Ten Years of Professional Development in
Minnesota
Over the years there have been many dedicated
individuals and organizations that have seen the
need for and worked hard toward creating a more
coordinated system of early childhood/school age
care/out-of- school time (SA/OST) professional
development for the state. The purpose of this
historical document is to describe some of the
efforts that led up to the creation of the Minnesota
Professional Development Council (PD Council). The
goal of the document is two-fold. This document will
provide a means to orient new PD Council members and
act as a historical record. (Please note that other
organizations have been working on systemic change
around professional development in addition to the
ones described below.)
The Institute for Early Childhood Professional
Development
Throughout 1993 and 1994 an advisory group known
as the Minnesota Early Childhood Strategic Planning
Advisory Consortium examined the system of training
for Early Childhood Professionals in Minnesota in
response to a governmental request. The work of that
advisory group culminated in the creation of the
Strategic Plan for Minnesota Early Childhood
Professional Development. The advisory group’s
strategy included the vision of a comprehensive,
coordinated, accessible, inclusive, statewide early
childhood professional development system in
Minnesota. In January of 1995 the Minnesota
Institute for Early Childhood Professional
Development, as a program of Minnesota Association
for the Education of Young Children (MnAEYC), was
created to implement the advisory group’s strategic
plan and work towards its vision.
The Institute invited state agencies and
organizations to send representatives to serve on
the Institute’s Advisory Committee, which would
support, guide, and regularly review the Institute’s
progress. To begin the work of the Institute, the
Institute staff, Institute Advisory Committee, and
other stakeholders in the field of early childhood
care and education collaborated to form several
initial task forces according to the functions
assigned in the strategic plan. (The initial task
forces are listed below.) Stakeholders included
representatives from government, resource and
referral, professional practitioner organizations,
and higher education.
Initial Task Forces:
· Articulation Initiative Group: To
determine contact points for training at the
community, technical, and public and private
four-year university levels. To develop a lattice to
identify how professional paths lead to further
progress in formal or non-formal education.
· Professional Training Registry Group:
To develop a computerized registry of practitioner
education and experience.
· Public Relations and Development Group:
To educate and communicate with the early
childhood community, government agencies, policy
makers, business community, and the public at large.
· Core Competencies: To analyze the
currently fractured system of core competencies and
to develop qualifications (in terms of competencies)
to practice at various levels.
· Practitioner Status and Requirements:
To form an understandable, accessible overview of
career development in the field of early childhood
care and education, while ensuring consistency of
standards and quality.
· Training Approval System: To use the
Core Competencies document as criteria for training
approval, thereby facilitating the articulation of
training into the higher education system by
providing information critical to determining course
content and potential credit. (This task force was
dropped after a few years due to changes in the
context of training and education. It was believed
that the Trainer’s Credential, a project of the MN
Early Childhood School Age Trainers Association
would serve much the same purpose.)
· Higher Education: To examine the
issues surrounding the articulation of credit and
non-credit based training into the higher education
systems.
By its second year, 1996, the State Senate and
House of Representatives recognized that the
Institute could contribute to collectively
determining the professional standards for the
field. The Institute’s outreach remained strong as
staff continued to present at over 20 conferences.
Throughout the next few years the Institute made
significant accomplishments in several areas.
- An Assessment Task Force analyzed the best
options for assessing people’s skills and
knowledge outside of the formal education system.
- The Director Credentialing Task Force,
coordinated with MnAEYC, analyzed what is needed
to be an effective administrator of an early
childhood and school age care program. (Later,
MnAEYC administered the Director Credential
Project.)
- Under the direction of the Practitioner
Credentialing Task Force, the Institute finalized
a draft including recommendations on in-service
levels, practitioner levels, and the separation of
individual licensure from facility licensure.
- Nicole Julian from the University of Minnesota
conducted a validation process of the Core
Competencies by comparing the draft to the CDA
(Child Development Associate), Minnesota
Association Early Childhood Teacher Educators,
University of Minnesota, Board of Teaching,
Georgia’s Goals for Administrator, MN Technical
Colleges, and the Assessment Profile for Family
Day Care. After this evaluation, with the help of
data and feedback from nearly 200 early care and
education practitioners, the Institute finalized
and published the Core Skills and Knowledge
Document in 1999.
- In 1999, the Institute initiated a SA/OST task
force to develop a voluntary school age care
credential based largely on the Core Document.
(The Minnesota School Age Care Association is the
current contact for the SA/OST credential.)
- The Institute cosponsored the Research and
Data Conference in March of 2002.
- The Institute, in collaboration with the
Department of Children, Families, & Learning, the
University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Child
Care Resource and Referral Network, unveiled an
expanded Electronic Registry of Training with a
simple format, information about credit and
non-credit training, tips for trainers, and links
to the latest child development research.
- The Institute also published a simple guide to
training and professional development in a
brochure format called, The Career Development
Guide.
The Child Care Staffing Crisis inspired the
Institute to expand its work in legislative
education and public relations. The Institute became
a strong voice for the T.E.A.C.H. proposal at the
state legislature, specifically proposing the Career
Guidance Component of the legislation.
The Mobius Group
Another major contributor to an overarching view
of professional development in the Minnesota has
been the Mobius Group, a collaborative effort among
state-funded projects. Minnesota Department of
Children, Families & Learning Child Care Development
team contracted with Community Connectors Institute
to facilitate a process (the process used is known
as the Mobius Model) involving representatives from
statewide training projects and higher education to
develop a vision for professional development and a
plan to move the vision forward. The outcomes and
indicators from this process were incorporated into
the Infrastructure Outcomes for Training and
Professional Development “NO BETTER TIME” report.
Efforts to carry out this process involved a work
group, the Mobius Group, of the statewide
coordinators from the School-Age Network & Mentoring
Project, Project EXCEPTIONAL, Infant Toddler
Training Intensive, Cultural Dynamics Education
Project, Institute for Early Childhood Professional
Development, and the Child Care Resource & Referral
Network.
The work of the Mobius Group relied on collaboration
between various sectors of the early childhood
professional development community. Mobius believed
that coordination would consolidate supervision,
lower administrative costs, provide technology
support, and identify commonalties and uniqueness.
Coordination would eliminate overlap and contain
costs for administration and participants.
Opportunities would be increased for credit,
incentives, and quality assurances. Rising
professionalism in the field would be reflected by
recognition and increased compensation.
Goals of the Mobius Group:
· Communication and support networks exist among
child care providers, public school personnel, and
parents.
· Information on training opportunities is easily
accessible.
· Cross fertilization of training is incorporated
among trainers, programs and projects.
· A coordinated plan provides a way for trainers,
projects to stay in touch, learn and share
resources.
· Higher retention of personnel and trainers by
discipline and culture is tracked.
· A systematic process transfers non-credit training
meeting defined criteria, to credit.
· Credit from two-year to four-year programs is
systematically transferable.
· Standards for quality assurance for training are
operational for training programs, individual
trainers, and consultants.
· Multiple routes are identified, understood, and in
place for career development.
· An essential body of knowledge and skills are
identified for trainers and personnel.
· Early childhood and SA/OST trainers meet a core
set of standards and abide by a code of ethical
conduct.
· Trainings are clear, accurately described, use
clear outcomes and include ways to measure
participant satisfaction.
· A mechanism is developed to improve curricula
based on current research and innovations.
· Mentors are systematically utilized across early
childhood and SA/OST sectors.
· Community leaders are trained to facilitate
planning councils for integrating services and
functions.
This group of representatives, known as the
Mobius Group, held its last meeting on March 12,
2002.
The Formation of the Minnesota Professional
Development Council
MnAEYC’s Institute for Early Childhood
Professional Development began 2002 with an
extensive visioning process to determine its role in
the professional development needs of the future.
The hope for these visioning meetings was to gather
as large and inclusive a suggestion pool as
possible. Therefore, MnAEYC invited not only MnAEYC
Board members, Institute Advisory Committee members,
and Mobius Group members, but also as extensive a
group of interested community members as possible.
(See Appendix A for listing of participants.) The
visioning process consisted of a series of meetings
held in January, February, and March.
At the two visioning meetings held in January of
2002, participants examined potential roles,
organizational structure, history/mission, and
goals. Two meetings in February resulted in the
development of a workplan to guide MnAEYC’s
professional development efforts over the next 18
months.
The final meeting in this visioning process, on
April 11th, addressed organizational structure (both
within MnAEYC and between MnAEYC and the larger
professional development community). At this
meeting, MnAEYC decided to close its Institute for
Early Childhood Professional Development and begin a
new Professional Development Program, which would
carry out the new workplan.
At the April 11th meeting participants thought
that the early childhood professional development
community could greatly benefit from a collaborative
council. This council would reach out to every
stakeholder in the field, without being owned by any
one organization, and act as a place to share
resources, efforts, and voices. MnAEYC’s new
Professional Development Program agreed to get this
council onto its feet by convening and facilitating
its first meetings.
Thus, the Minnesota Professional Development
Council (PD Council) was born.
The PD Council held meetings in September and
December of 2002. Five temporary work groups were
formed to facilitate the beginning of the Council.
They included:
- Vision, Mission, & Strategies
- Structure
- Welcome & Orientation
- Name & Marketing
- Criteria for Endorsement
Up to this point, the council agreed upon a name
and tagline (Minnesota Professional Development
Council: supporting professionals who care, educate,
and advocate for children, youth, and families).
The Council also agreed upon its structure, meeting
norms, and standards of welcome and inclusion.
Appendix A
Contributors to the Institute of Early Childhood
Professional Development
Visioning Process
- Cultural Dynamics Project
- Irving B. Harris Training Center for Infant and
Toddler Development, University of Minnesota
- MN Department of Children, Families, and Learning
- MN Child Care Resource & Referral Network
- Project Exceptional, Concordia University
- Concordia University
- Resources for Child Caring
- St. Paul Technical College
- Community Support Program for Young Children
- Central Center for Family Resources
- MN Licensed Family Child Care Association
- Board of MN Licensed Family Child Care
- Early Childhood Family Education
- Saint Paul Foundation
- Ramsey Action Programs Head Start Association
- Licensed Child Care Providers of Anoka County
- Karen’s Kiddie Kare
- Redleaf Press
- University of Minnesota
- Minneapolis YWCA
- St. Paul Public Schools
- My Special Place Child Care
- Greater Minneapolis Day Care Association
- Community Action Council
- St. Paul Technical College
- Minneapolis Community and Technical College
- Bemidji State University
- ACCAP Child Care Resource & Referral
- Greater Minneapolis Day Care Association
- Early Childhood Resource Center
- MN School Age Care Association
- Taking the Lead/Alliance of Early Childhood
Professionals
|
