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: The department implemented a revision to the policies related to trainer, course and course writer approvals in our professional development system. The revisions provided new pathways for becoming an approved trainer and allowed for additional supports for individuals looking to be trainers or course writers. These revisions were completed based on a 3-year long consultation process which included members of the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet and the Early Learning Council. [ ]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: Other groups consulted included child care providers, trainers, higher education faculty, state staff, training organizations, and other community organizations that the department contracts with for professional development services. [ ] 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). The department uses Minnesota's Knowledge and Competency Framework as a foundation for noncredit training development and approval. The Framework outlines standards, or expectations, regarding what people educating and caring for young children need to know. The Knowledge and Competency Framework also describes competencies, which define the demonstration of specific skills needed at three distinct scaffolding levels and aligns with the standards of the Minnesota Board of Teaching now known as the Professional Educator Licensure and Standards Board. The Minnesota Department of Education, in coordination with the department and the Department of Health, released three interrelated yet distinct Knowledge and Competency documents -- (1) Infant/Toddler, (2) Preschool, and (3) Family Child Care in 2014. All three versions can be found on the Minnesota Department of Education website at the following link: (http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/dse/early/know/index.htm). In late 2020, the Preschool Age version of the Knowledge and Competency Framework was expanded in response to feedback from those working in the field of early childhood care and education. Three new components were developed to better address the changing needs and demographics of the children and families across our state: Trauma Informed Care & Practices, Working with Multilingual Children & Families, and Cultural Responsibility & Practice. The full version of the newly updated Early Childhood Knowledge and Competency Framework is now available on the Minnesota Department of Education Website at: (https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/early/highqualel/know/). Located under "Working with Preschool Age Children in Centers and Schools." The department has also developed a Knowledge and Competency Framework for Trainers delivering noncredit training. This Framework outlines standards regarding what people approved to train within Minnesota’s professional development system need to know and competencies, which define the skills that they need to be able to do in order to provide high-quality adult education experiences to people working with young children. The full version of the Trainer Knowledge and Competency Framework is available at https://edocs.dhs.state.mn.us/lfserver/Public/DHS-5294-ENG (Minnesota's Knowledge and Competency Framework for Trainers). ii. Career pathways. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about professional development registries, career ladders, and levels. The department supports a grant contract with The Registry, Inc. to administer Achieve, The Minnesota Center for Professional Development (MNCPD) to provide a Career Lattice to recognize the professional development of early childhood and school- age practitioners as they move forward in their careers. Practitioners are awarded a Career Lattice Step based on a combination of approved training hours, credentials, college credits and degrees earned. Minnesota's Career lattice can be viewed on the Achieve--MNCPD website: https://www.mncpd.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/02/MN-Career-Lattice.pdf. Through this contract, Minnesota also supports a Virtual Career Guide that provides information about professions in the early childhood and school age care field. The guide is organized by step on the Career Lattice and also provides information on training and job opportunities. More information can be found at https://www.mncpd.org/resources/career-guide/. The department also funds grant contracts for two additional initiatives that support career pathways for early childhood and school age professionals. Professional development advisors are located at district offices in the Child Care Aware system to work with providers to analyze training and education and help chart pathways for professional growth. In addition, the Child Care Aware of Minnesota statewide office houses an Early Childhood Workforce Specialist to connect professionals to financial supports and advising to help them along a career path. This specialist also connects with local high schools and postsecondary institutions to coordinate efforts to promote early childhood education as a profession. 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. In coordination with the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet the department partners with the Governor's State Advisory Council for Early Education and Care, to provide guidance on the professional development system. The Advisory Council makes recommendations to the Governor, Children's Cabinet and Legislature, including proposed legislation on how to effectively create a high-quality early childhood system in Minnesota to ensure all children arrive at kindergarten school-ready. The state also has a Family Child Care Training Advisory Committee who advises the Lead Agency on training requirements for family child care providers and supports for providers to meet those requirements. iv. Articulation. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about articulation agreements, and collaborative agreements that support progress in degree acquisition. With other state agencies, stakeholder organizations and community groups, the department partners with active groups of higher education professionals. Faculty from two-year and four-year colleges each have professional organizations that gather on a quarterly basis. These two groups meet separately, then come together to identify opportunities to collaborate in articulation efforts. Representatives from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the department participate in multiple higher education advisory groups. The department is currently partnering with the Office of Higher Education and several institutions of higher education in a workgroup to create a credit for prior learning pathway for the national child development certificate (CDA) and create standard requirements for student articulation of the non-credit training to higher education credit. In addition, the department funds Professional Development Advisors through the Child Care Aware district offices to provide career advising to early education professionals statewide. 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. The department supports Develop, Minnesota's Quality Improvement and Registry Tool, as its primary source of workforce information for the child care and early childhood field. Develop houses information on employment, training and educational attainment for participating individuals. Develop is a voluntary registry, with the following exceptions: all lead staff that participate in Parent Aware, Minnesota's QRIS, or receive financial supports such as T.E.A.C.H. (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps), R.E.E.T.A.I.N. (Retaining Early Educators Through Attaining Incentives Now) or CDA scholarships must participate in Develop. In SFY’23, 16,536 early childhood and school age professionals have their individual information in Develop. Develop also holds information on training events and attendees sorted by Knowledge and Competency Framework area. These events have all been approved by MNCPD (The Minnesota Center for Professional Development). In SFY23, there were 5,653 statewide training events with 146,353 total attendees, and 6,165 approved courses. Another source of workforce information used by the department is the Early Care and Education Workforce Study, (https://www.wilder.org/wilder-research/research-library/minnesotas-early- childhood-educators-2023-statewide-study), the most recent iteration of which was completed in 2023. This study is based on a survey of workforce members and includes information about their demographics, economic and general wellbeing, turnover rates, wages and benefits, participation and interest in professional development opportunities, and experiences with burnout. vi. Financing. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about strategies including scholarships, apprenticeships, wage enhancements, etc. The department provides the following financial supports to the child care and early childhood workforce through grant contracts to Child Care Aware CCR&R agencies: Scholarships for individuals seeking to attain post-secondary degrees are available through the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Scholarship Program. T.E.A.C.H covers the costs of 85 percent of tuition and books, as well as a travel stipend and release time. Child Care Aware offers free or low-cost training that is required to meet CCDF health and safety requirements, other training to meet state licensing requirements, and training to meet requirements for the state QRIS, Parent Aware. Financial supports are also available for training, assessment, and renewal fees associated with obtaining the Child Development Associate Credential (CDA). The R.E.E.T.A.I.N. (Retaining Early Educators through Attaining Incentives Now) program rewards child care professionals who have earned a degree or National Child Development Associate Credential and have demonstrated a general commitment to continuing education and professional development. To be considered for the bonus, child care professionals must submit an application annually. The bonuses range from $500 to $3,500, based on educational attainment of the applicant which can be used to cover program or personal expenses. Current policy does not allow consecutive annual awards to professionals. Minnesota recently evaluated the R.E.E.T.A.I.N. program, and is working on some programmatic changes that would best support the workforce. The Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program was signed into law in May 2023, providing state funds designed to support the child care industry and educators. Building off the Child Care Stabilization Grant Program, which ended in June 2023, this permanent program issues monthly payments to eligible child care programs to fund increases in compensation and benefits for early educators. One hundred percent of the funds received by child care programs must be used to fund increased wages or to offer new or expanded benefits as part of an overall compensation package for educators. The program’s first annual report was submitted to the legislature in January 2024, and annual reports will continue to be submitted annually per state statute. 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: Achieve-MNCPD recognizes Continuing Education Units (CEUs) from (1) organizations that have current accreditation through the International Association for Continuing Education and Training or (2) accredited colleges and universities. Minnesota is a member of the National Registry Alliance and follows a prescribed, documented coding process for assessing, coding and acknowledging higher education credits from official transcripts. 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: All training approved through Achieve-MNCPD is aligned with Minnesota's Knowledge and Competency Framework. The Framework is also aligned with the Board of Teaching Standards. This alignment allows for the use of the same system for both non-credit and credit-based training which makes for a smoother process for articulation. Achieve also is responsible for approving trainers in our professional development system. Trainers are approved based on educational background, including knowledge in specific content area and adult education. Minnesota reviewed the trainer approval process informed by community input and made equity improvements to the trainer approval process. A new course writer role and updated course approval process was also established for the system. The recommendations were implemented in March of 2022. iii. [x] Other. Describe: The department has invested in developing and will continue to support a system of Relationship Based Professional Development (RBPD) which includes coaching, consulting and mentoring. The department uses the Minnesota Knowledge and Competency Framework for Relationship-based Professional Development Specialists (https://edocs.dhs.state.mn.us/lfserver/Public/DHS-7586-ENG) to support the work of RBPD specialists who contribute to the professional development of the early childhood workforce. All RBPD specialists are approved through Achieve-- MNCPD and their hours are tracked in Develop on a provider's individual Learning Record in the same way training is documented. Categories include quality coaching for the QRIS, Mental Health Consultants, and coaching in the areas of early childhood leadership development, infant/toddler care, inclusion of children with special needs and health and safety best practice. The department funds two types of Professional Development Advisors (PDAs) through the Child Care Aware system to provide ongoing personalized career advising regarding short- and long- term career goals and financial resources. This work is funded by federal and state dollars. [ ] 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? Minnesota’s professional development framework is intentionally designed to include a variety of supports to strengthen and retain a diverse, qualified workforce. There are multiple financial assistance supports to attain credentials and post- secondary degrees that can be accessed and combined as appropriate depending on the career pathway point of each child care and early education professional. There are scholarships for individuals seeking to attain post-secondary degrees through the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Scholarship Program. T.E.A.C.H covers the costs of 85 percent of tuition and books, as well as a travel stipend and release time. The framework also includes financial incentives linked to educational attainment and retention. The R.E.E.T.A.I.N. (Retaining Early Educators through Attaining Incentives Now) program rewards child care professionals who have earned a degree or National Child Development Associate Credential and have demonstrated a general commitment to continuing education and professional development. Another framework support is the outreach to high school career and technical school students in Minnesota. The Child Care Aware of Minnesota statewide office houses an Early Childhood Workforce Specialist to connect professionals to financial supports and advising to help them along a career path. This specialist also connects with local high schools and post-secondary institutions to coordinate efforts to promote early childhood education as a profession. The department uses a Universal, Multicultural Instructional Design Framework in creating courses and supporting trainers. The Framework is a tool that: (a) reflects current and emerging theory and practice for supporting all learners and instructors; (b) supports instructors in valuing the knowledge and experience of the learners in addition to the content and activities in the curriculum; and, (c) supports a variety of early childhood learning experiences and audiences in order to be inclusive in training design and delivery. Curriculum has been developed and offered in multiple languages to meet the diverse needs of the child care and early education workforce. In addition, the Trainer and Relationship-based Professional Development Support (TARSS) project provides support services to trainers and Relationship Based Professional Development Specialists who are approved or becoming approved through Achieve, the Minnesota Center for Professional Development. They also work to identify and implement specific strategies to recruit, train, and support early childhood and school-age trainers, coaches, consultants, and mentors to enhance their training and RBPD knowledge and skills. Intentional recruitment and support of bilingual/bicultural trainers and RBPD specialists has been a priority to improve the diversity of the framework. This project has helped to recruit and retain a diverse group of professionals available to support the early care and education professionals in Minnesota. The department is providing dedicated funding to grantees to improve access to services for people of color, especially those who may experience barriers without additional support, such as providers who speak languages other than English. This work includes outreach, recruitment and support across local communities. Activities such as learning communities have been implemented to support provider communities as well as the trainers, coaches, consultants and mentors from the communities. The professional development framework includes behavioral health support for providers, such as training in self-care practices and stress-reduction techniques. Mental health consultation is provided to child care providers who have participated in Parent Aware, Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. This mental health consultation focuses on building child care provider capacity to support infant and young children’s emotional development and to prevent, identify, or reduce mental health challenges. In addition, financial consulting and business management training to child care providers is available through a grant with First Children’s Finance. These services are aimed at increasing individual’s knowledge of business practices and designing sustainable business models. Together, these supports have an overall goal of retaining a highly qualified and diverse workforce to serve the children and families in Minnesota. 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? In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature directed the department to study a provider wage scale, including recommended wages that are equivalent to elementary school teachers with similar credentials and experience, and how to use provider wages in the subsidy rate-setting process. Reports are due to the legislature in January 2025. The Minnesota Center for Professional Development has implemented an online career guidance tool to help individuals interested in mapping out a career path in early childhood education. This virtual career guide enables users to view training and educational requirements for each career lattice step, while also giving them the ability to click on qualifying positions so they can view position descriptions and salary details 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? The department is currently working with the Department of Education to provide funding and support to communities to design, lead and implement mixed delivery action labs. These action labs are focused on improving how state early care and education systems serve families with young children and compensate for early childhood professionals. A sub-project is a pay parity pilot. This pilot and lessons learned will help inform the wage scale proposed in a legislative report due January 30, 2025. 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? The department is currently working with the Office of Higher Education in a workgroup to create a credit for prior learning pathway that is commonly recognized at the 2- and 4-year institutions of higher education for non-credit training such as the national CDA certificate 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)? The 2023 Early Care and Education Workforce Study (https://www.wilder.org/wilder-research/research-library/early-care- and-education-workforce-2023-study) provides relatively recent information on wages and benefits of early educators across settings. The survey provides information on educators’ early care and education income as well as their total household income, and about benefits available to them as well as their use of benefits (for example, whether they were able to make use of available paid time off). Another source of information about wages and benefits is the 2023 Minnesota Child Care Cost Modeling Report (https://www.house.mn.gov/comm/docs/rFA4zqMt-UaHaXDB8xNl5Q.pdf), which is also based on a survey of child care programs that included questions about wages and benefits offered. Additionally, the department works in close partnership with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to understand available data on the child care workforce through the state’s Labor Market Information System (https://mn.gov/deed/data/). The department also has some administrative data related to compensation, both in Develop for individuals who have voluntarily shared the information and through the Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program for programs that participate. Develop is Minnesota’s Quality Improvement and Professional Development Registry. Individuals can enter information related to employment, education and training and programs can access the system to participate in Parent Aware, Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement system. While each of these data sources has some limitations, each also offers opportunities to analyze disparities in compensation, and consulting all sources in tandem allows the department to build a fairly comprehensive picture of the child care workforce and where additional supports are needed. 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? The department funds the REETAIN (Retaining Early Educators Through Attaining Incentives) retention bonus program which provides annual bonuses based on education and experience. Bonuses range from $500-$3500. The Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program was signed into law in May 2023, providing state funds designed to support the child care industry and educators. Building off the Child Care Stabilization Grant Program, which ended in June 2023, this permanent program issues monthly payments to eligible child care programs to fund increases in compensation and benefits for early educators. One hundred percent of the funds received by child care programs must be used to fund increased wages or to offer new or expanded benefits as part of an overall compensation package for educators. The program’s first annual report was submitted to the legislature in January 2024, and annual reports will continue to be submitted annually per state statute.