About the Institute

The North Carolina Institute for Child Development Professionals (Institute) provides both free and fee-based services.

The Institute

• Builds and supplies high quality training opportunities for Early Educators on professional development planning for individuals, organizations and systems.
• Certifies Early Educators who work directly with, on the behalf of or intend to work with children ages birth to twelve.
• Creates access to resources and the latest research on workforce issues through its partner network and learning community and via its website.
• Defines and educates others about early childhood professional development system elements and strategies.
• Offers networking opportunities for Early Educators through in-person and virtual events.
• Provides consultation services on professional development strategies, systems development and grant development.
• Produces tools, publications, research and reports and collects and disseminates data about the NC Early Educator workforce.
• Supports the provision of professional development services through trainings, networking opportunities and resources

Quick Links

• Overview
• Institute Brochure
• Board Members
• Education, Compensation & Recognition Advisory Committee
• Task Groups

Overview

Debra Torrence, Institute Director

The Institute has since1993 focused its efforts on building a comprehensive professional development and recognition system that links education and compensation for the over 40,000 Early Educators who work with children or support the work of child care and school age programs. The work of the Institute addresses a very important need in our state – to support the development of an educated child care workforce to provide healthy, safe and stimulating environments and experiences for over a quarter million young children and their families.

The Institute was established in 1993 as a result of NAEYC’s national effort to address the need for national and state-level early care and education professional development systems. In September 2008, the Institute incorporated as a non-profit in North Carolina. In September 2009, its first Board of Directors was formed.

The mission of the North Carolina Institute for Child Development Professionals (the Institute) is to promote the implementation of a comprehensive professional development and recognition system that links education and compensation for child development professionals to ensure high quality care and education services for children and families.

The work of the Institute is conducted by the Board and Institute partners who work together in task groups and committees with the common purpose of working toward the Institute’s mission. Through in-person and virtual forums, outreach efforts and implementation of the NC Early Educator Certification (EEC) system, the Institute engages leadership within and across sectors, at various levels, to develop and implement strategies designed to enhance and strengthen North Carolina’s approach to professional development for early care and education and school age professionals.

View UNCTV segment about EEC! Scroll over video, click on “Embed” at top of screen and select Segment 4.

Collaboration & Planning

Ongoing and grant-funded efforts are underway in North Carolina at the state level within agencies and organizations as well as efforts focused specifically on professional development.

The Institute is composed of a large partner network. Partners include Early Educators who work directly with and those working on the behalf of children ages birth to twelve in early care and education settings. State level partners support the work of the Institute through participation on Task Groups and Committees, provide resources, meeting space, materials and support the implementation of collaborative activities.

Financial Information

- Form 990 (2011)

Defining an Early Educator Professional Development System

Why is a strong early childhood professional development system important? Over the last two decades there has been increasing interest in learning about the experiences of children in early care and education settings: what settings are good and how early care and education influences later school performance and behavioral patterns.

In particular, we have learned a great deal in recent years about the benefits and cost of high-quality early care and education services, and how to improve programs to meet the needs of all children. This and the evidence about the impact of a teacher’s education has increased the need to shift from scattershot training to intentional forms of ongoing education and professional development to build, grow and retain a high qualified workforce.

Professional development, in this context, refers to a combination of education and continuing education via college courses, continuing education units, conferences and professional forums as well as workshops.

Well-designed professional development includes a broad range of activities and audiences:

• it benefits providers in all settings;
• it responds to the needs of Early Educators at all levels, from entry-level assistants to multi-site administrators;
• it spans a continuum of information and format, from short-term workshop-style training to college-level education to continuing education.
• it is focused on services that are provided to children ages birth to twelve in early care and education and school age settings.

Why It Matters

A quality early care and education and school age workforce matters.

For Children

• Impact of Staff Education and Training on Program Quality (resources)
• Research summary about Professional Development(Early Childhood Professional Development: How it Matters to Child Care Quality- research summary)
• Improving Early Childhood Quality with Professional Development
• Impact of professional development on children with special needs
• Teacher Development as Key to PreK Quality

For Women

• Quality of Care Matters for Low-Income Women

For Our State, Business and Industry

• Economic impact of child care in North Carolina
• Business & Early Childhood – US Chamber of Commerce report on Why Business Should Support Early Childhood
• Washington Post Series on Early Childhood Issues

What It Is

An Early Educator professional development system is a comprehensive approach to providing professional development opportunities. When an effective ecpd system has been built:

• Vision exists to serve all those working with children in all settings serving children birth to twelve.
• Core knowledge is delineated, a set of information and skills that all providers need to know is developed, and education and training is offered to make sure that this entire body of knowledge is transmitted.
• Requirements and incentives for providers to pursue professional development opportunities are clear.
• A continuum of education and training for all providers, from entry-level to experienced, exists.
• A system is in place to make sure that the education and training are of high quality.
• A process is developed to assess what education and training providers in a community need;
• Information about education and training opportunities is widely available.
• Information about what opportunities providers have already pursued is available for monitoring and planning purposes.
• Education and training opportunities are offered at times, in places and in languages and formats providers can successfully access.
• Increased knowledge and competence are assessed and rewarded by increasing compensation.
• Education and training are well-funded so that providers are able to attend, regardless of personal financial situations.

In addition, a well-drawn system builds on base education and articulates prior learning (education and training) into the professional development pathway for the individual; supporting forward progress toward personal education goals without redundancy and continuing education is provided by highly qualified staff.

• Qualified and well-compensated professionals are essential to ensuring high-quality early childhood education programs.
• Frontline professional development support personnel need the latest research, strategies and tools to support the provision of accessible, affordable professional development options that meet the needs of the workforce
• Systems need a cost efficient mechanism to inform the use of resources, support federal and state mandates for higher levels of professional development and access comprehensive workforce data.
• State policies and financing of the professional development system have a significant impact on the recruitment, quality, and retention of early childhood professionals.
• Policymakers must be informed to support intentional, evidence-based and financed systems of professional development for these professionals is critical to ensuring that children have high-quality early development and learning experiences.