The Institute is seeking your thoughts around next steps and potential revisions for recognizing Early Childhood Education Professionals in NC through Early Educator Certification (EEC) and Endorsements!  Please help us by completing this short survey here or using the QR code below.  

General Assembly approves Child Care Funding through 2024!

In June & July 2024, the North Carolina General Assembly passed and appropriated $67.5 million in funding for NC child care programs through the end of the year thanks to many throughout our state that rallied and uplifted the voices of the ECE profession! The funding is  intended to help child care providers stay open after pandemic related stabilization funding ran out and while lawmakers debate a budget. The funding also  helps child care centers pay workers better wages. DCDEE will be announcing in the coming weeks when the funds will be distributed to programs across the state. 

The Institute Supports NAEYC and DAP

Recently DAP has come under attack. Read more about the NC Institute for Child Development Professional’s stance on standing firm with NAEYC and Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP).

Institute DAP Support letter to NAEYC (2)

The Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession

The Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession was developed over the last three years by a task force of 15 leading national organizations, including the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which facilitated this collective effort. Together, these organizations, which represent members of the early childhood field working across states, settings, and age bands, partnered with a diverse range of stakeholders and more than 11,000 individuals to produce the Unifying Framework.  Learn more about the Power to the Profession initiative here.

Your Voice Counts

The NC Early Education Coalition (Coalition) is the only statewide advocacy coalition dedicated to promoting high quality, accessible and affordable child care in NC.

Through research and advocacy, the Coalition builds partners with early childhood educators, early care and education providers, Smart Start, child care resource and referrals agencies, higher education and others to improve programs and policies and/or increase funding for low income families through child care subsidy, scholarships and wage supplements for early educators, NC Pre-K, Smart Start and more.  Learn how you can become involved and become a member of the Coalition.

In 2023, the NC Institute for Child Development Professionals shared the exciting news of the creation of a project to design an online toolkit and trainings on creating or revising a salary scale for child care centers and family child care homes and share more broadly information on the NC Model Salary Scale for Early Childhood Teachers.

We are excited to share that the NC Salary Scale Toolkit AND the Level 1 Training Salary Scale Toolkit Webinar are available on demand 24/7!  Register for the Level 1 Toolkit Webinar Training and access the Salary Scale Toolkit here.

In addition, the Institute held multiple Level 2 Trainings in 2023 which provided a more in-depth look and use of resources related to salary scales found in the toolkit.  Office hours/Q&A sessions were also held in 2023 for those with implementation questions or those interested in learning more!  Stay tuned for more information about additional Level 2 and/or office hours/Q&A sessions in 2024!

In the meantime, information on the salary scale and toolkit will be shared at several upcoming state and national ECE conferences in early 2024.

For all things “salary scale toolkit project,” click here and use the QR code below or sign up here to stay up to date on information related to this project.