Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care

Establish Core Competencies

Online Resources

Resources for developing state core knowledge, competencies, and credentials:

• The National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative (NITCCI) publised a brief on core knowledge and competencies in 36 states, including information on ages included and key provisions related to infants and toddlers.
• The National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC) has information about state standards for core competencies/knowledge, including links to state examples available online. NCCIC also developed a toolkit to help states design their professional development systems.
• The National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative (NITCCI) analyzed states that have or are developing infant/toddler credentials and developed a report and tool for state administrators as they consider similar policies.
• The Child Development Associate National Credentialing Program has developed a resource specific to infants and toddlers that defines the tasks related to 13 functional areas that a provider must complete in order to reach key competency goals.
• The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) consulted with professional development leaders nationwide to develop a blueprint to inform system development that sets out key principles to serve as the foundation of the system.
• California's Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California at Berkeley analyzed several states' core competency documents, described the processes states took to develop them, and conducted key interviews with policymakers in several states in a research report developed to inform the state Department of Education's development of new early educator competencies.
• The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation (ECADA) set out standards for high quality teacher preparation.
• The National Registry Alliance is a voluntary organization of state early childhood workforce registry and professional development leaders. The website includes links to over 25 state professional development systems.

  

Examples of state policies on core knowledge and competencies that address babies and toddlers are:

• New Mexico's Child Development Board developed a statewide uniform catalogue of coursework, based on Common Core Content and Areas of Specialization, which includes specializations for infant/toddler providers and for professionals working with children from birth to age three and their families, such as early interventionists and home visitors.
• Illinois has a Gateways to Opportunity career lattice that lays out pathways to credentials in early childhood education, including a specialized infant/toddler credential, starting with community-based training and continuing up through a master's degree. The Professional Development Advisory Council also outlined seven core knowledge areas and associated competencies to support the lattice. In addition, the lattice was developed to align with NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation, Child Development Associate requirements, and a variety of Illinois state teacher, director, and early intervention standards.
• Wisconsin developed a state infant/toddler credential and targeted scholarship dollars to help providers access it.

 

Resources for developing state early learning guidelines include the following:

• Researchers analyzed the content of the 21 states that have already developed early learning guidelines for children birth to age three and provided recommendations on how states can create or revise guidelines.
• ZERO TO THREE made recommendations for states to help them develop or revise Early Learning Guidelines for babies and toddlers.
• The National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative has information on state early learning guidelines for early care and education providers working with infants and toddlers, including a report and recommendations for states (appendix C of this report includes a list of websites for state infant and toddler early learning guidelines). Many states have used the Head Start Outcomes Framework as a model to help develop their own early learning guidelines.

 

Examples of state infant/toddler early learning guidelines are:

• Delaware's Infant and Toddler Early Learning Foundations: A Curriculum Framework document lays out appropriate expectations for children from birth through nine months, nine to 18 months, and 18 to 36 months of age.
• North Carolina's Infant-Toddler Foundations resource includes approaches to learning as a developmental domain as well as information on how to recognize and encourage attributes such as curiosity, confidence, persistence, imagination, and wonder in babies and toddlers. The state has financed the training of a cadre of infant/toddler professionals across the state to offer training and workshops to licensed child care providers.
• Arkansas offers training on the state Framework for Infant Toddler Care through a partnership with the state university system, focusing on using children's literature. Family, friend and neighbor caregivers may participate.

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