August 19, 2024 CDA Completion Community of Practice On Wednesdays from mid-September to late October, those working towards their Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential can join a network of fellow educators. Learn More Trying Together’s virtual CDA Completion Community of Practice is a seven-week course that offers a blend of structured learning and interactive community engagement tailored to empower CDA candidates. Each week, participants will dive into individual pieces of the required CDA portfolio, application, and available financial assistance. The facilitator will provide step-by-step instructions and practical tips as well as answer questions to help participants navigate the complexities of the CDA credential. Educators must have completed the minimum 120 hours of CDA training to qualify for the course. The course will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, from Sept. 11 to Oct. 23. Registration is now open.
August 16, 2024 Rethinking Relationships and Bias in Early Childhood An upcoming webinar will explore relationships and bias in early childhood and how adults should respond to conversations about race in the classroom. Learn More The webinar will be led by teacher Olga Lacayo and college instructor Eliana Elias. In the webinar, participants will: Find out examples of how adults might respond to conversations about race in the classroom Learn about how teacher identity impacts the quality of interactions in the classroom Explore a coaching stance that respects teachers as capable and curious learners The session is 90 minutes and runs from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Oct. 17. Those who attend the webinar will receive the official certificate by email within a week. Registration is now open.
July 8, 2024 Free Leadership Training Offered for Families of Children in Early Intervention or Preschool Parent to Parent Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning will host upcoming free leadership development training for families of children receiving early intervention or preschool services. Learn More Competence and Confidence: Partners in Policymaking will provide free training during a series of sessions from September through May. Participants in the course will: Learn about the infant/toddler and preschool early intervention (EI) system Connect with other families Build skills to advocate for their family and others Participation is limited, so those interested should apply right away. The application deadline is 5 p.m. on August 5, 2024. Applicants will be notified by September 6 if they are accepted. Applicants should: Have a child between the ages of birth and five years who is currently receiving state infant/toddler or preschool EI services Have a desire to advocate for themselves and others Can commit to participate in all eight sessions Lodging, meals, mileage, and child care reimbursement will be provided to participants. Schedule The schedule of sessions is: September 27, 2004 (virtual) – Noon to 1:30 p.m. October 18-19, 2024 (DoubleTree Hotel in Lancaster) – Friday at 1 p.m. to Saturday at 3:30 p.m. November 15-16, 2024 (DoubleTree Hotel) – Friday at 1 p.m. to Saturday at 3:30 p.m. January 31, 2025 (virtual) – 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. February 28, 2025 (virtual) – 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 21-22, 2025 (DoubleTree Hotel) – Friday at 1 p.m. to Saturday at 3:30 p.m. April 25, 2025 (virtual) – 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 16-17, 2025 (DoubleTree Hotel) – Friday at 1 p.m. to Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The sessions are funded by the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning, with support from the Temple Institute on Disabilities.
July 3, 2024 Pennsylvania Early Childhood Summit Returns in Person This Fall The Pennsylvania Early Childhood Summit will return in person for the first time in four years this October. Learn More The summit is expected to draw hundreds of early learning educators. It has been held annually since 2008 but will be in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme is Celebrating Early Learning: Reconnecting, Reviewing, Revisioning. There will be more than 60 workshops and two keynote speakers as well as OCDEL updates, exhibitors, the Summit Marketplace, prizes, food, and numerous opportunities to build new professional connections. Attendees will be able to receive PQAS and Act 48 credits. The 2024 Summit will be held on October 28 and 29 at the Penn Stater Conference Center, located at 215 Innovation Blvd. in State College. Registration is now open for attendees and exhibitors. Trying Together Presentations Trying Together will hold two presentations at the summit. The first, presented by Lindsey Victoria and Loni Gooden, is titled “Combating the Child Care Crisis: Empowering Early Educators Through Workforce Development.” This session will explore the pivotal role of workforce development initiatives in enhancing the capabilities and skills of early childhood educators. The presenters will examine how current, innovative work contributes to solving the childcare crisis. The second presentation, led by Allison Robinson and Shellie Grooms, is titled “Re-Envisioning Your Classroom: Curiosity Calms Chaos.” The presentation asks whether a re-envisioning of the classroom as child-centered spaces filled with curiosity and joy would calm daily chaos. The session will explore new strategies for classroom set-ups, routines, and management through the lens of curiosity.
July 1, 2024 Updated Keystone STARS Bonus Points Tip Sheets Now Available The Keystone STARS policy team has recently worked with partner agencies to update its Bonus Points Tip Sheets. Learn More The updated tip sheets are now LIVE on the Pennsylvania Key’s Keystone STARS Resources webpage where there are links to the Bonus Point quality initiatives. Significant updates were made to the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) tip sheets. PBIS is a framework for supporting social emotional development and addressing challenging behaviors in early childhood. It supports administrative teams to use implementation science and practical strategies to support staff and families. Minor updates were made to the other tip sheets including: PA Eco Healthy Child Care; Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAPSACC Program); Farm to Early Care and Education; Child and Adult Care Food Program; and After School Quality. Those with questions about the updates to the tip sheets should contact their ELRC quality coach.
June 25, 2024 Afterschool Alliance and NAA Partner for Afterschool Workforce Initiative The Afterschool Alliance and the National AfterSchool Association (NAA) have announced a strategic partnership aimed at fostering a skilled and stable workforce within the afterschool and summer field to ensure increased access to quality programming for children and youth. Learn More The collaboration between the two organizations comes at a time when the nation is coping with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and programs are experiencing staffing shortages while students’ needs are continuing to grow. This is the first time that the two organizations are formally collaborating by combining NAA’s leadership on professional development with the Afterschool Alliance’s policy and advocacy expertise. The needs prompting this collaboration include: Staffing shortages and the ability to recruit staff have been challenges for program providers. More than eight in 10 report concerns in surveys conducted between 2021 and 2023. Program provider surveys in the past three years have found a majority of programs reporting difficulties hiring or retaining staff. The most recent survey in 2023 found that 57% of providers reported this to be the case. Resources that the two organizations have been told would be most helpful for programs include advice on staff burnout and keeping teams engaged. “Research and the lived experience of our workforce shows that skilled and knowledgeable program staff are critical to desired youth outcomes, and our initiative strives to provide research, resources, standards, and best practices to strengthen the workforce,” said NAA CEO Gina Warner. Planned Initiatives The new partnership officially began in March. Activities planned as part of the initiative include: NAA hosted the third annual Workforce Summit as part of the 2024 NAA Convention. NAA began circulating draft national OST Job Quality Standards, set for release on June 25. The Afterschool Alliance and NAA, along with various partners, released a searchable online database featuring promising national, state, and local strategies to address workforce challenges. The Afterschool Alliance and NAA convened afterschool and summer advocates to share resources and strategize at the Alliance’s 23rd annual Afterschool for All Challenge. For more information on the initiative, visit the NAA’s website. About Afterschool Alliance The Afterschool Alliance is the leading national voice for afterschool and summer enrichment programs and the young people and families who depend on these programs to keep youth safe, support working families, and offer enriching learning opportunities. The NAA focuses on supporting, developing, and advocating for those who work with and for youth in out-of-school time.
May 29, 2024 T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Graduate Recognition Event The Pennsylvania Child Care Association will honor more than 200 T.E.A.C.H. early childhood scholarship recipients who have earned degrees and credentials this year at an event in June. Learn More The T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Pennsylvania Graduate Recognition Event will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, June 11 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Those interested in attending should register by Monday, June 10. T.E.A.C.H. is supported by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) of the state’s Department of Human Services and Department of Education.
April 16, 2024 Early Learning PA Coalition Advocates for 2024-25 State Budget Priorities The principal partners of Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA) are calling on state policymakers to support investments in evidence-based, high-quality early care, education, and health services. ELPA is focused on supporting young Pennsylvanians from birth to age five. Trying Together is a partner of the statewide coalition of advocates. The coalition is urging state policymakers to make investments in child care, pre-k, and early intervention. Learn More From birth to age five, children’s brains make millions of neural connections every second, forming brain architecture for life. At no other time in a human’s life will the brain develop at this speed or with such intricacy. This period is the foundation upon which all later learning, behavior, and health depend. Pittsburgh-based early childhood nonprofit Trying Together and their ELPA partners are calling for state policymakers to maximize the potential of these first five years through investments in early care and education programs in the 2024-2025 budget. Budget Requests The budget priorities from ELPA for the 2024-25 final state budget include: Supporting the Shapiro administration’s proposal to increase subsidy rates to the 75th percentile of the current price families pay for child care services. This will help alleviate rising facility, food, utility, and supply costs for providers participating in Child Care Works. Investing $284 million in new and recurring state funding to implement a child care teacher recruitment and retention initiative. This will help alleviate an ongoing staffing crisis that is causing classrooms and entire programs to close and leave working families without access to child care. The funding would provide monthly payments to providers maintaining a subsidy agreement with the state. It would be restricted for initiatives that would help retain and recruit staff such as monthly wage increases, hiring bonuses, benefit packages, or retention bonuses for staff staying for a certain length of time or achieving credentials or degrees. Supporting a proposed investment of $30 million in Pre-K Counts to increase the per-child rate to help address workforce challenges and inflationary pressures. For the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, a proposed $2.7 million investment to the per-child rate should be examined so that it has parity to the Pre-K Counts rate increase. To achieve this, the needed investment should be $8.8 million in the Head Start Supplemental Assistance line. Supporting, at minimum, the administration’s proposed $16.6 million increase that will serve an additional 3,000 children and their families. This is a first step in a broader solution that includes a long-needed rate adjustment for early intervention providers and that would serve additional children. Additional support would help to address such issues as workforce shortages and achieving equitable enrollment as well as moving to the coaching model and addressing the growing needs of families across the state. Trying Together and other partners of ELPA will continue to advocate for these investments as the budget process continues through June 20. Stay up-to-date on how to advocate for these issues by signing-up to get public policy updates from Trying Together.
April 2, 2024 Touchpoints in Schools: The How of Child and Family Engagement Building collaborative relationships is among the most important responsibilities for teachers, principals, and other K-6 education professionals. The Brazelton Touchpoints Center is offering a course on how to strengthen collaborations with families, even when educators and family members have different points of view. Learn More The Touchpoints in Schools course consists of 22 training hours, including six monthly hour-long virtual reflective practice sessions. Attendance is required at all live sessions, each of which is four hours long. Participants who complete the course will receive a certificate of attendance. What You Will Learn In the course, the Touchpoints approach will offer strategies for educators to: Understand the process of students’ development and examine how and why change in behavior occurs Partner with families to promote child and family strengths Address developmental or behavioral concerns with families Reexamine assumptions, biases, interactions, and communication with families to foster students’ overall success The training is ideal for teachers, instructional assistants, school counselors, family and community engagement specialists, out-of-school time providers, and administrators in a K-6 setting. More Details The course will run from noon to 4 p.m. ET and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT on Aug. 27 and 29 and Sept. 3 and 5. The class requires a minimum of 10 participants and the maximum amount of attendees is 20. The cost for the course is $795.
Touchpoints in Schools: The How of Child and Family Engagement Building collaborative relationships is among the most important responsibilities for teachers, principals, and other K-6 education professionals. The Brazelton Touchpoints Center is offering a course on how to strengthen collaborations with families, even when educators and family members have different points of view. Learn More The Touchpoints in Schools course consists of 22 training hours, including six monthly hour-long virtual reflective practice sessions. Attendance is required at all live sessions, each of which is four hours long. Participants who complete the course will receive a certificate of attendance. What You Will Learn In the course, the Touchpoints approach will offer strategies for educators to: Understand the process of students’ development and examine how and why change in behavior occurs Partner with families to promote child and family strengths Address developmental or behavioral concerns with families Reexamine assumptions, biases, interactions, and communication with families to foster students’ overall success The training is ideal for teachers, instructional assistants, school counselors, family and community engagement specialists, out-of-school time providers, and administrators in a K-6 setting. More Details The course will run from noon to 4 p.m. ET and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT on Aug. 27 and 29 and Sept. 3 and 5. The class requires a minimum of 10 participants and the maximum amount of attendees is 20. The cost for the course is $795.
