Topic: Early Childhood Professional Development

A list of resources and discussions on professional development in early childhood, including a concept paper with a definition and framework for professional development, research findings, blogs, presentations and other related materials.

Resources

Articles and Papers

  • What Do We Mean by Professional Development in the Early Childhood Field?
    This concept paper presents a definition and framework for professional development in early childhood. Defining what is meant by professional development is intended to guide efforts aimed at ensuring that the early childhood workforce is highly qualified and effective in working with young children (birth through 8) and their families.
  • Building Integrated Professional Development Systems in Early Childhood: Recommendations for States
    Written comments to the US Department of Education’s Listening and Learning about Early Learning Workforce and Professional Development Tour. In May 2010, NPDCI submitted written comments on professional development in early childhood via this document.
  • Why Program Quality Matters for Early Childhood Inclusion. Recommendations for Professional Development
    Only a handful of states address children with disabilities in their early child care quality rating systems. As a result, few states are evaluating the quality of inclusive programs and services. This problem is compounded by a lack of consensus on dimensions that define high quality inclusion and a need for additional measures of quality inclusive practices. This NPDCI paper advocates for the need to link early childhood program quality and professional development, with a particular focus on how this topic relates to early childhood inclusion.
  • What We Know About Professional Development
    This document provides references to support specific statements related to professional development in the early childhood field.

Planning and Facilitation Tools

  • The Big Picture: A Planning Guide for Cross-Sector Early Childhood Professional Development Systems
    This is a seven-step sequence for planning and developing 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.
  • PD Planning Matrix
  • The Landscape: A Statewide Survey for Providers of Professional Development in Early Childhood
    This survey is designed to gather information that will produce a descriptive landscape of professional development in early childhood in a state across multiple sectors. The intended respondents are professional development providers—those who provide learning opportunities and support for practitioners (the learners) who work directly with young children (birth to 8) and their families. The information gathered by The Landscape can be used to describe who the learners are, what professional development content they receive, and how learners acquire core competencies and get support to apply what they learn in practice.
  • Communities of Practice Indicators Worksheet
    This CoP Indicators Checklist was developed based on the most recent literature on communities of practice. The document provides indicators, with references, for groups creating or maintaining CoPs, proving a tool for identifying their current strengths and weaknesses and for targeting areas for improvement.

Presentations

Discussions

CONNECT Modules