Activity 4: Sharing Best Practices
During PDG-I, the team strengthened capacity and infrastructure to support consistent, accessible quality improvement and workforce development opportunities. During PDG-R, the team invested in and brought to scale the infrastructure and capacity necessary to ensure the state’s workforce development system functions equitably across the state and for all types of providers.
Activity 4: Sharing Best Practices and Professional Development Project Plans (PDG-I)
Category: Providers
Status: Complete
During PDG-I, the team strengthened capacity and infrastructure to support consistent, accessible quality improvement and workforce development opportunities.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
- Build
- California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO)
- University of Florida
- WestEd
Activity 4a: Streamline and Strengthen Quality Counts California (PDG-I)
Category: Providers
Status: Complete
The BUILD Initiative utilized national expertise to facilitate stakeholder engagement and inform recommendations on how to position the state’s quality rating and improvement system, Quality Counts California, for broad scaling and for greater focus on responsive quality improvement that coordinates all of California’s quality initiatives and that benefits the full continuum of early learning and care providers.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Deliverables:
PDG-I BUILD Final Report Summary
The BUILD Initiative utilized national expertise to facilitate stakeholder engagement and inform recommendations on how to position the state’s quality rating and improvement system, Quality Counts California, for broad scaling and for greater focus on responsive quality improvement that coordinates all of California’s quality initiatives and benefits the full continuum of early learning and care providers.
This project consisted of 32 key informant interviews, 8 focus groups, a workforce survey of 4,800 respondents, 2 input and feedback meetings with the regional hubs/local consortia, feedback meetings with the PDG State Stewardship Team, and regular in-person and virtual meetings with the California early leadership at the California Department of Education (CDE) and First 5 California (F5CA). The work included the development of several models for consideration by CDE and F5CA in the design of the quality improvement system. A model was selected that proposed changes to current relationships and roles, identify gap areas and key policy areas for improvement, and provide recommendations.
The BUILD Initiative report was designed to inform the state government of options for moving the work forward.
Partners:
Activity 4b: Consolidate QCC Professional Learning Platform (PDG-I)
Category: Infrastructure
Status: Complete
With the Quality Counts California (QCC) Consortium and the Lastinger Center at the University of Florida, WestEd piloted an online professional learning platform that integrated existing online tools and reduced duplication. The pilot helped to inform future professional learning platform requirements.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
- University of Florida
- WestEd
Activity 4c: Adapt Program for Infant-Toddler Care (PITC) (PDG-I)
Category: Families
Status: Complete
WestEd reviewed and updated the training content for the internationally renowned Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) and developed an online format to more efficiently train and support a broader range of the infant and toddler workforce. You can learn more about the training from the PITC website.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
Activity 4d: Launch Online Education Program—Early Childhood Education Strand (PDG-I)
Category: Providers
Status: Complete
The California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) and other partners delivered complementary projects to improve offerings for quality online educational and professional development supports for the early childhood workforce.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
- California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO)
- El Dorado County Office of Education (EDCOE)
- University of Washington
- Child Development Training Consortium (CDTC)
- Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE)
Activity 4d(1): California Community College Chancellor’s Office (PDG-I)
Category: Infrastructure
Status: Complete
WestEd and the California Department of Social Services engaged the Advisory Group; state, regional and local interest holders; and other interest holders as appropriate to develop recommendations for user-friendly features to inform the design, data infrastructure, and backend components of California’s Workforce Registry.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
- California Department of Social Services (CDSS)
- California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO)
Activity 4d(2): El Dorado County Office of Education (PDG-I)
Category: Infrastructure
Status: Complete
The El Dorado County Office of Education expanded the use of the Quality Counts California (QCC) Coaching Companion in QCC Region 3 by providing access to the companion along with various webinar and in-person trainings to assess coaching competencies.
The curriculum teaches faculty trainers how to review students’ work and videos to determine whether the work is meeting course or lesson objectives. It also teaches faculty trainers how to provide quality feedback and how to support communities of reflection and practice.
The goal is to expand the companion’s use to 15–20 QCC coaches through a pilot. The El Dorado County Office of Education is identifying participants for the pilot.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
- El Dorado County Office of Education (EDCOE)
Activity 4d(3): University of Washington: Creation of Online Module (PDG-I)
Category: Providers
Status: Complete
The University of Washington (UW) assisted in the development of an Early Ed U Faculty online curriculum pilot.
UW created online modules and resources and worked to increase the faculty’s use of video analysis, the Communities of Reflection and Practice model, and practice-embedded content across all types of coursework.
UW developed an Early Ed university version of the “Learning to See” faculty development training curriculum to promote the effective implementation of the curriculum.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
Activity 4d(4): Launch Online Education Program (Early Childhood Education Strand Child Development Training Consortium—Professional Training Translation) (PDG-I)
Category: Providers
Status: Complete
The Child Development Training Consortium (CDTC) assisted in the translation of Open Educational Resources of the eight core early childhood education courses (CAP 8) into Spanish.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Deliverables:
Partners:
- Child Development Training Consortium (CDTC)
- California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO)
Activity 4d(5): Sacramento County Office of Education: Stackable Training for Units (PDG-I)
Category: Infrastructure
Status: Complete
Quality projects funded by the California Department of Education (CDE) have various goals or scopes of work focused on the CDE resources but are not always coordinated and/or articulated with each other and other statewide projects. It is important to align work across a continuum or system with a clear understanding of roles, content, and pathways toward common goals. It is important to have a forum for key state-level interest holders to come together to coordinate and articulate a coherent approach and service delivery. It appears the interested parties that participated in the activity gained a greater understanding of the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of each other’s work. More opportunities to do this coordinated planning and implementation of proposed recommendations would be beneficial in creating a true system of professional learning support. Time constraints presented the greatest challenge. With an extremely short time frame to work on this activity, participants were unable to fully map out a comprehensive approach to the work. Providing a credit option for specific professional learning experiences utilizing the CDE’s quality-funded projects has great potential and would serve as a focused statewide approach to quality improvement efforts.
This innovative approach will take time to coordinate among stakeholders and collaborative partners but will meet a need to support the early learning workforce. Through its quality-funded projects, the CDE has an opportunity to transform how the state views professional learning experiences, core content, and validated completion by certified instructors. The CDE has invested in a comprehensive professional learning menu that greatly contributes to the knowledge, skills, and implementation of research-based practices that can improve the quality of services and support to providers. This work should serve as an integral role in designing an innovative workforce development strategy that builds upon the state’s investments. California’s young children deserve high-quality early learning experiences and investing in those who care for them will help make this difference.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
- Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE)
Activity 4e: Enhance Emergency Child Care Bridge—Best Practices in Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) (PDG-I)
Category: Families
Status: Complete
The Child Care Resource & Referral Network enhanced supports for the Emergency Child Care Bridge program by creating and disseminating resources on best practices in trauma-informed care to coaches and other professionals supporting early learning and care programs that serve foster children.
Start Date: 2/1/2019
End Date: 12/30/2019
Partners:
Activity 4: Sharing Best Practices and Professional Development Project Plans (PDG-R)
Category: Infrastructure
Status: Complete
The team invested in and brought to scale the infrastructure and capacity necessary to ensure the state’s workforce development system functions equitably across the state and for all types of providers.
Activities included finalizing competency-based, credit-bearing resources for the online professional development platform and integrating existing professional development resources onto the platform, as well as piloting a higher education accreditation process and a competency-based performance assessment to ensure quality preparation for early childhood educators.
Start Date: 7/1/2020
End Date: 12/31/2023
Last Updates:
Center for Professional Development Innovation
The Center for Professional Development Innovation team created 200 hours of new online professional development experiences (in English and Spanish) to meet the diverse needs of California’s early learning and care workforce across all child care settings. The online learning module series launched in phases throughout 2023, and some content was also made available in Chinese.
The California Early Childhood Educator Competencies for Adult Learning and Coaching module, funded by the California Department of Social Services, launched in 2022 with 180 participants in nine facilitated cohorts, with planning underway for additional cohorts in 2023–24.
Commission on Teacher Credentialing
The Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) developed and piloted a program quality peer-review process. This process could potentially serve as the quality control system for early childhood education programs typically offered at the community college level along with some four-year institutions of higher education that lead to a Child Development Permit.
CTC heard information about the program quality peer-review process at its October 2022 public meeting and commended staff and field input for accomplishing this work. The work to develop and pilot this accreditation system has been completed. However, statewide implementation would require additional fiscal and staff resources along with a statewide direction or mandate for full implementation that at the present time are not available.
Download the complete history of CTC’s work.
Partners:
- California Health and Human Services (CalHHS)
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC)
- California Department of Social Services (CDSS)
- WestEd
Activity 4a: Develop Early Childhood Education Performance Assessment (PDG-R)
Category: Providers
Status: Complete
The Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), aligning with California’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care (MPELC), is responding to a lack of access to career pathways and college credits identified in the PDG-I Needs Assessment. The state has taken key steps toward creating credentials, certificates, and content that align professional development through higher education.
PDG-R funds supported CTC in developing a competency-based performance assessment system for early learning and care (ELC) educators that will strengthen the capacity to offer well-designed, clinically based preparation for the ELC workforce and serve as a formative assessment tool with the existing workforce and preparatory systems to help guide professional development.
Start Date: 7/1/2020
End Date: 12/31/2023
Last Updates:
At its October 2022 meeting, CTC approved program standards for institutions of higher education interested in sponsoring a Preschool Through Grade 3 Early Childhood Education (PK–3 ECE) Specialist Instruction Credential preparation program and the Teaching Performance Expectations for candidates seeking to earn this credential.
The regulations address the structure of the credential, including the authorization, credential requirements, and provisions for current teachers to add the authorization. CTC is preparing to submit required documents to the Office of Administrative Law for approval of these regulations. This process can take from several months to one year to be approved. Once the process is completed in 2023, the credential will be available for issuance to individuals who meet the requirements.
Updates on this work are provided in the monthly Early Childhood Education (ECE) News Update sent to subscribers in the field. Current and prior editions of the ECE News Update are available at the link provided.
CTC has been working to develop a teaching performance assessment for the teacher level of the Child Development Permit aligned with the CTC-adopted Teaching Performance Expectations for the Child Development Permit. The Child Development Permit has multiple levels, based primarily on job function within the ECE workforce.
The ECE Formative Teaching Performance Assessment (ECE FTPA) has been developed in collaboration with a content expert design team of practitioners, faculty, and other ECE experts. The tasks of this formative candidate assessment have been piloted with candidates in Child Development Permit preparation programs at community colleges and four-year institutions of higher education.
The assessment, its training materials, candidate materials, and scoring protocols have been revised based on feedback from that pilot. These materials are now being used in a wider field test prior to completion and availability for statewide voluntary implementation in fall 2023.
Partners:
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC)
Activity 4b: Support Institute of Higher Education Accreditation Pilot (PDG-R)
Category: Families
Status: Complete
PDG-R funds supported the overall alignment of the early learning and care (ELC) and K–12 systems by funding the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to conduct pilot work that would inform a potential higher education accreditation system for early educator preparation in California. This was an important step in aligning ELC preparatory efforts throughout the state and supporting alignment with the early elementary workforce.
Start Date: 7/1/2020
End Date: 12/31/2023
Last Updates:
The program quality peer-review process is working as designed. Feedback from the micro-pilots has confirmed the utility and ease of use of the accreditation process. The CTC team reflected on the process and incorporating feedback from the participating micro-pilot institutions and peer reviewers.
Partners:
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC)
Activity 4c: Establish Center for Professional Development Innovation (CPDI) (PDG-R)
Category: Providers
Status: Complete
WestEd developed the Center for Professional Development Innovation (CPDI), a unified online professional learning system, to manage, organize, and deploy stackable credential content and credits. CPDI developed and deployed new online credit-bearing content and support for online coaching certification, including specialized badges.
CPDI also piloted virtual practice-based coaching for professionals, improved and aligned existing professional development projects, and evaluated the impact of the professional learning system.
Start Date: 9/1/2020
End Date: 12/31/2023
Last Updates:
WestEd’s CPDI was established in February 2019.
The California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) and California Department of Social Services (CDSS), in partnership with WestEd, announced the launch of a comprehensive suite of 12 new online professional development module series designed for early learning and care professionals in all roles and settings. These module series offer engaging, interactive online learning experiences that present current and relevant content. In addition, each series provides purposeful activities, tools for reflection, and resources that extend the learning experience.
The module series, offered in multiple languages, launched in multiple phases and are available on California Early Childhood Online (CECO).
The first phase launched January 31, 2023, and includes the following:
The second phase launched on February 28, 2023, and includes the following:
- Responsive, Inclusive Early Learning and Care Environments (8 professional development clock hours)
Visit the content overview
- Developing and Maintaining Responsive Relationships with Children and Families (15 professional development clock hours)
Visit the content overview
- Supporting Young Children’s Development and Learning (12 professional development clock hours)
Visit the content overview
The third phase launched on April 4, 2023, and includes the following:
The fourth phase launched on April 28, 2023, and includes the following:
The fifth phase launched on July 5, 2023, and includes the following:
These module series can be found by scrolling to “What’s New” on the CECO landing page or using the Module Catalog. Early learning and care professionals are encouraged to spread the word and share these series of learning experiences with colleagues.
Partners:
Activity 4d: Evaluate and Make Recommendations on a More Efficient Workforce Registry Model (PDG-R)
Category: Infrastructure
Status: Complete
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and WestEd evaluated California’s Workforce Registry model and provide recommendations and suggestions on how to improve the registry moving forward.
Start Date: 7/1/2020
End Date: 12/31/2023
Last Updates:
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and WestEd engaged in coordinated planning sessions with state agency partners to discuss early childhood data systems development and integration efforts being planned for the Early Childhood Integrated Data System, the State Verification Hub (Activity 3), the Parent Education Database (Activity 3), and the Workforce Registry (Activity 4).
CDSS continued to evaluate these various data platforms and other tools as it explored additional data solutions that will be needed to accomplish the state’s early childhood goals and deliverables.
Partners:
- California Department of Social Services (CDSS)
- WestEd
Activity 4: Workforce Support and Best Practices (PDG-P)
Category: Providers
Status: In progress
PDG partners will continue to support the birth-to-five workforce and disseminate best practices by
- increasing rates of access to and participation in professional learning and quality improvement activities,
- expanding the reach of credentialing and career advancement pathways, and
- improving the alignment of workforce skills to state standards and the education landscape.
Start Date: 4/1/2023
Partners:
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC)
- WestEd
Activity 4a: Expanding Access to Competency-Based Professional Development Through Online Strategies and Activities (PDG-P)
Category: Providers
Status: In progress
In order to expand access and participation to professional learning and quality improvement activities, the Center for Professional Development Innovation (CPDI) will translate three online modules—Health and Safety for Family Child Care Settings, Health and Safety for Child Care Centers, and Inclusive Practices for Children with Disabilities or Delays—into Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
Start Date: 4/1/2023
Partners:
Activity 4b: Expanding Access to Competency-Based Coaching Professional Development and Certification Through Online Strategies and Activities (PDG-P)
Category: Providers
Status: In progress
The Center for Professional Development Innovation (CPDI) will expand workforce opportunities by adding additional virtual practice-based coaching course cohorts for professionals and coaching technical assistance. CPDI will also deliver community of practice opportunities and evaluate the impact of the professional learning system.
Start Date: 4/1/2023
Partners:
Activity 4c: Expanding Access to Certification Through Online Strategies and Activities (PDG-P)
Category: Infrastructure
Status: In progress
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) will develop, validate and field-test a process to meet state licensure requirements, including CTC’s TPA Assessment Design Standards. CTC will also continue planning and work on the PK–3 Teaching Performance Expectations (TPES), Preparation Program Standards, and the requirements for the PK–3 ECE Specialist Instruction Credential.
Start Date: 4/1/2023
Partners:
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC)