A GREAT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION WORKFORCE WE ALL WANT ONE BUT HOW CAN DO WE MAKE IT HAPPEN?

12th National Early Childhood Inclusion InstituteMay 14–16, 2012

Shelley deFosset & Tracey WestFPG Child Development InstituteSandy WilbergerVCU T/TAC

Participant Poll

What sector do you represent?

What is your role?

The goal of NPDCI isto assist states in developing cross-sector professional development plans to increase opportunities for high quality preschool inclusion.

What is NPDCI?

What is “cross-sector” professional development?

Who should be part of the cross-sector system of PD?

For Discussion

5

Early Learnin

g

Health, Mental Health

and Nutrition

Family Support

Special Needs/ Early

Intervention

State Early Childhood Development System

Early care and education

opportunities in nurturing

environments where children can learn what they need to

succeed in school and life.

Economic and parenting supports to ensure children have nurturing and stable

relationships with caring adults.

Early identification, assessment and

appropriate services for children with

special health care needs, disabilities, or

developmental delays

Comprehensive health services that meet children’s vision,

hearing, nutrition, behavioral, and oral

health as well as medical health needs.

National Context Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge

(RTT-ELC) Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) Quality Rating & Improvement Systems (QRIS) Early Childhood Outcome Reporting BUILD (Early Childhood Systems Working Group) Early Childhood Registries Multiple Quality Initiatives Inclusion: DEC & NAEYC Joint Position

Statement on Inclusion

Quality Movement = Multiple Quality Initiatives

7

QRISlicensing program

standardsaccreditation criteriaD

AP

Fiefdoms of Early Childhood

Collaborative Approach to PD

Collaboration:a commitment to work together to address a problem and achieve a goal that could not be accomplished by the organizations working individually (Mattessich et al., 2004)

Collaborative PD Initiatives

Early Childhood

Higher Education

EarlyIntervention

Health

Small Group Discussion

How could a cross-sector system of PD that supports inclusion be beneficial to you in your work?

What might be the challenges in building a cross-sector system?

The Big Picture Planning Guide is designed to support state-level planning leading to an integrated professional development system across all early childhood sectors.

Big Picture Planning Guide: Planning Sequence

Step 1: Set the Stage Step 2: Develop a Vision and Focus

Areas Step 3: Develop an

Implementation Plan Step 4: Create a Structure for

Ongoing Improvement

Part 1: WWH – Learners

Who are the major funding agencies for early childhood PD?

To whom does this agency provide PD?

What is the content of the PD?

How is the PD delivered?

Is this PD integrated with

quality initiatives & infrastructure

supports?

Part 2: WWH – PD ProvidersWho are the PD

providers?Who provides

support & resources to the PD

providers?

What is content of the PD for PD providers?

How is it delivered? Link to infrastructure?

Professional Development Who, What and How Planning Matrix (NPDCI, 2011)

Professional Development Planning Matrix

For use at state, regional and local level The Matrix provides information that can be

used to facilitation and inform discussion of: Unnecessary duplications in PD practices across agencies

(e.g., multiple agencies providing PD on the same content areas to the same target audiences without intentional planning)?

Gaps in PD efforts (e.g., important content not being addressed in PD, content not aligned with competencies and standards, lack of support for PD providers)?

Collaboration across sectors in how PD is funded, planned, and implemented? How could collaboration be improved?

Professional Development Planning Matrix

Are there unnecessary duplications in PD practices across agencies (e.g., multiple agencies providing PD on the same content areas to the same target audiences without intentional planning)?

Are there gaps in PD efforts (e.g., important content not being addressed in PD, content not aligned with competencies and standards, lack of support for PD providers)?

Is there collaboration across sectors in how PD is funded, planned, and implemented? How could collaboration be improved?

Landscape For Use at the State Level The Landscape provides information about:

The PD content that is being addressed most/least often (e.g., general knowledge, practice knowledge)

The characteristics of the learners (e.g., level of education, age group served, work settings)

The PD approaches that are being used most/least often

The level of intensity representative of the majority of the PD provided

Virginia’s Story

Virginia Cross-Sector Professional Development (VCPD) State Team

Membership

VA Office of Early Childhood Development

( EC AC) VA Department of Education VA Department of Health VA Department of Social Services VA Resource and Referral Network VA Part C Office VA Integrated Training Collaborative

Virginia Cross-Sector Professional Development (VCPD) State Team

Membership, con’t

The ARC of VA Partnership for People with Disabilities

(UCEED) Head Start Collaboration Office VA Early Childhood Foundation VA State Technical Assistance Centers VA Institutes of Higher Education VA Military Childcare VA Star Quality Rating Initiative

Accomplishments of VCPD

Formation of an active, engaged cross-sector forum of all relevant PD providers in VA that includes a statement of purpose and a letter of agreement

A systematic statewide exploration of the status of Early Childhood PD in Virginia through NPDCI tools (Landscape and Matrix)

Examination of gaps and coordination of new PD initiatives: Center for Early Learning and Literacy (CELL),Center for Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) and SpecialQuest(SQ), with these Initiatives building off each other’s efforts

Two cross sector train-the-trainer initiatives(CELL and SQ)

Accomplishments con’t

More communication between pre-service and in-service through new Federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) paraprofessional grant and SQ

Updated the Competencies for EC Professional to support inclusive practices, with interest in incorporating other at-risk populations

Assessed needs of state PD from all sectors to develop a statewide collaborative framework/network

The expansion of the ECSE Institutes of Higher Education Council to become the Preparing Educators of All Young Children (PEAYC) Group, linking to community Colleges, locality PD providers, and 4 year colleges

Virginia’s Landscape

In Virginia, a team identified PD providers and these providers were invited via email to complete the Landscape.

Response rate VA (n = 256)

of those who followed the link in the invitation email to the Web site with details about the survey 69%

of the total number invited 33%

ResultsWHO were the learners who participated in PD?

Practitioners Work Setting

Age Groups Served

Groups Served

Characteristics of PD providers

Almost all survey respondents were female 96%, Not Hispanic or Latino

White 79%

Primary Employer

WHAT was the content of the PD?

Topic %Knowledge about children’s development and learning 86%

Strategies for improving general classroom practices, learning environments, and program quality to support development and earning for all children

75%

Strategies for collaborating, communicating with, and/or supporting families

71%

Knowledge about children’s health, safety, and nutrition 59%

Content of the PD (con’t)

Strategies for improving inclusion, participation, & learning for children…

%

At risk for learning disabilities or with challenging behaviors

50%

With identified disabilities 54%

From diverse cultural and linguistic groups 42%

Content of the PD (con’t)

Content %

Strategies for communicating and collaborating with other professionals

53%

Assessment approaches 45%

Other 12%

How were PD activities delivered ?

Type of PD Activities %Workshops or institutes 94%Consultation 47%Mentoring 49%Coaching 44%Technical assistance 50%Distance learning approaches 50%COPs/practitioner study groups 23%Co-teaching 14%Other 3%

Recommendations for Strong Cross Sector State Infrastructure

A coordinated needs assessment process Accessibility and availability of

early childhood credential and licensure A career lattice that is broad and aligned A cross-sector trainer registry Coordinated PD standards:

trainer competencies and content State policies and regulations that support

a coordinated system

Recruitment & retention (tiered reimbursement, scholarships, incentives, etc.)

Content aligned with other local, state & federal standards across sectors

A training and technical assistance structure to support mentoring & coaching (for providers and recipients of PD)

Aligned ECE professional competencies Unified birth-five licensure for all

early childhood educators Articulation from entry level training through

higher education.

Recommendations (cont.)

Regional Professional Development Consortiums

PD Consortiums coordinated out of the following cities: Fairfax, Richmond, Harrisonburg, Blacksburg and Norfolk.

Consortium TasksIdentify priorities through routine needs

assessmentsDevelop a work plan to address identified

regional needs Convene quarterly regional consortium meetings

(F2F or virtual)Develop and maintain a Web site for their regionCoordinate and promote cross-sector regional

trainings

Regional Professional Development Consortiums

PD Consortiums coordinated out of the following cities: Fairfax, Richmond, Harrisonburg, Blacksburg and Norfolk.

Consortium Tasks, con’t

Coordinate distance learning opportunities with other consortiums

Maintain a list of trainers that provide training on special initiatives (i.e., SpecialQuest, CSEFEL, etc.)

Maintain communication with other regions to maximize use of resources and expertise across regions

Participate in activities coordinated by State Lead and VCPD

Regional consortium leads will attend an annual planning meeting.

Part 1: WWH – Learners

Who are the major funding agencies for early childhood PD?

To whom does this agency provide PD?

What is the content of the PD?

How is the PD delivered?

Is this PD integrated with

quality initiatives & infrastructure

supports?

Part 2: WWH – PD ProvidersWho are the PD

providers?Who provides

support & resources to the PD

providers?

What is content of the PD for PD providers?

How is it delivered? Link to infrastructure?

Professional Development Who, What and How Planning Matrix (NPDCI, 2011)

Small Group DiscussionHow could these tools be used to support your work around building a professional development system that supports inclusion?

Additional Resources

Early Childhood Inclusion: A Joint Position Statement of DEC and NAEYC

Recommendations for States for Linking PD, Quality and Inclusion

Research Synthesis Points on Quality Inclusive Practices

NPDCI Professional Development Concept Paper

The Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP): Moving Beyond Global Quality

The Inclusive Classroom Profile, developed by Elena Soukakou, is a tool designed to complement existing classroom quality measures & standards

Reflections

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