The Whole Child Record Framework

The 10 domains

• SESocial-Emotional & Relationships

  How your child connects with people, understands feelings, and finds a place to belong. Strong relationships are the soil every other kind of growth grows in.

  SE-1 Trusting Connections · SE-2 Naming & Reading Feelings · SE-3 Friendship & Belonging · SE-4 Empathy & Kindness · SE-5 Working Through Conflict

• EFSelf-Regulation & Executive Function

  The brain's “management skills”: calming down, pausing before acting, focusing, remembering, shifting gears, and getting things done. These skills keep developing through adolescence and into early adulthood, and they respond well to practice, routines, and support.

  EF-1 Calming & Coping · EF-2 Stop-and-Think · EF-3 Focus & Attention · EF-4 Working Memory · EF-5 Flexible Thinking · EF-6 Planning & Follow-Through

• CLCommunication & Language

  Understanding and using language, in any language or communication mode, including speech, sign, pictures, and devices (AAC). Home languages are a strength, not a delay.

  CL-1 Making Sense of Language · CL-2 Getting Ideas Across · CL-3 Words & Vocabulary · CL-4 Conversations & Social Cues

• LTLiteracy

  Growing from loving books and stories to reading, writing, and judging information independently.

  LT-1 Joy of Books & Stories · LT-2 Sounds, Letters & Decoding · LT-3 Reading for Meaning · LT-4 Writing & Composing · LT-5 Finding & Weighing Information

• MTMathematical Thinking

  Making sense of quantity, patterns, shapes, and data, and reasoning through problems in everyday life.

  MT-1 Number Sense & Operations · MT-2 Patterns & Relationships · MT-3 Shapes, Space & Measurement · MT-4 Data & Everyday Math · MT-5 Math Reasoning & Persistence

• SCScientific & Creative Thinking

  Wondering, investigating, imagining, and making: science, engineering, and the arts as ways of understanding the world and expressing ideas.

  SC-1 Curiosity & Wonder · SC-2 Investigating & Explaining · SC-3 Understanding Our World · SC-4 Arts & Creative Expression · SC-5 Designing & Problem-Solving

• PHPhysical Development, Health & Motor

  Moving with strength and coordination, using hands skillfully, understanding the body and senses, and building lifelong healthy habits.

  PH-1 Big-Body Movement · PH-2 Hand Skills & Coordination · PH-3 Senses & Body Awareness · PH-4 Healthy Habits · PH-5 Safety & Body Boundaries

• ILIndependence & Life Skills

  Taking care of oneself, contributing at home, managing time and money, and speaking up for one's own needs — at the pace and with the supports each child needs.

  IL-1 Self-Care · IL-2 Helping at Home · IL-3 Time & Money · IL-4 Speaking Up for Myself · IL-5 Community & Digital Navigation

• ISIdentity, Strengths & Interests

  Who your child is: their sense of self, gifts and passions, confidence as a learner, and connection to family, culture, and values. This domain highlights strengths first.

  IS-1 Sense of Self · IS-2 Strengths & Passions · IS-3 Confidence & Growth Mindset · IS-4 Family, Culture & Community · IS-5 Values & Responsible Choices

• CFCollege, Career & Future Readiness

  Exploring the world of work, planning ahead, and preparing for life after high school, whether that means college, trade school, the military, work, or supported living. (Earlier roots of these skills appear in Executive Function, Independence, and Identity.)

  CF-1 Exploring Work & Careers · CF-2 Goals & Future Planning · CF-3 Work Habits & Teamwork · CF-4 Pathways After High School · CF-5 Civic & Financial Readiness

Age bands

Each growth area has a short checklist for each band. A child’s band is picked from their age or school grade, and you can change it. Bands overlap — use the one that fits your child. Codes such as SE-1.P.2 name the growth area, the band, and the item. They are not levels, scores, or a sequence. College, Career & Future Readiness starts at grades 3–5.

• 0–12 months

  Infant · code I1

• 12–24 months

  Young toddler · code I2

• 24–36 months

  Older toddler · code I3

• Ages 3–5

  Preschool/Pre-K · code P

• Grades K–2

  Early elementary · code K

• Grades 3–5

  Upper elementary · code E

• Grades 6–8

  Middle school · code M

• Grades 9–12

  High school · code H

Sources & attribution

This framework was written originally by Sandy Rakich, Ph.D., for Whole Child Record. Its domains, growth areas, codes, descriptions, and examples are new work. The sources below informed the topics the framework covers and the general developmental timing of its examples. No text, numbering, or structure was copied from any of them. Where a source is copyrighted, only its general concepts are referenced.

Public-domain and government sources

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start. (2015). Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five (ELOF). Washington, DC. https://headstart.gov/school-readiness/article/head-start-early-learning-outcomes-framework. A U.S. federal government work. Informed infant/toddler and preschool domains and the role of approaches to learning.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Learn the Signs. Act Early. developmental milestone checklists and Milestone Tracker app (revised 2022 with the American Academy of Pediatrics). https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/index.html. Informed the general timing of birth-to-5 examples. Some infant and preschool examples describe the same everyday skills as CDC milestones, in our own words.
• Zubler, J. M., Wiggins, L. D., Macias, M. M., Whitaker, T. M., Shaw, J. S., Squires, J. K., Pajek, J. A., Wolf, R. B., Slaughter, K. S., Broughton, A. S., Gerndt, K. L., Mlodoch, B. J., & Lipkin, P. H. (2022). Evidence-informed milestones for developmental surveillance tools. Pediatrics, 149(3), e2021052138. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-052138
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq., and its regulations (34 C.F.R. Parts 300 and 303), including Part C early intervention, Child Find (34 C.F.R. § 300.131 for private school children), and secondary transition (20 U.S.C. § 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(VIII)).
• California Education Code §§ 56043(g)(1) (transition planning, as amended by AB 438, Ch. 901, Stats. 2024) and 56171 (private school Child Find); California Department of Developmental Services, Early Start (https://www.dds.ca.gov/services/early-start/); California Secretary of State, voter pre-registration (https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/pre-register-16-vote-18).

California state guidelines and standards

• California Department of Education. (2024). California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations (PTKLF). Sacramento, CA. https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/psfoundations.asp. Referenced for domain coverage (including approaches to learning, executive functioning, and language development in any language, including the home language) for ages 3 to 5½.
• California Department of Social Services. (2025). California Infant–Toddler Learning and Development Foundations (2nd ed.). Sacramento, CA. https://cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/child-care-and-development/publications/california-infant-toddler-learning-and-development-foundations. (1st ed.: California Department of Education, 2009.)
• California Department of Education. California Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects and California Common Core State Standards: Mathematics (adopted 2010; modified 2013). https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/. Referenced for general K–12 progressions in reading, writing, speaking and listening, and math.
• California Department of Education. Next Generation Science Standards for California Public Schools (adopted 2013), History–Social Science Content Standards (adopted 1998), California Arts Standards (adopted 2019), Health Education Content Standards (adopted 2008), and Physical Education Model Content Standards (adopted 2005). https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/.

Social-emotional and school counseling concepts (concepts only)

• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). CASEL's SEL framework and its five broad competency areas, the “CASEL 5” (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making), cited as concepts. https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/. No CASEL text is reproduced.
• American School Counselor Association. (2021). ASCA Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success. Alexandria, VA. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Standards-Positions/Standards/ASCA-Mindsets-Behaviors-for-Student-Success. The concept of student mindsets and behaviors supporting academic success, college and career readiness, and social/emotional development informed the Identity and Future Readiness domains. No ASCA text is reproduced.

Executive function research

• Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2011). Building the Brain's “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function (Working Paper No. 11). https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/building-the-brains-air-traffic-control-system-how-early-experiences-shape-the-development-of-executive-function/
• Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
• Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 49–100. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
• Zelazo, P. D., Blair, C. B., & Willoughby, M. T. (2016). Executive Function: Implications for Education (NCER 2017-2000). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/pubs/20172000/

Grade-level academic standards

• Grade-tagged math and literacy items are aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and grade-tagged science items to the Next Generation Science Standards*. Items are written in our own parent-friendly words, not copied from the standards; the code shown in an item's help points to the standard it relates to. Social studies, arts, and disposition items have no standard code.
• National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics. Washington, DC. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Whole Child Record is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) or the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).
• NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Independence statement. Whole Child Record and Exclusive Education Inc. are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any publisher of a commercial early-childhood or K–12 assessment, or by CASEL, ASCA, the CDC, the Office of Head Start, the California Department of Education, or the California Department of Social Services. This framework was developed independently and is not derived from the objectives, items, wording, numbering, or organization of any commercial assessment or curriculum.

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