For more information, contact
Don Owens at NAEYC
202-350-8857
Mobil: 202-302-5928
Email: dowens@naeyc.org

For Immediate Release:
June 5, 2008

State & National Leaders Plan for the Future
of America’s Early Childhood Workforce

(WASHINGTON, D.C.)– Hundreds of leaders from 30 states and national experts will gather in New Orleans, Louisiana over the weekend to work on plans for integrated state professional development systems that will impact thousands of early childhood educators and the hundreds of thousands of children they work with in child care, Head Start, schools, and other early childhood programs.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is leading an effort to develop and enhance state professional development and career systems.  The work is made possible by the generous support of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and Cornerstones for Kids who awarded grants to the association in fall 2007. By virtue of this project, NAEYC is pleased to be a part of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance.

“Many states are moving forward on individual parts of preparation and professional development for educators working with young children,” said, Mark Ginsberg, Ph.D., Executive Director of NAEYC. “We are working to help states link and connect their policies and initiatives to create an integrated, cross-sector early childhood professional development system.”

As part of this project, NAEYC devised a blueprint for state policies to develop and expand a comprehensive professional development system. The blueprint, developed with input from a wide-range of organizations, experts, and state stakeholders, will serve as a launch-pad to strengthen professional development and career systems for the early childhood workforce.

Additional project activities include:

• Collaboration opportunities for policy leaders and administrators whose work directly impacts the early childhood workforce;
• Development of an interactive Web interface providing direct links to states’ key professional development public policies and initiatives; and
• Creation of materials which can be used by States to promote an integrated early childhood professional development systems.

Click here to find out more.

“As policymakers and the public pay increasing attention to the readiness of young children for school, it is critical that we focus efforts on supporting the preparation, professional development, and compensation of early childhood educators,” Ginsberg said. “America’s children and families will benefit greatly from a skilled, well-supported and compensated early childhood workforce.”

Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has more than 100,000 members worldwide.  The association is the largest and most influential advocate for early care and education in the United States.

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