Stressing the importance of collective efforts among families, early childhood care and education programs, communities, and policymakers in supporting the learning and development of children, this resource guide provides a framework for understanding and communicating a common set of developmentally appropriate expectations for young children within a context of shared responsibility and accountability for helping children meet these expectations. The document is divided into six domains that reflect the full range of child development: (1) personal and social development (emotional development, self concept, and social competence); (2) approaches to learning (curiosity, risk taking, invention and imagination, persistence, and reflection); (3) language development and communication (listening, speaking, emergent reading, and emergent writing); (4) creativity and the arts (creating, responding, and evaluating); (5) cognitive development (mathematical and logical thinking, scientific thinking and problem solving, and social systems understanding); and (6) physical development (gross motor development, fine motor development, and physical health and well being). Each domain is further divided into three to five components that include indicators of children's progress in gaining concepts, knowledge, and skills. Strategies that family members and teachers and caregivers in early childhood care and education programs can use to facilitate children's development are listed for each component, as are suggested learning activities. Strategies community members and policymakers can use to promote and support children's development are also included in each domain. In order to provide markers of progress during the preschool period, the guide addresses widely-held developmental expectations observed in a child at approximately 4 years old. (Contains 26 references and lists 42 additional resources.) (KB)