Staff Development
Staff development took many different forms within the TECPI project. The mentoring team had collected a profile of the educational background for the directors and all classroom staff that would be taking part in the project. The level of staff education was higher than the Steering Committee had assumed it might find at the beginning of the project.
Professional development revolved around the Head Start program, curriculum, serving children with special needs, tracking children’s progress and a number of topics. Two of the centers used a company curriculum similar to the Creative Curriculum and two had self created but developmentally appropriate lesson plans. As partners they all agreed to use the Creative Curriculum, High/Scope Curriculum or another research-based curriculum that could be used with Creative Curriculum Progress and Outcomes Reporting Tool or the High/Scope Child Observation Record (COR) to track child outcomes. Creative Curriculum materials were purchased for all four centers and project staff began the process of orienting staff to the curriculum and the tools to track child progress. This happened both in formal training all together and in individual mentoring done by the Child Care Partnership Specialist.
Other training was provided by the delegate Head Start Specialist. Center staff attended Head Start Pre-service training, and several teacher conferences schedule throughout the year. They were also given the opportunity to attend several state level conferences and teaching staff who did not yet have a bachelor’s degree could receive assistance with college costs from Head Start using the same process as other classroom teachers.
All training was documented and tracked so that it could be planned around group and individual needs as time went on.
Documents for you to use:
Professional development revolved around the Head Start program, curriculum, serving children with special needs, tracking children’s progress and a number of topics. Two of the centers used a company curriculum similar to the Creative Curriculum and two had self created but developmentally appropriate lesson plans. As partners they all agreed to use the Creative Curriculum, High/Scope Curriculum or another research-based curriculum that could be used with Creative Curriculum Progress and Outcomes Reporting Tool or the High/Scope Child Observation Record (COR) to track child outcomes. Creative Curriculum materials were purchased for all four centers and project staff began the process of orienting staff to the curriculum and the tools to track child progress. This happened both in formal training all together and in individual mentoring done by the Child Care Partnership Specialist.
Other training was provided by the delegate Head Start Specialist. Center staff attended Head Start Pre-service training, and several teacher conferences schedule throughout the year. They were also given the opportunity to attend several state level conferences and teaching staff who did not yet have a bachelor’s degree could receive assistance with college costs from Head Start using the same process as other classroom teachers.
All training was documented and tracked so that it could be planned around group and individual needs as time went on.
Documents for you to use:
