Sorry, but you do not have permission to view this content.
Welcome No user is currently logged in.!
The Early Learning Nation Collective is thrilled that you have decided to embark on a journey to become or grow an Early Learning Community.
Before you start, we recommend watching this informational video to help guide you as you use the Tool. You may also want to read through some key terms before you begin the Assessment.
Certain goals within building blocks 1 and 2 are marked with a bridge icon to indicate that they make up the “critical infrastructure” of an Early Learning Community. Special attention should be paid to these goals, particularly if you are having trouble advancing your early learning efforts or if you are ready to formalize your work for greater effectiveness.
Goal 2.5 Sample Action Steps
Level 1
- Identify trainings that are relevant to providers in multiple fields (e.g., training on fostering parent leadership, empathy, trauma-informed care, early relational health, or mandatory reporting for child abuse and neglect), and use those trainings to build and strengthen relationships among providers at the neighborhood or community level.
- Host gatherings or trainings for early childhood educators in community and school-based programs to align teaching practices, get to know each other, and exchange information on curricula, education approaches, community relationship-building, and more.
- Disseminate information to providers about career pathways and opportunities to increase their qualifications, including helping more diverse providers move up into leadership roles. Be creative about reaching informal care providers who may not be aware of pathways to becoming licensed, or who could benefit from professional development and networking opportunities even if they choose not to pursue licensing.
- Host trainings for directors and supervisors in child- and family-serving programs that focus on issues such as leadership training, adult learning theory, and business skills.
- Host listening sessions with providers in your community to identify key challenges and connect early childhood providers to community supports, services, and local elected officials.
- Gather information from the early childhood workforce on the challenges staff and families face in your community. Identify challenges and opportunities by inquiring about prevailing wage rates, staffing, turnover, professional development, and opportunities to grow in their careers.
- Use a collaborative approach to develop a strategy for supporting the early childhood workforce. Connect early childhood providers to information about scholarship and tuition assistance opportunities to help pay for increased educational attainment.
Level 2
- Provide targeted training, coaching, and supports for current and potential providers in neighborhoods or population groups lacking access to high-quality care. Equip providers to meet quality standards or state licensing requirements, and deliver family-centered and culturally responsive care.
- Make arrangements for professionals in child- and family-serving fields to get continuing education credits for trainings that improve their ability to compassionately and respectfully serve families. For example, workforce registries can facilitate this for early care and education providers.
- Host site visits for elementary school principals in early care and education centers and pre-k classrooms, and schedule learning and networking sessions with school PTO/PTA groups to connect with preschool parents, to build relationships and ease transitions into school.
- Make infant mental health consultation available to all early care and education providers in the community, so that providers have access to on-site coaching and support to manage challenging behaviors, work with parents and keep children in their classrooms.
- Develop a coaching or mentoring program to support providers as they implement effective practices in their classrooms.
- Increase the community’s capacity to serve families in their home languages, both by finding and supporting interested speakers of needed languages to become providers, and by supporting English-speaking providers to learn a needed language in their community.
Level 3
- Develop pathways for parents and caregivers, community residents, and program participants to get necessary education and certifications to become professional providers to serve their communities.
- Work with child- and family-serving programs and system leaders to develop strategies to increase wages and benefits for providers, such as wage supplements or tax credits.
- Advocate for formal recognition and payment (e.g. through Medicaid or state children’s health insurance programs) for community health workers, doulas, family support specialists, and others who provide culturally relevant support in their home communities.
- Host a roundtable with providers and post-secondary institutions focused on what competencies are needed and the barriers to credentialing.
- Work with community colleges and universities to develop and enhance early care and education programs and to ensure that degree programs are accessible to providers already in the workforce.
- Build the diversity of leadership in the early childhood field through mentoring and targeted professional development to help interested providers from diverse backgrounds advance into program and system leadership roles.
- Create an articulated career pathway knitting together public and private educational opportunities for caregivers.
Goal 2.5 Examples of Communities in Action
Washington State
Kaleidoscope Play & Learn (KPL) groups are free, weekly 90+ minute drop-in play sessions led by community facilitators. These sessions engage children and their caregivers in culturally and developmentally appropriate play activities that foster peer-to-peer learning, child development education, and community-building. Developed with community input, KPL sessions are held in various neighborhood locations, such as libraries, community centers, schools, and shopping centers. In 2018, Best Starts partnered with community organizations and Child Care Resources to add 31 more weekly KPL groups.
Nebraska
Initially developed in 2017, Nebraska Extension’s Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators (CHIME) program for early childhood educators provides staff with 1.5-hour sessions led by a trained guiding teacher who facilitates well-being and mindfulness activities. A pilot randomized controlled trial of the program showed that participation in CHIME reduced stress and difficulties in emotional regulation and increased self-compassion, mental well-being, feelings of general healthiness, and caregiver efficacy. Beginning in 2019, CHIME expanded to deliver sessions to educators throughout Nebraska.
Levels
Level 1
Level 1 describes the starting point and is the first thing a community will want to establish on their path to reaching that goal. In many cases, the first level involves assessing the current situation in order to identify strengths and areas of need.
Level 2
Level 2 describes a community that is taking proactive steps and making some progress toward the goal. This may include communities where progress has been made in pockets, but those efforts are not benefiting the whole community yet.
Level 3
Finally, Level 3 indicates that a community has invested time, energy, and resources toward reaching this goal and is integrating its efforts across the early childhood system and with other sectors.
Not Started
If you or your organization have not begun assessing or considering a goal, please mark your level as “Not Started.”