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Pages 1-16

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From page 1...
... The current state of the care and education workforce for these children is one of the most telling indicators of this fragmentation. Despite their shared objective of nurturing and securing the future success of young children, these professionals are not acknowledged as a cohesive workforce, unified by their shared contributions and the common knowledge base and competencies needed to do their jobs well.
From page 2...
... Strengthening the workforce to better reflect the science is challenging given this complex, and often decentralized, oversight and influence. Better support for care and education professionals will require mobilizing local, state, and national leadership; building a culture in higher education and ongoing professional learning that reflects the importance of establishing a cohesive workforce for young children from birth through age 8; ensuring practice environments that enable and reinforce the quality of their work; making substantial improvements in working conditions, well-being, compensation, and perceived status or prestige; and creating consistency across local, state, and national systems, policies, and infrastructure.
From page 3...
... Although further specialized competencies and professional learning experiences differentiated by age, setting, and role are also important, this committee's task was to bridge those competencies and experiences in ways that will enable these professionals to contribute collectively and more effectively to greater consistency in practices that support development and high-quality learning for young children. A UNIFYING FOUNDATION The foundation for a workforce that can truly meet the needs of children from birth through age 8 is based on essential features of child development and early learning and on principles that guide support for high-quality professional practice with respect to individual practitioners, leadership, systems, policies, and resource allocation.
From page 4...
... Conversely, adults who are underinformed, under prepared, or subject to chronic stress themselves may contribute to children's experiences of adversity and stress and undermine their development and learning. Principles to Support Quality Professional Practice These principles are based on what the science of child development and early learning reveals about the necessary competencies and responsibilities of practitioners in meeting the needs of young children.
From page 5...
... AREAS OF RECOMMENDATION Drawing on the unifying foundation of the science of child development and early learning and principles for quality professional practice, the committee's recommendations support a convergent approach to caring for and educating young children -- one that enables continuity across settings from birth through elementary school. The recommendations address qualification requirements for professional practice, higher education and ongoing professional learning during practice, evaluation and assessment of professional practice, the critical role of leadership, interprofessional practice, support for implementation, and improvement of the knowledge base.
From page 6...
... A review process guided by mutual alignment with the principles set forth in this report across agencies and organizations and across the national, state, and local levels would lay the groundwork for greater coherence in the content of and processes for qualification requirements, such as those for credentialing and licensure. As a result, even when different systems or localities have policies that are organized differently by age ranges and roles, those policies could still work in concert to foster quality practice across professional roles and settings that supports more consistent high-quality learning experiences for children from birth through age 8.
From page 7...
... A degree requirement will be feasible and its potential benefits fully realized only if it is implemented carefully over time and in the context of efforts to address interrelated factors that affect the quality of professional practice and with supportive federal, state, and local policies and informed, supportive leadership. Pathways and timelines will be needed to improve quality, availability, and access for both high-quality higher education and ongoing professional learning; to implement systems and policy changes to licensure and credentialing; and to effect parity across professional roles in compensation, workplace policies, and working conditions.
From page 8...
... Higher Education and Ongoing Professional Learning Recommendation 4: Build an interdisciplinary foundation in higher education for child development. The goal of this recommendation is for higher education to foster a fundamental shared knowledge base and competencies around child development for professionals in all sectors who work with young children, based on requirements for core coursework, other learning activities, and field-based learning experiences.
From page 9...
... Programs that are differentiated for specific age ranges, subject-matter specialization, or responsibilities should also ensure adequate knowledge of the development and learning of children across the birth through age 8 continuum so that care and education professionals will be prepared to support consistent learning experiences for children. Recommendation 6: Support the consistent quality and coherence of professional learning supports during ongoing practice for profession als working with children from birth through age 8.
From page 10...
... Because of the variable nature of children's learning and development from birth through age 8, considering multiple sources of evidence derived with multiple methods and at multiple times is important when evaluating and assessing educator performance. A continuous improvement system of evaluation and assessment should align with research on the science of how young children develop and learn, be comprehensive in its scope of early developmental and learning objectives, reflect day-to-day practice competencies and not just single-point assessments, reflect what professionals do in their practice settings and also how they work with professional colleagues and with families, be tied to access to professional learning, and account for setting-level and community-level factors beyond the control of practitioners that affect their capacity to practice effectively (such as overcrowded classrooms, poorly resourced settings, lack of access to professional learning supports, community factors, and home environments)
From page 11...
... In addition, both types of leaders need specific competencies for collaboration and communication because of their important role in bridging systems to support greater continuity in early learning experiences before and after young children enter school systems, as well as to support linkages with other sectors such as health and social services. Interprofessional Practice A critical factor in providing consistent support for children from birth through age 8 is the ability of care and education professionals to work in synergy with other professionals both across settings within the care and education sector and in other closely related sectors, especially health and social services.
From page 12...
... Recommendation 10: Support workforce development with coherent funding, oversight, and policies. This recommendation calls for national, state, and local governmental and nongovernmental agencies and organizations to review and revise their policies, guidelines, programmatic portfolios, oversight provisions, and incentives for professional learning and quality professional practice to ensure that they are oriented to the primary aim of optimal support for child development and early learning and aligned with the unifying foundation set forth in this report.
From page 13...
... Providing comprehensive guidelines based in evidence and drawing on collective expertise in the field will improve the availability of high-quality, continuous developmental support and learning experiences for children as they age. This collaborative effort will be most effective if it draws and builds on the existing resources of participating organizations to create both a robust and coherent platform for what is common across professional roles and a shared foundation to consistently inform the work of collaborating organizations in their specialized areas of workforce development.
From page 14...
... • Document and share actions undertaken and lessons learned. Improvement of the Knowledge Base Several of the preceding recommendations for workforce development hinge on the ability of local, state, and national stakeholders and policy makers to understand the current status, characteristics, and needs of the workforce across professional roles and settings that serve children from birth through age 8; to monitor progress over time; and to draw on research findings regarding effective policies and practices.
From page 15...
... The committee expects that building on a unified foundation, driven by the science of child development and early learning, will introduce a selfperpetuating cycle of excellence, supported by policy makers and a society that recognize the complex and important role of early care and education professionals; the intellectually, physically, and emotionally challenging nature of their work; and the deep, extensive, and ongoing professional learning required for them to be successful. These changes hold promise for helping to retain highly effective practitioners in these professional roles and to bolster the recruitment of a robust and viable pipeline of new professionals.


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