Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Summary of the 2002 Early Childhood Educator Professional Develo

Nov 13, 2002

Summary of the 2002 Early Childhood Educator Professional Development
program

The purpose of the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development
Program, authorized by section 2151(e) of the ESEA as added by the No
Child Left Behind Act, Public Law 107-110, is to enhance the school
readiness of young children, particularly disadvantaged young children, and
to prevent them from encountering difficulties once they enter school.
The program is designed to improve the knowledge and skills of early
childhood educators who work in communities that have high concentrations
of children living in poverty.

Projects funded under the Early Childhood Educator Professional
Development Program will provide a small but significant base of high-quality,
intensive, replicable, professional development programs for early
childhood educators who are working in early childhood programs that serve
concentrations of children from low-income families. These programs
are based upon the best available research on early childhood pedagogy
and child development and learning domains, including early language and
literacy development.

For FY 2002, Congress appropriated $15 million for the Early Childhood
Educator Professional Development Program. The 96 applications
submitted were reviewed by peer reviewers from the field of early childhood
education in accordance with Department regulations. The Department made
awards to nine of these projects, and each applicant will provide a
cost share that is at least 50% of the total cost of the project for the
entire grant period (cost-share funds may come from other Federal
sources). The following are abstracts for each project, containing a
synopsis of what each project proposes to achieve with the Early Childhood
Educator Professional Development Program grant funds, as well as details
about project costs and contact information.

Two grants were made to CA institutions: For a full listing go to
http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/11-2002/11042002.html

San Diego State University, California

Total project costs: $2,765,948
Project Director: Thomas Roberts
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, California 92182
(619) 594-2226
Troberts@mail.sdsu.edu

Abstract:
ADVANCE is a partnership between San Diego State University's (SDSU)
Department of Child and Family Development, the University of California
(UC) Davis Center for Human Services, Neighborhood House Association
(NHA) Child, Youth, and Family Service Division/Head Start and Child
Development, Father Joe's Villages, and Child and Adolescent Services
Research Center to provide professional development training to early
childhood educators (ECEs) serving communities in the City of San Diego with
a high-concentration of preschool children living in poverty.
The purpose of ADVANCE is to increase the expertise of ECEs in
research-based school strategies to improve the school readiness of low-income
children and children with learning
disabilities. ADVANCE's goals are as follows: 1) Provide 356 ECEs with
professional development in research-based and
developmentally-appropriate early child care and education services; 2) Provide noncredit
continuing education units in early child development to 259
participants; 3) Provide credit courses in early child development to
97 participants; and, 4) Provide
benefits to 68 early childhood programs as a result of ECEs receiving
professional development through ADVANCE.
ADVANCE's intended audience is ECEs from NHA Head Start, Father Joe's
Villages, Salvation Army Family Development Center, YMCA, Episcopal
Community Services, and San Diego City Schools. San Diego City Schools and
NHA are partners in the EarlyLink preschool initiative. Special
features of ADVANCE include complementing coursework with formal mentoring
programs incorporating both Mentor Teacher/Literacy Specialists and peer
mentoring, utilizing the High/Scope preschool cognitively-oriented
curriculum, replicating the scientifically proven methods of the University
of Texas at Houston's Center for Improving the Readiness of Children
for Learning and Education (CIRCLE) approach on early childhood pedagogy
and child development
and learning, building a research-based ECE database, offering the
Heads Up! Reading distance learning program, and Raising a Reader, a
research-based early literacy program.


Sonoma State University, California

Total project costs: $2,250,203
Project Director:
Linda Brekken, Ph.D.
Sonoma State University
1801 East Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park, California 94928
(707) 664-2416
Linda.Brekken@Sonoma.edu

Abstract:
The California Institute on Human Services ("CIHS") at Sonoma State
University currently operates the Hilton-Early Head Start Training
Program, a highly successful nationwide professional development program to
improve services for children with disabilities in Early Head Start
("EHS") programs. CIHS proposes the GRADUATE Project to provide intensive,
research-based professional development focusing on emergent literacy
for EHS program staff who have already "graduated" from the Hilton-Early
Head Start Training Program.
The GRADUATE Project is designed to provide early childhood educators
with the background, foundation, strategies, and follow up support to
facilitate emergent literacy environments and awareness in EHS programs.
The overriding purpose is to promote school readiness for children of
low-income families living in high need communities who typically start
school already behind.
The intended audience is EHS programs located across the country who
have a demonstrated ability to implement and share training, and a
desire for professional development in emergent literacy. Through the
proposed Project teams from 20 EHS programs will attend "GradQuest" training
and return to their communities to share the training with other early
childhood educators---directly benefiting approximately 160 children on
average per program or 3,200 children in year one alone!
Three "GradQuest" training events are patterned after proven models.
Teams of staff are trained intensively by nationally recognized experts
in emergent literacy. Learning coaches are assigned to each team and
will make two follow-up site visits for implementation support. New
technologies will be used for additional follow-up support.