PDC Review - Fall 2006

DHS Change Process:  What Do We Know So Far? 

The Minnesota Department of Human Services is moving into the next phase of development of the Minnesota Child Care Professional Development system. The System Change Process coordinated by DeYoung consultants including system scanning work by the Center for Early Education and Development is coming to a close. The information and input gathered during this process is providing direction for the next phase of system development.

Our vision and goals, developed with input from the Change Process Leadership team stakeholder group, for a child care development system are:

A seamless, integrated system that raises the capacity and competencies of those providing early care and education that begins at birth, aligns with K-12 education and links to higher education to support child development and school success. This will be accomplished through:

Equipping early childhood and school-age care practitioners with the knowledge, competencies, tools and confidence needed to effectively serve children and families;

Promoting coordination across all sectors of early childhood and school-age care and education;

Ensuring that educational opportunities for practitioners are grounded in a foundation of high ethical and quality standards and linked to the QRS system;

• Ensuring access to all system components for families, practitioners, trainers and community partners in underserved communities.

For this next phase of our work we are very fortunate to be able to engage the consultative services of TeamWorks International and the National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC). This phase which will continue through June 2007 is a process of focused options development and decision making that will involve two stakeholder groups.

DHS expects that an RFP process will occur this spring soliciting vendors interested in coordinating key system components.  Full system implementation is still expected for July 2008. If you are not already and are interested in receiving electronic information updates please send your request to catharine.cuddeback@state.mn.us.