6.2 Professional Development Framework

A Lead Agency must have a professional development framework for training, professional development, and post-secondary education for caregivers, teachers, and directors in child care programs that serve children of all ages. The framework must include these components: (1) professional standards and competencies, (2) career pathways, (3) advisory structures, (4) articulation, (5) workforce information, and (6) financing. CCDF provides Lead Agencies flexibility on the strategies, breadth, and depth of the framework. The professional development framework must be developed in consultation with the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care or a similar coordinating body. 6.2.1 Updates and consultation a. Did the Lead Agency make any updates to the professional development framework since the FFY 2022-2024 CCDF Plan was submitted? [x] Yes. If yes, describe the elements of the framework that were updated and describe if and how the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care (if applicable) or similar coordinating body was consulted: MiLEAP updated the career pathway to recognize registered apprenticeship models at the credential, associate degree and bachelor’s degree level. This change was made through consultation with our Apprenticeship Leadership Group and our partners at the Early Childhood Investment Corporation and MiRegistry. In addition, we made changes to the workforce registry, MiRegistry, to better support gathering workforce data on our state funded preschool program-Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP). These updates support GSRP with annual reporting that includes wage, benefit, higher education, and professional development information on the workforce. Consultation was completed in collaboration Michigan State University (our evaluation partner), Intermediate School Districts and the GSRP Education Consultants. We also added Career Technical Education (CTE) students in the Education General track and their teachers to the MiRegistry audience to increase information on this pipeline group. An organization type was also created to allow teachers to view student learning records, guide professional development and support tracking of Child Development Associate (CDA) and Michigan Youth Development Credential (MI-YDA) content hours and work-based learning. [ ]No. b. Did the Lead Agency consult with other key groups in the development of their professional development framework? [x] Yes. If yes, identify the other key groups: Michigan professional development framework was developed through a stakeholder group process that included four work streams-Core Knowledge and Competencies, Quality Assurance, Access and Outreach and Qualifications, Credentials and Pathways. This stakeholder group assisted by making recommendations through a larger stakeholder group to the Office of Great Start for approval and implementation. These groups included representatives from: Great Start to Quality (GSQ), Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), Early Childhood Support Networks (ECSNs), Community Colleges (2yr), University’s (4yr), Migrant Telamon, Michigan Head Start Association (MHSA), Michigan Department of Health Human Services (MDHHS), Great Start Readiness Preschool (GSRP), Michigan Association of Intermediate school Administrators (MAISA), Tribal Representation, Michigan Afterschool Partnership (MASP), Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH), Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher (TEACH.) Early Childhood® Michigan, Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children (MiAEYC), Child Care Licensing Bureau (CCLB), Early- On® Technical Assistance Network, Office of Career and Technical Education (CTE), Office of Professional Preparation Services (OPPS), Head Start Training and Technical Assistance, Community Health/Home Visiting. [ ] No. 6.2.2 Description of the professional development framework a. Describe how the Lead Agency’s framework for training and professional development addresses the following required elements: i. Professional standards and competencies. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about which roles in early childhood education are included (such as teachers, directors, infant and toddler specialists, mental health consultants, coaches, licensors, QIS assessors, family service workers, home visitors). Michigan has Core Knowledge and Core Competencies (CKCCs) for both early childhood and out of school time (OST). They are aligned to state and national early learning and OST program standards, including our state learning guidelines. Both the CKCC and our learning guidelines have been approved and endorsed by the State Board of Education (SBE). The CKCCs are organized by level-each competency statement has a series of indicators that are identified as developing, achieving, or extending level indicators for early childhood and levels one through five for OST. The indicators identify the knowledge, skills, and attributes early childhood and OST educators may be developing from an entry level all the way through to mastery. Each level builds on the knowledge of the previous level. Training approved in MiRegistry is aligned to the relevant CKCCs. Trainers indicate a primary and secondary (if appropriate) competency/content area and then align their training to specific competencies. A trainer submits the expected training outline detailing the competency statements they are addressing. Educators can intentionally plan their professional development to support mastery of competencies in a specific knowledge area. Our CKCCs can support those working in early childhood and out of school time roles. Michigan does not have specific competencies for specific roles, however, our partners that lead the infant toddler specialist network, mental health consultants and coaches have standards or requirements for those that are fulfilling those specific roles. The Department has just started the process of aligning our early childhood standards and competencies to the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Professional Standards and Competencies. Michigan plans to have an initial crosswalk completed by the end of fiscal year 24 with an implementation plan determined and launched in 2025. In January 2022, Michigan moved to requiring all professional development to be approved (and thus aligned to our CKCCs) in MiRegistry to count for Great Start to Quality professional development indicators. ii. Career pathways. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about professional development registries, career ladders, and levels. Michigan has developed a formal career lattice or pathway which was introduced to the field with the launch of MiRegistry. In our formal pathway, we have built entry steps that are based on gaining professional development (training, credit bearing course work, technical assistance) that cover required health and safety training and then include content in all eight (early childhood) and ten (school age) CKCC competency areas. The beginning steps move a provider toward achieving a Child Development Associate (CDA) or Michigan Youth Development Associate certificate (MI-YDA - School Age Credential). Additional steps require college coursework and achievement of a degree. The career pathway is targeted to both early childhood and OST professionals. The pathway was updated to recognize registered apprenticeship completion to support our state’s commitment to this workforce strategy. We recently updated the career pathway to recognize registered apprenticeship completion with a credential, associate degree or bachelor's degree. iii. Advisory structure. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about how the professional development advisory structure interacts with the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care. Michigan is utilizing advisory groups to inform our workforce initiatives. These initiatives include Career Pathway/Career Technical Education (CTE)/high school credential initiative, TEACH Scholarships, Great Start to Quality, License Exempt Provider Quality work, Infant Toddler Contracts, and other quality initiatives as needed. These advisory groups help MiLEAP develop, promote, and maintain a comprehensive, accessible, inclusive systems of cross- sector partners, best practices, and resources for the professional development, career advancement, and recognition of individuals serving infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school age children. They include representatives from: GSQ, ECIC, ECSNs, Community Colleges (2yr) and Universities (4yr), Migrant Telamon, Michigan Head Start Association (MHSA), MDHHS, GSRP, Michigan Association of Intermediate school Administrators (MAISA), Tribal Representation, Michigan Afterschool Partnership (MASP), MI­ AIMH, TEACH. Early Childhood® Michigan, Michigan AEYC, Child Care Licensing Bureau (CCLB), Early-On® Technical Assistance Network, Office of Career and Technical Education (CTE), Office of Professional Preparation Services (OPPS), Head Start Training and Technical Assistance, and Community Health/Home Visiting. iv. Articulation. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about articulation agreements, and collaborative agreements that support progress in degree acquisition. Michigan participated in a national TEACH. Articulation Project in 2020 and has continued to build additional agreements between associate degree granting institutions and bachelor's degree granting institutions based on a block transfer approach. We continue to support associate degree granting institutions in pursuing a common set of high quality standards (specifically the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation, which our CKCCs are aligned to) and bachelor degree granting institutions accepting the early childhood coursework as a block transfer and evaluating their programs to determine what coursework a transfer student has remaining to earn their degree at the bachelor’s degree granting institution. We started this process with our team of two associate and two bachelor's degree granting institutions. Each of the associate degree granting institutions developed agreements with both bachelor’s degree granting institutions. These agreements have served as models to support other institutions in developing block articulation/transfer agreements. Since the beginning, we have added new agreements and look forward to adding more, as we now have 15 community colleges that are NAEYC accredited. All colleges participating with TEACH. Early Childhood® Michigan are required to have at least one articulation agreement in place. 22 associate degree granting institutions have at least one articulation agreement with a bachelor's degree granting institution. We have built on this initial work through our Career and Technical Education/High School Credential Initiative. In early 2020, Michigan began working with the Region 8 Comprehensive Center on an initiative to expand the pipeline of credentialed early childhood and out of school time educators through career pathways that begin in high school and expand into multiple career opportunities. This work is a cross-office collaboration and relies on the Career and Technical Education (CTE) general education pathway to build the pipeline. With new Perkins requirements (for CTE), Michigan is requiring CTE Education general programs to offer either the CDA (Child Development Associate) credential or the MI-YDA (Michigan Youth Development Associate Credential) or both to students as part of their programming. This program launched during the 21-22 school year. As part of the CTE pipeline work, there are eight bachelor’s degree granting colleges and 10 associate degree granting colleges that are engaged in articulation/transfer agreements for high school students completing a credential and pursuing higher education. These agreements focus on teacher education degree programs, including Michigan's new Birth- Kindergarten and PreK-Third bands. In addition to the articulation work, we have increased the number of early middle college programs supporting students from four in 21-22 school year to 20 in the 23-24 school year. Early middle college programs allow high school students to complete an additional year of high school and graduate with their high school diploma and associate degree without cost. v. Workforce information. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about workforce demographics, educator well-being, retention/turnover surveys, actual wage scales, and/or access to benefits. In April 2018, Michigan launched our workforce registry, MiRegistry. MiRegistry allows for the collection of demographic, wage, education, retention, and professional development information. Currently, there are over 75,000 active MiRegistry users. In 2023, we shared our first workforce report with the Governor’s Office. It included demographic, verified wage, and verified professional development information on the workforce. Michigan has utilized MiRegistry to reach the workforce with surveys that gather information on educator wellbeing and needs. The Department is continuing to update the system to better collect and report on data and we are continuing to message the field around the importance of providing information to support understanding their needs and policy making. vi. Financing. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about strategies including scholarships, apprenticeships, wage enhancements, etc. Michigan provides funding to TEACH. Early Childhood® Michigan, a statewide scholarship program designed to help child care center teaching staff, preschool teachers, family child care providers, group homeowners, center directors, early childhood professionals and administrators meet their professional development goals, while continuing their current employment in regulated early childhood and school age care settings. TEACH. Early Childhood® MICHIGAN addresses two major challenges in the early education and care field - low wages and high turnover. The scholarship helps increase compensation and the retention of skilled teachers. The education level of child care providers is one of the most critical indicators of the quality of a child's experiences in child care. TEACH. scholarships support college credit- based education, books, release time and a travel stipend. TEACH funds can also be used to cover the cost of the CDA and the MI-YDA (Michigan Youth Development Associate Credential). Students may utilize the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Michigan scholarship in conjunction with other scholarships and student aid including Michigan Reconnect Scholarship for associate degree earning students, the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, and MI Future Educator programs for those seeking teacher certification. Michigan has also embraced apprenticeship as a workforce strategy. Critical to registered apprenticeships are employer involvement, structured on the job learning, related instruction, rewards (wage increases) for skill gains and industry recognized credentials. These components align with our state’s interest in building a competent, well- compensated workforce. Apprenticeship can be supported by outside the early childhood system funds. There are both state and federal funds available to apprentices and employers which is an important benefit of this strategy. b. Does the Lead Agency use additional elements? [x] Yes. If yes, describe the element(s). Check all that apply. i. [x] Continuing education unit trainings and credit-bearing professional development. Describe: Providers have access to professional development that offers both CEUs and State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECHs) through the MiRegistry training calendar. To offer State Continuing Education Clock hours (SCECHs), a sponsor must go through an approval process that requires training to meet state requirements. Providers participating in TEACH. Early Childhood® Michigan for support in pursuing CDA training, associate or bachelor’s degree are required to take credit bearing college coursework. For support with the CDA credential fee, a provider can utilize both noncredit bearing and credit bearing hours. ii. [x] Engagement of training and professional development providers, including higher education, in aligning training and educational opportunities with the Lead Agency's framework. Describe: Training that is approved through our Quality Recognition Improvement System (QRIS)--GSQ, goes through our statewide trainer and training approval process which lives in MiRegistry. This process requires the trainer to directly align all training to the relevant CKCCs. Institutes of Higher Education align coursework to the early childhood CKCCs and a crosswalk with NAEYC accreditation for associate degree granting programs has been done for consistency and to support the current block transfer approach for those moving from the associate level to pursuit of a bachelor's degree. Michigan continues to connect with institutions of higher education at quarterly ACCESS (Association of associate degree Early Childhood Teacher Educators) meetings and through summit opportunities to encourage alignment with our state framework. Michigan is in the process of adopting the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Professional Standards and Competencies, as we believe this will create even more opportunities for alignment. iii. [ ] Other. Describe: [ ] No. 6.2.3 Impact of the Professional Development Framework Describe how the framework improves the quality, stability, and retention of caregivers, teachers, and directors and identify what data are available to assess the impact. a. Professional standards and competencies. For example, do the professional standards and competencies reflect the range of providers across role, child care setting, or age of children served? Michigan’s professional standards and competencies are designed to support providers in various roles, child care settings, ages of children served and at varying levels of competency. The competencies that are targeted toward those working in early childhood roles and school age/out of school time roles. All training content in our state registry, MiRegistry, is aligned to the relevant competencies (early childhood or school age). All training is approved and leveled to support providers with intentionality in planning professional development to meet their needs. The Department pulls training or course data that provides insight into availability of specific content by content area and completion of specific content by content area, as well as availability of each level of training (developing, achieving, and extending). Michigan is in the process of updating our early childhood standards and plan to embrace the NAEYC professional standards and competencies. b. Career pathways. For example, has the Lead Agency developed a wage ladder that provides progressively higher wages as early educators gain more experience and credentials? What types of child care settings and staff roles are addressed in career pathways, such as licensed centers and family child care homes? Michigan has a career pathway that is targeted toward early childhood and school age professionals. It was widely introduced with the launch of MiRegistry in 2018. Individuals receive a career pathway level based on professional development, credentials and/or higher education achievement. It begins with foundational levels and progresses through to professional levels. Accompanying the career pathway are possible career opportunities that align to the qualifications for each level. The possible career positions include roles in licensed child care programs-including state preK (GSRP), Head Start, family child care and centers providing infant through school age programming. It also recognizes licensing roles, Great Start to Quality roles, TEACH. roles, and other agency roles. The Department has built a webpage on the MiRegistry site to support learning about the career pathway, careers in early childhood education and careers in out of school time/youth development and continues to add content. While the career pathway levels and possible positions/role information are relevant to the broader early childhood and school age field, the majority of those actively engaged in MiRegistry are tied to licensed child care and out of school time programs. Michigan does not have a wage ladder tied to the career pathway. Individuals participating in TEACH. that achieve a credential do receive a wage increase or bonus as a condition of TEACH. Individuals successfully completing a registered apprenticeship (which is recognized on the career pathway) also receive wage increases. Wage increases are tied to apprenticeship requirements. c. Advisory structure. For example, has the advisory structure identified goals for child care workforce compensation, including types of staff and target compensation levels? Does the Lead Agency have a Preschool Development Birth-to-Five grant and is part of its scope of work child care compensation activities? Are they represented in the advisory structure? Michigan current advisory structure has been determined as needed by the specific initiative. There are advisory groups in place for TEACH.; for quality work focused on License Exempt Providers; our Career Technical Education Future Proud Michigan Educator LAUNCH pipeline initiative, and the department is in the process of determining an advisory group to support our adoption of the NAEYC professional standards. Each of these advisory groups has different goals around building a competent, diverse, and stable workforce. The Department is beginning larger conversations around compensation and have an infant toddler wage pilot in place and a larger workforce initiative that will likely inform and allow for setting goals specific to compensation and wages. The department has data around TEACH. participants including wage and retention. Michigan has data from the CTE LAUNCH initiative that speaks to the number of programs across the state, the number of students enrolled, CDA and MI-YDA competencies completed, and the department will be following these students in MiRegistry to speak to longevity and credential and higher education completion. Michigan uses data available in MiRegistry that speaks to current wage, employment, credentials, higher education and career pathway level. d. Articulation. For example, how does the advisory structure include training and professional development for providers, including higher education, to assist in aligning training and education opportunities? Michigan utilizes an annual higher education summit to support continued articulation work, as well as the TEACH. Advisory group to provide input and our Career Technical Education Pathway Stakeholder Group to support furthering articulation. The department is strategic about requiring approved professional development (training) to be aligned to our state core knowledge and competencies. Michigan has a large body of approved trainers and training sponsor organizations in MiRegistry and do communicate with them regularly through MiRegistry. Michigan is in the process of aligning standards to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) professional standards and feel this may support articulation efforts from a community-based training perspective, particularly in cases where the community- based training results in a CDA or MI-YDA. e. Workforce information. For example, does the Lead Agency have data on the existing wages and benefits available to the child care workforce? Do any partners such as the Quality Improvement System, child care resource and referral agencies, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and universities and research organizations collect compensation and benefits data? Does the Lead Agency monitor child care workforce wages and access to benefits through ongoing data collection and evaluation? Can the data identify any disparities in the existing compensation and benefits (by geography, role, child care setting, race, ethnicity, gender, or age of children served)? This is an area where Michigan is beginning to see the benefits of having a well-positioned, well-utilized workforce registry. The Department published two reports over the last year that sought to speak to wages as they relate to position, setting, gender, age and geography in licensed child care. The Department noticed an issue with the way data is collected in the registry based on setting and available position titles to choose from. The list of position title choices was the same for both those that work in center-based care and for those that work in home- based care. This was of particular impact for those that work in family child care, as they weren’t sure how to best answer as the owner and/or as a caregiver. While the data told some beneficial stories about the workforce, Michigan is diligently working with our developer to provide unique position title lists for those that indicate employment with a center and those that indicate they are employed with or own a family or group child care home. Michigan has been doing some targeted outreach to all provider types, with an emphasis on family child care providers, to encourage them to include their wage information in MiRegistry. Another learning from inaugural reports was the smaller sample size of those working in licensed home-based child care and their story is an important one. Benefit information is collected at the organizational or program level vs. the individual level. Additional outreach to encourage organization profile owners to update their profiles to include staff benefit information to begin to tell that story outside of our state funded PreK sector. Beginning in 2023, all state funded PreK staff had to include wage information and their programs had to include benefit information. State funded PreK staff are required to have their education, credentials and professional development in MiRegistry; but the Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) annual reporting data is pulled from MiRegistry to support Michigan State University with its annual evaluation. Michigan is using workforce data from MiRegistry and from the Career Technical Education (CTE) tracking system to tell the story of those that are part of the education pipeline that will hopefully feed our early childhood and out of school time workforce. The department has data on the students that are enrolled in the Education General CTE program that includes, enrollment by gender, ethnicity, economically disadvantaged, multilingual learners and students with Individual Education Plans. This data can be compared to child level data to get a sense for what the workforce might look like compared to the children and families that are being served. Michigan is exploring the use of data to tell our state stories and support decision making. The department continues to put processes and improvements in place to collect stronger data, refine research questions, and design better reports. f. Financing. For example, has the Lead Agency set a minimum or living wage as a floor for all child care staff? Do Lead Agency-provider subsidy agreements contain requirements for staff compensation levels? Do Lead Agencies provide program-level compensation grants to support staff base salaries and benefits? Does the Lead Agency administer bonuses or stipends directly to workers? Michigan provides funding to T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Michigan, a statewide scholarship program designed to help child care center teaching staff, preschool teachers, family child care providers, group home owners, center directors, early childhood professionals and administrators meet their professional development goals, while continuing their current employment in regulated early childhood and school age care settings T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® MICHIGAN addresses two major challenges in the early education and care field - low wages and high turnover. The scholarship helps increase compensation and the retention of skilled teachers. The education level of child care providers is one of the most critical indicators of the quality of a child's experiences in child care. T.E.A.C.H. scholarships support college credit- based education, books, release time and a travel stipend. T.E.A.C.H. funds can also be used to cover the cost of the CDA. Michigan has also embraced apprenticeship as a workforce strategy. Critical to registered apprenticeships are employer involvement, structured on the job learning, related instruction, rewards (wage increases) for skill gains and industry recognized credentials. These components align with our state’s interest in building a competent, well-compensated workforce. Apprenticeship can be supported by outside the early childhood system funds. There are both state and federal funds available to apprentices and employers which is an important benefit of this strategy.