Building a Cross-Sector System for Early Childhood Education Workforce

1. Shelley deFosset & Tracey West FPG Child Development InstituteSandyWilberger VCUT/TAC A Great Early Childhood Education Workforce We all Want One but How Can Do we make it happen? 12th National Early Childhood Inclusion Institute May 14–16, 2012

2. Participant Poll • What sector do you represent? • What is your role?

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

4. For Discussion What is “cross-sector” professional development? Who should be part of the cross-sector system of PD?

5. State Early Childhood Development System Comprehensive health services that meet children’s vision, hearing, nutrition, behavioral, and oral health as well as medical health needs. Early care and education opportunities in nurturing environments where children can learn what they need to succeed in school and life. Early Learning Health, Mental Health and Nutrition Family Support Special Needs/ Early Intervention 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

6. 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

7. Quality Movement = Multiple Quality Initiatives licensing QRIS program standards DAP accreditation criteria

8. Fiefdoms of Early Childhood

9. Collaborative Approach to PD Health Collaborative PD Initiatives Early Childhood Higher Education 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) Early Intervention

10. 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?

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

12. 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

14. 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?

15. 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?

17. 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

18. Virginia’s Story

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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)

22. 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

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

24. 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%

25. ResultsWHO were the learners who participated in PD?

26. Practitioners Work Setting

27. Age Groups Served

28. Groups Served

29. Characteristics of PD providers • Almost all survey respondents were female 96%,Not Hispanic or Latino • White 79%

30. Primary Employer

32. WHAT was the content of the PD?

33. Content of the PD (con’t)

34. Content of the PD (con’t)

35. How were PD activities delivered ?

36. 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

37. Recommendations (cont.) • 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.

38. Regional Professional Development Consortiums PD Consortiums coordinated out of the following cities: Fairfax, Richmond, Harrisonburg, Blacksburg and Norfolk. Consortium Tasks • Identify priorities through routine needs assessments • Develop a work plan to address identified regional needs • Convene quarterly regional consortium meetings (F2F or virtual) • Develop and maintain a Web site for their region • Coordinate and promote cross-sector regional trainings

39. 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.

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

42. Additional Resources

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

44. Recommendations for States for Linking PD, Quality and Inclusion

45. Research Synthesis Points on Quality Inclusive Practices

47. NPDCI Professional Development Concept Paper

48. 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

49. Reflections I am interested in … I want to know more about …