Professional Development

This 1-page handout provides recommendations and strategies for preparing, engaging, and supporting family involvement in state-level meetings.

Report.pdf

The Big Picture Planning Guide is designed to support a cross-sector, state-level planning process that leads to a single, integrated, professional development system, across all early childhood sectors. The planning guide provides a four-step sequence for considering the key components and contexts of a statewide early childhood professional development system. A definition and conceptual framework for professional development are included, as well as suggestions for facilitation, guiding questions, key considerations, and planning forms.

Report.pdf

As quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs) increasingly become the key strategy for improving the quality of early care and education, it is critical to understand and examine how such systems define quality, the benchmarks used to indicate quality, and the opportunities in place to support improvement. This report examines the extent to which QRISs support the professional development of practitioners and include in their rating rubrics key ingredients — staff qualifications, direct compensation, and the factors related to work settings –  that have been linked to quality.

report.pdf

An exploration of goals for the professional development of early childhood educators, and an inquiry into effective practices for achieving these goals, based on a review of studies on professional development programs and their practices

A study of the professional development and on-site assistance available to center- and home-based child care providers who participate in state quality rating and improvement systems, based on interviews with key informants in 17 states

An examination features of coaching and other on-site, individualized professional development strategies associated with positive outcomes for early childhood practitioners and children, based on a research review and a multi-case study of coaching in quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS)

A study of the coaching process used to assist home- and center-based child care centers in the implementation of quality improvement plans and a Quality Rating Scale (QRS) in a large Midwestern city, based on a survey of 17 coaches’ descriptions of their work with the most challenging clients

A summary of an examination features of coaching and other on-site, individualized professional development strategies associated with positive outcomes for early childhood practitioners and children, based on a research review and a multi-case study of coaching in quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS)