Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 A Unifying Foundation (2015) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 19-42
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From page 19... ...
Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their health, development, and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Indeed, the science of child development and of how best to support learning from birth through age 8 makes clear what an important, complex, dynamic, and challenging job it is for an adult to work with young children in each of the many professional roles and settings where this work takes place.
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From page 20... ...
This age span is a window during which development is progressing at a particularly rapid pace, and experiences during the first 8 years of life shape a child's long-term trajectory. In this window, children benefit from consistent, cumulative learning experiences and other influences that build on each other and evolve as children age.
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From page 21... ...
This study was commissioned specifically to focus on the science of development and early learning not just for what it reveals about children, but in particular for its implications for the professionals who work with children during this critical period. These implications apply to the knowledge and competencies these professionals need; their systems for professional learning; and other supports that contribute to improving the quality of professional practice and developing an excellent, robust, and stable workforce across the many professional roles that relate to children from birth through age 8.
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From page 22... ...
qualifications; generalized and specialized knowledge and competencies; instructional practices; professional learning; leadership; and family engagement. The committee was tasked with looking across diverse contexts and populations and across professional roles and settings to draw conclusions and make recommendations about how to reenvision professional learning systems and inform policy decisions related to the workforce in light of the science of child development and early learning and the knowledge and competencies needed by the adults who work with children from birth through age 8.
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From page 23... ...
; higher education institutions; state and local education agencies; state early childhood care and education agencies; fam ily childcare programs; regulation agencies; and practitioners that provide health, education, and care services to children birth through age 8. potential changes, most of which will require significant allocation of new or reallocation of existing resources.
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From page 24... ...
In many cases, the committee's review was also inclusive of or applicable to closely related care and education professions who see children somewhat less frequently or for periodic or referral services, such as home visitors, early intervention specialists, and mental health consultants. In addition, it encompassed considerations for professionals in leadership positions and those who work in the training, education, and professional development of the care and education workforce, as well as for the interactions of care and education professionals with closely related practitioners 1 Personal communications between sponsor representatives and Institute of Medicine (IOM)
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From page 25... ...
Concentric Sector Coordinating Bodies Settings circles represent levels Support Roles/Organizations of proximity to Other Influencers Social Services the child's lived Policy/Funding/Governance 1 © experience2011 FSG FIGURE 1-1 The complex landscape that affects children ages 0-8. NOTE: SCHIP = State Children's Health Insurance Program; SNAP = Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; WIC = Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
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From page 26... ...
Finally, as specified in the statement of task, the committee's major focus was on the competencies and professional learning that, to support greater consistency in high-quality learning experiences for children, need to be shared among care and education professionals across the birth through age 8 continuum and across professional roles and practice settings. This focus included areas in which care and education professionals will benefit from understanding the scope of learning -- and the scope of educational practices -- for the settings and ages that precede or follow them within the birth through age 8 range.
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From page 27... ...
To refer inclusively and collectively to the overall care and education workforce, this report uses the term "care and education professionals." To refer to professionals with regular (daily or near-daily) , direct responsibilities for the care and education of young children, this report uses the terms "educators," which includes educators in childcare settings and centers that span ages 0 through 8, as well as preschools and elementary schools.
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From page 28... ...
These roles are generally referred to as "leaders" or, collectively with the overall care and education workforce, as "care and education professionals." Professional learning This report uses the term "professional learning" to describe all of the various mechanisms that can contribute to ensuring that the early care and education workforce has what it needs to gain and reinforce necessary knowledge and competencies for quality practice that will foster continuous progress in the development and early learning of children from birth through age 8. Chapter 8 provides a detailed overview of this conceptualization of professional learning.
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From page 29... ...
However, the committee does not intend its highlighting of ongoing research needs to be taken as suggesting inaction; rather, the report provides a framework for immediate actions that are sound and well supported based on the available research findings. The committee's aim is to offer an ambitious yet pragmatic analysis and agenda for action with real potential for implementation in the 3 In developing the statement of task for this study, the sponsors elected to manage the already broad scope of work and range of required expertise by limiting the study's consideration of programs and policies for workforce development and support for young children to the United States, given that this is the policy and implementation environment for the committee's recommendations.
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From page 30... ...
The expectations and requirements for their professional practice vary depending on their practice setting. Each of these professional roles and settings has variations in pathways for training, professional learning systems, requirements and systems for licensure and credentialing, and other policies for oversight and accountability.
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From page 31... ...
Childcare practices are historically grounded more in public health and child protection traditions than in education traditions. Many federal funding streams and state licensing for childcare programs still reflect this historical aim of subsidizing safe childcare to enable adult workforce participation rather than orienting primarily to providing an early learning environment for children (Kostelnik and Grady, 2009)
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From page 32... ...
As efforts emerge to help these traditions converge, the different philosophies and historical perspectives associated with each may complement one another or clash, and in any case they all influence today's dialogue about the care and education of young children and the role of the workforce that provides it. Although the care and education traditions described in Table 1-1 each have their own histories, philosophies, and perspectives, they often are thought of in two major categories: preprimary education and elementary
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From page 33... ...
• Elementary education has a long history of − roviding access to all children regardless of race, income, abil p ity, or language; − roviding auxiliary services to supplement children's educational p needs; − rallying the community to come together on behalf of children; − aligning curriculum from one level to the next; − addressing issues of accountability; − elping children and families make the transition from kinder h garten to first grade; and − eriving programs and curricula, typically organized by dis d tinct subject-matter content, based on studies of pedagogy and teacher practice. • Both preprimary education and elementary education have a long history of − public service, − working with multiple funding streams, − working with community partners, − drawing on research to shape professional practice, and − professional organizations that support their members.
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From page 34... ...
Public education has the stability of public financing, but resources are not always adequate to the need and are not distributed evenly. In particular, when public education is funded by property taxes, families living in poverty will most likely have schools with fewer resources, meaning lower-quality public schools and lower-quality learning experiences in the early elementary years, contributing to a cycle of disparity in education and achievement.
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From page 35... ...
. Differences in Professional Learning, Compensation, and Status Those care and education professionals who work in early childhood settings outside of elementary schools and those who work in public and other school systems experience major differences in educational expecta
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From page 36... ...
These issues sometimes reflect actual differences in professional practices, but in some cases are also fueled by assumptions or misperceptions. These assumptions and misperceptions are compounded by the lack of mutual understanding and collaborative relationships across settings or the fact that various groups in the field tend not to see one another as colleagues with common purposes.
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From page 37... ...
These worries have several sources: concern about children entering ele mentary school not adequately prepared for academic learning and ready to progress through the next grade levels and perceived dif ferences in perspectives on appropriate learning and instructional practices, including the perception among many that the early childhood field provides passive support for development, rather than active promotion of learning and skill development driven by learning standards and student outcomes. Although these perspec tives are changing, there is ongoing debate over the best method for implementing early learning standards into early learning curricula and how to align these standards with K-12 standards.
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From page 38... ...
Systems Capacity to Improve Continuity in Care and Education for Young Children Currently, the work of bridging early childhood and early elementary education to increase continuity of care and education for children from birth through age 8 rarely is the purview of a single entity at the local, state, or national level. Typically, one or more agencies oversee early childhood programs for young children before entry into kindergarten, while a public education system oversees K-12 education.
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From page 39... ...
In summary, the ultimate goal for this committee was to contribute to a more coherent care and education continuum for children through the infant-toddler years, preschool ages, and early grades across all settings, including the home, family childcare homes, childcare centers, preschools, and elementary schools, as well as across home visiting, early intervention, and other consultative services and across referrals to and linkages with the health and social services sectors. These different settings and the professionals who work within them are characterized by differences in terminology, expectations, approaches to teaching and learning, accountability policies, relationships with families and the community, funding, and system priorities and pressures.
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From page 40... ...
This foundation encompasses: essential features of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, principles for high-quality professional practice at the level of individuals and the systems that support them, and principles for effective professional learning. This foundation is intended to inform coordinated and coherent changes across systems for individual practitioners, leadership, organizations, policies, and resource allocation.
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From page 41... ...
Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel. Kostelnik, M
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