building Later ATL-REG Curiosity and Initiative in Learning A child drops a marble in a maze and follows its path to the bottom. A child compares the colors and shapes of leaves on a nature walk. A child uses a magnetic wand to figure out which objects it will lift. LLD Responsiveness to Language A child picks up toys after being asked by an adult. A child follows an instruction to tag another child during a game. A child can follow a request to “push in your chair, put your book in the cubby, and wash your hands.” COG Classification A child sorts rocks into two piles, big and small after a neighborhood walk. A child puts crayons, markers, and pencils into different piles. A child sorts buttons by color, then sorts them again by shape or size. Domain Sub-domain Building Earlier Building Middle Building Later
Examples of the final developmental milestones from these sub-domains include:
| Domain | Sub-domain | Integrating Earlier |
| ATL-REG | Curiosity and Initiative in Learning | A child looks through a prism and directs its light until it makes a rainbow on the wall. |
| LLD | Responsiveness to Language | A child chooses a book and takes it to the library counter after an adult says, “Find a book and bring it to the library counter.” |
| COG | Classification | A child separates tiles into four categories: blue circles, blue squares, red circles, and red squares. |
As the above examples demonstrate, educators can complete the observation and scoring of these measures amid daily activities. In addition, parents can rest assured that their children are not subjected to the strain of testing and that the purpose of scoring is to direct the next stage of classroom learning. Unlike some types of tests children might encounter in school, DRDP is not used for exclusionary purposes.
DRDP Fundamental View: 2015 Spanish and Other Languages Besides English
If you are the teacher, caregiver, or parent of a child who does not speak English as a home language, you may have concerns about how language affects the DRDP measures. That’s a valid concern; however, the DRDP incorporates a child’s home language into the milestones. For example, Spanish speakers and children attending Spanish language programs have a version of the DRDP 2015 Preschool Fundamental View available in Spanish. In addition, educational software like Learning Genie often has translation capabilities that make it possible to work in languages other than English.
The DRDP 2015 allows for and encourages the assessment of students in their home language, meaning a child can meet all but one of the domains without any English language development. The English language development domain specifically tracks English language abilities at the preschool level.
Some developmental milestones in this domain include:
- A child points to a picture of a bird after hearing a bird outside.
- A child joins with their peers in singing a song in the child’s home language.
- A child pauses to listen to peers speaking in English while playing.
- A child points to a ball when another child asks, “Where is the ball?”
- A child points to a caption under a picture and asks an adult what it says.
- A child gestures to a slide and tells a peer, “My turn.”
- A child adds blocks to a road when another child says, “We need a longer road.”
- A child nods excitedly when another child asks them if they want to ride bikes outside.
The DRDP encourages educators who provide assessments for English Language Development to remember that children develop English proficiency at different rates and in different ways and that proficiency in the home language is a building block for English proficiency.
In addition, a child’s development of English will also be affected by their level of exposure, the level of support they receive in their home language, and the structure of the home language. Finally, testing English ability requires a child to have had sufficient time working with the language. Therefore, educators are only required to test a child in the English Language Development domain if they are preschool-aged and have a home language other than English.
Using Educational Software to Build a DRDP Portfolio
Although educational software is excellent for much more than completing the DRDP, it is especially beneficial for keeping track of DRDP assessments. Learning Genie, a leader in early education software, can help educators and caregivers stay on track with DRDP assessments. Some advantages that are specific to using Learning Genie software for DRDP rating and portfolio building include:
- Educators report an estimated 80 percent increase in productivity when using the software to track DRDP.
- Educators report additional monetary savings on paper, ink, files, folders, and binders.
- Educators can quickly create spreadsheets and sync observation notes with the DRDP online.
- Educators have DRDP access to Progress Dashboard with easily readable assessments.
- Educators can rest assured that any information added to the portal is kept safe and secure.
Of course, there are other advantages for educators when using Learning Genie software. One of the biggest is the time educators can save taking notes, tracking student progress, and communicating with parents and families. In addition, school administrators can easily access student information from anywhere.
Here are a few of the advantages for educators:
- Easy documentation
- In-app assessment rating
- Easy exportation of data to a portfolio
- Organized information
- Multimedia sharing including pictures, videos, books, and resources
- Auto-generated portfolios for conferences
- Mobile device syncing and remote management
- A dashboard view for quick information
To sum up all these benefits: Using educational software saves you paperwork time and allows you to spend your precious time working with the little ones in your charge. All in all, managing a class full of very young learners is challenging, and you can use as many extra minutes as you can get.
The Advantages of Educational Software for Families
Sending your beloved child off to an unfamiliar environment is anxiety-producing for many parents. But what if you could know more about what your child was doing all day? What if you could see pictures and videos of your child participating in the classroom and have instant access to their progress reports?
You can! Access to excellent educational software like Learning Genie helps families also. With the ability to access information from a DRDP app on your phone, you can stay up-to-date with your child’s learning, receive notifications, news, and reminders, and continue your child’s learning trajectory at home.
That sounds great, but what if you are no good with using technology, and the thought of setting up an app is terrifying. Don’t worry; Learning Genie has a video tutorial to get you started. The tutorial is also available in Spanish for those who are less comfortable watching in English.
Why Does California Use the DRDP 2015 for State-Funded Programs?
California is one of the few states in the nation with a system for measuring the progress of children toward desired outcomes. When the DRDP was developed, the goal was to promote the well-being of children and families through the educational system and improve the quality of education programs through that support.
Participation in the Desired Results program gives educational programs the tools for self-evaluation and continuous improvement. In addition, the involvement of families in the assessment process means more continuity between home and school and more stability for children in early education programs.
The design of the DRDP incorporates inclusivity, as measures are in place to consider cultural differences and incorporate disability aids into the assessments and the classroom in general. In addition, the DRDP was updated with specific refinements in 2015 to improve the quality of early education even further. The DRDP is meant to level the playing field for children who receive instruction through publicly funded institutions. DRDP assessments allow educators to design their curriculum around the specified needs of the children in their care. By mapping out each child’s developmental milestones, educators can plan lessons to aid each child in reaching the next developmental level, thus improving outcomes for the children in their care.
