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: Virginia has updated the framework for professional development and training to align with the VQB5 system through the development of the VQB5 Improvement Guidelines. These guidelines outline key priorities and focus areas for improvement and professional development for all providers. These guidelines identify the supports available to help Virginia providers. The VQB5 Guidelines are reviewed twice annually by the Early Childhood Advisory Committee, with the most recent review taking place in April 2024. Once endorsed by the Early Childhood Advisory Committee, the guidelines are then reviewed and approved by the Virginia Board of Education. Virginia has not made changes to the framework related to post-secondary education. [ ]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: Virginia has conducted extensive engagement on the VQB5 Guidelines, including the professional development elements included in Section 7, Improvement for VQB5. This includes formal engagement with the Virginia Early Childhood Advisory Committee (ECAC) and the Virginia Board of Education (BOE), both formal advisory bodies review the guidelines twice annually. Virginia also conducts stakeholder engagement on the Improvement guidelines, which includes engaging regional stakeholders at fall data presentations, program leader webinars, local observer webinars, statewide improvement partner meetings and webinars, weekly meetings and discussion with regional implementation teams and partners, bi-annual technical assistance sessions, and frequent feedback surveys from the field. [ ] 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). Virginia uses several publications to identify the professional competencies for trainers to use while supporting professional development; those include Virginia's Competencies for Early Childhood Professionals; Technical Assistance Provider (TAP); Specialized Knowledge and Competencies; and adopted, "What Makes an Effective Early Childhood Professional Development Provider? which are cross- sector trainer competencies which are research-based and developed with input from cross-sector early care and education professionals across the state. Quality standards and competencies for school-age care practitioners were developed in partnership with the Virginia Partnership for Out-of-School Time leadership team and cross-sector out-of-school time professionals. Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Early Childhood programs intentionally embed information related to the professional standards and competencies into early childhood coursework. The state resources widely used include the Virginia Early Learning and Development Standards. NAEYC standards are also featured prominently, particularly at the VCCS institutions that are in the process of Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation. ii. Career pathways. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about professional development registries, career ladders, and levels. Virginia’s "Career Pathways for Early Childhood and Out-of-School Time Practitioners" includes nine educational achievement levels, in addition to a Foundational Awareness/Best Practices Level, showing upward movement toward a doctoral degree with a minimum of 21 child-related college credits. This document is under revision. The VCCS career trajectory includes prior learning credit (3 credits) at many community colleges for a current CDA. Once students have begun at the community colleges, they may take credits toward a 16-credit career studies certificate (occasionally 19 credits), which often stacks into a certificate of 31 credits, and does stack into the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Early Childhood Development. The 16-credit certificate was created for Virginia Head Start and Early Head Start and is approved as an alternative to the CDA. Within the state, HS and EHS teachers may seek this option, which places them on a trajectory toward earning an AAS. 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. Virginia has the legislatively required Early Childhood Advisory Committee (ECAC), which formally advises the Board of Education. The ECAC acts as the state’s official advisory committee on all matters related to early childhood care and education. The ECAC directly informs the states professional development framework, particularly as related to the VQB5 Improvement Guidelines. iv. Articulation. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about articulation agreements, and collaborative agreements that support progress in degree acquisition. Virginia has supported the development of articulation agreements between associate and baccalaureate degree programs; including new 2+2 pathway from associate to baccalaureate degrees across the state and new state teaching licensure at the baccalaureate degree level. This has resulted in a nearly universal associate degree program that articulates directly with no loss of credits into baccalaureate degree programs with a concentration in early childhood education at participating universities. The addition of online options for the transferable courses has allowed for even further reach for the pathway. This new pathway leads to teacher licensure with a focus on the entire continuum of early childhood from birth through age 8. Seven 4-year institutions have launched or are in process of launching +2 programs for the ECE workforce: Averett University, Bluefield College, George Mason University, James Madison University, Longwood University, Old Dominion University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. 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. Virginia has developed a unified early childhood data system called LinkB5 in partnership with the University of Virginia (UVA). LinkB5 collects information on the characteristics of communities, sites, and classrooms, and is the collection point of information for VQB5 (Virginia’s Unified Quality Measurement System). LinkB5 will ultimately be used to provide information to parents on the measured quality of the early learning programs available to them, and serves the dual purpose of providing workforce information on every publicly funded program in Virginia. Virginia uses LinkB5 to understand the child care workforce and professional development trends in VA. As of September 2023, LinkB5 had 23,593 teacher profiles from 3,223 sites, including 2,388 from child care and family day homes. This year, Virginia added compensation information to LinkB5 as an optional field. This will provide more universal insight into the compensation status of Virginia’s educators. LinkB5 is required for every publicly funded site in Virginia. Virginia has created statewide profiles using the 2023 Workforce Data (https://www.see-partnerships.com/workforce-profiles.html) in partnership with UVA. This provides which includes important information on compensation and retention for Virginia’s workforce, broken down by program type. vi. Financing. For example, Lead Agencies can include information about strategies including scholarships, apprenticeships, wage enhancements, etc. The Virginia Child Care Provider Scholarship Program helps practitioners pay for undergraduate college-level courses that lead to degrees and certificates in early childhood or school-age care. This Program works in concert with Project Pathfinders, a scholarship program administered by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation. In addition to the Child Care Scholarship Program, the Virginia Infant and Toddler Specialist Network has a scholarship for infant and toddler providers to attend a statewide conference and provides support with some online training for providers of infants and toddlers to obtain the CDA credential. b. Does the Lead Agency use additional elements? [ ] Yes. If yes, describe the element(s). Check all that apply. i. [ ] Continuing education unit trainings and credit-bearing professional development. Describe: ii. [ ] Engagement of training and professional development providers, including higher education, in aligning training and educational opportunities with the Lead Agency's framework. Describe: iii. [ ] Other. Describe: [x] No. 6.2.3 Impact of the Professional Development Framework Describe how the framework improves the quality, diversity, 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 diversity of providers across role, child care setting, or age of children served? Virginia’s professional standards and competencies are designed to recognize the diversity of providers across role and setting. Virginia uses several publications to identify the professional competencies for trainers to use while supporting professional development; those include Virginia's Competencies for Early Childhood Professionals; Technical Assistance Provider (TAP); Specialized Knowledge and Competencies; and adopted, "What Makes an Effective Early Childhood Professional Development Provider? which are cross-sector trainer competencies which are research- based and developed with input from cross-sector early care and education professionals across the state. Quality standards and competencies for school-age care practitioners were developed in partnership with the Virginia Partnership for Out-of-School Time leadership team and cross-sector out-of-school time professionals. Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Early Childhood programs intentionally embed information related to the professional standards and competencies into early childhood coursework. The state resources widely used include the Virginia Early Learning and Development Standards. NAEYC standards are also featured prominently, particularly at the VCCS institutions that are in the process of Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation. As Virginia continues to collect comprehensive data on educators and classroom settings through VQB5 and LinkB5, VDOE will evaluate and revise professional standards and competencies as appropriate. 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? Virginia’s "Career Pathways for Early Childhood and Out-of-School Time Practitioners" includes nine educational achievement levels, in addition to a Foundational Awareness/Best Practices Level, showing upward movement toward a doctoral degree with a minimum of 21 child- related college credits. This document is under revision and applies to child care workers in all settings. The VCCS career trajectory includes prior learning credit (3 credits) at many community colleges for a current CDA. Once students have begun at the community colleges, they may take credits toward a 16-credit career studies certificate (occasionally 19 credits), which often stacks into a certificate of 31 credits, and does stack into the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Early Childhood Development. The 16-credit certificate was created for Virginia Head Start and Early Head Start and is approved as an alternative to the CDA. Within the state, HS and EHS teachers may seek this option, which places them on a trajectory toward earning an AAS. Virginia does not embed a wage ladder as part of the existing work on career pathways. Virginia embeds multiple settings and staff roles in career pathways. 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 Virginia Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) reviews all formal policies and guidelines for the VDOE, including the VQB5 Improvement Guidelines which outline professional development goals and strategies aligned with Virginia’s unified measurement and improvement system, with a specific focus on teacher child interactions. The VQB5 Improvement Guidelines also include information on RecognizeB5, a compensation strategy Virginia has supported since 2019 for child care and family day home teachers participating in VQB5. Virginia does have a PDG Birth to Five grant, and includes updates on relevant work when needed for the ECAC, primarily through channels such as the VQB5 Improvement Guidelines and other guideline documents. 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 Virginia Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) is required to include members that are a professional or Professional or faculty member with expertise in child development or ECEC from a Virginia college, university, or other institute of higher education, alongside a diverse representation of provider types, parents, advocates, and non profit representation. The ECAC reviews all formal policies and guidelines, including Virginia’s most recent work on the VQB5 Improvement Guidelines. Any work related to articulation in Virginia’s higher education system would be reviewed by the ECAC. Virginia has partnered with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF) to support work supporting articulation. Building on the work of Virginia’s National Academies of Medicine team to ￿bridge the divide￿ that early educators faced when navigating the higher education system, VECF has facilitated a review of teacher licensure and education programs in the Commonwealth. The Early Childhood Articulation Workgroup grew out of this review; benefitted from the knowledge and skills of representatives from Virginia community colleges, four-year universities, and state agencies; and was encouraged by the School Readiness Committee. This group worked for over two years to iron out the details of this important change to the higher education system for early educators. Envisioning a seamless pathway of stackable credentials, the group worked to develop a universal associate degree program that would lead directly and seamlessly into baccalaureate programs at participating universities, newly designed with a concentration in early childhood. This new pathway leads to teacher licensure with a focus on the continuum of early childhood from birth through age 8 and is supported by Project Pathfinders scholarships administered by VECF. The new 2+2 pathway to baccalaureate degree and PK-3rd licensure for early educators was announced by Governor Northam in November 2018, and was further supported through state investments in 2020. 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)? Virginia has extensive information on Virginia’s child care workforce, including information on existing wages and benefits available to some of the childcare workforce. The VDOE collects this through LinkB5, and has been able to identify disparities and publish several briefs related to this topic. Virginia has created statewide profiles using the 2023 Workforce Data (https://www.see- partnerships.com/workforce-profiles.html) in partnership with UVA. This provides which includes important information on compensation and retention for Virginia’s workforce, broken down by program type. UVA serves as a critical research and evaluation partner for workforce efforts in Virginia. In addition to LinkB5 development, the Study of Early Education through Partnerships team at UVA has conducted multiple surveys annually since 2019, funded by PDG sources and ARPA funds previously. These include a statewide workforce survey conducted annually, in which questions related to compensation and retention are included. Since 2019, the UVA partnership has produced several briefs specific to this topic and related to Virginia(https://www.see-partnerships.com/virginia.html). A few notable briefs include: ￿ Staffing Challenges at Virginia Child Care Centers: Differences by Centers’ Subsidy Participation Status (https://files.elfsightcdn.com/022b8cb9-839c-4bc2- 992e-cefccb8e877e/832c7469-7c44-4091-bf1d- 98639ec3bac5/SEE_Partnerships_VA_Staffing-Challenges.pdf) ￿ Staffing Challenges at Virginia Child Care Centers in Fall 2022: Differences by Centers’ Subsidy Participation Status (https://files.elfsightcdn.com/022b8cb9- 839c-4bc2-992e-cefccb8e877e/d818dfe1-9292-4f5d-989b-aba6d29102f3/VA-Staffing- Data-Brief-Fall-2022.pdf) ￿ Turnover among Early Educators in Virginia (https://files.elfsightcdn.com/022b8cb9- 839c-4bc2-992e-cefccb8e877e/a0ac1e0d-eb8e-4412-990e- 81fe89b7b715/Turnover-among-Early-Educators-in-Virginia.pdf) ￿ One and Two Year Retention Among Virginia’s Early Educators (https://files.elfsightcdn.com/eafe4a4d-3436-495d-b748-5bdce62d911d/0279b7af-1946- 4350- 9934-08269d5f8173/One-and-Two-Year-Retention-Among-Virginia-s-Early- Educators_Final.pdf) In Fall 2023, UVA continued evaluation work by supporting the analysis of the 2023 Workforce Survey and developing the 2024 Workforce survey (to be administered this spring). The analysis of the 2023 workforce survey included over 9,904 responses, with nearly 6,600 educators across sectors (FDHs, centers, Head Starts, and schools) who responded to the survey, with a total response rate of 57% of preschool development grant participants responding. For the first time ever, UVA has developed an interactive Workforce Snapshot (https://www.see-partnerships.com/2023vaworkforcesurveysnapshot.html) using the 2023 Workforce Survey. This interactive snapshot includes info on most items covered in the survey (e.g. teacher background, compensation, job satisfaction, staffing, CLASS, curriculum, PD, etc.) and is broken out by sector, role, and region. UVA released this primarily for use by Ready Regions or other interested parties, providing an overview and a youtube tutorial. The snapshot is a complement to the profiles and allows for manipulation of the data for those interested in understanding the current state of Virginia’s workforce, providing critical information on demographics, well-being, retention, and turnover. Virginia is working with UVA to monitor shifts in wages and compensation over time in response to payment rate increases and other relevant policy changes in the Child Care Subsidy Program. The first wave of data to evaluate the effect of increased reimbursement rates on compensation will be available in the summer/fall of 2024. 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? Virginia has invested in child care compensation through an initiative called RecognizeB5. Starting with $2.9M from an initial PDG grant in 2019, Virginia invested in the RecognizeB5, which provided over 2,000 teachers in publicly funded schools, centers, and FDH up to $1,500 if they stayed in their sites over an eight- month period. During this pilot, UVA conducted a randomized controlled trial to measure the effect of financial incentives on turnover, the first experiment of this kind in ECCE. Across all roles, RecognizeB5 reduced turnover from 25% to 14%, increased provider perception that their work was valued (98%), made them more excited about their work (95%), helped professionals meet their financial obligations (97%) and reduced stress (95%). The impact of RecognizeB5 was much higher in non-school settings: it cut turnover in half at centers (30% vs. 15%) (see study here: https://files.elfsightcdn.com/022b8cb9- 839c-4bc2-992e-cefccb8e877e/6de6fd54-e921-4c88-a452-ad7cabccc362.pdf). Virginia has continued and expanded the RecognizeB5 program since this initial PDG investment, using PDG Renewal funding, State General Funding, and ARPA funding to partially support the initiative. In 2022-2023, the RecognizeB5 supported 9,558 teachers in center-based child care and family day homes (8,726 in center and 833 in family day homes), Teachers were eligible for up to $2,500 to recognize their work in the sector and support movement towards wage equity. The program was supported by PDG funds, State General Funds, and ARPA relief funding in FY23. In total, $22,522,500 in incentive payments were distributed. In 2023-2024, it is anticipated that $41 million will be distributed to over 16,000 educators in child care and family day homes using both ARPA and State General Funds. As of 2023-2024, the RecognizeB5 program is funded by State General Funds and ARPA funding. In future years, the RecognizeB5 program may be supported State General Funds and CCDF.