Stay Connected
Stay up-to-date with our latest research and insights. We do not share or sell email addresses to outside parties. We will use your email address only to send you relevant content, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
LEARNING COMMUNITY
TRANSFORMING EARLY EDUCATOR LEAD TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS THROUGH MULTI-PARTNER INNOVATION
About the Grants
In 2021, The Collaborative awarded six grants in support of partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHEs) and states/territories/tribal nations to transform their preparation programs for early educators. The grants strengthen programs that prepare early care and education (ECE) teachers through a competency-based bachelor’s degree. In 2022, The Collaborative awarded two additional IHE partnership grants. In total, $15,668,411 has been awarded through this grant program, which includes aligned funding from partner funders. Learn more about the award recipients.
Overview of the Learning Community
To support our grantees in their work, The Collaborative engaged School Readiness Consulting (SRC) to develop a learning community to foster peer learning and collective problem-solving. SRC has a long history of partnering with organizations across the country to support the advancement of equitable early childhood systems. In collaboration with grantees, SRC designed a learning community space to support, inform, and generate dialogue to ensure successful implementation of the innovative work being done by each of the grantee teams across the nation. Each grantee partnership formed a small, multi-sector team of 3–6 participants consisting of individuals from across the IHE(s), state/territory/Tribal Nation(s), and other partners to participate in the Learning Community. Along with our grantees, five additional IHE partnerships were invited to participate in the Learning Community. The resources from Year 1 (2021-22) and Year 2 (2022-23) of the Learning Community are available below, along with the list of participants.
2022-23
Year 2: Sessions + Resources
Tiered Model of Support
SRC pivoted to a new model for Year 2 of the Learning Community based on grantee feedback about their current challenges and opportunities for learning. Year 2 incorporated a Tiered Model of Support that included:
-
- Webinars and newsletters for all;
- Learning Community sessions for select members of each team; and
- Technical assistance for those who chose to participate.
Report: Strategies for Systems Change
We are very pleased to share our grantees’ insights on their work in SRC’s new report, Strategies for Systems Change: Lessons Learned from the Transforming Early Educator Lead Teacher Preparation Programs Through Multi-Partner Innovation Grant Program. For this report, SRC examined the grantees’ reflections on their work using an equity and systems change framework to understand their challenges, their solutions to those challenges, and the overall impact of the solutions. The report describes the strategies grantees used for systems change, as well as their reflections on next steps and sustainability.
Session Details, Newsletters, & Lectures
SESSION 1: PROMOTING SYSTEMS CHANGE
December 2, 2022
Learning Goal: Explore strategies for building coalition and collaboration around early childhood change efforts.
Guest Lecturer: PaKou Her, Principal, Tseng Development Group
SESSION 2: INNOVATIVE RECRUITMENT & RETENTION STRATEGIES
February 3, 2023
Learning Goal: Explore equitable and effective strategies for degree completion through apprenticeships and competency-based teacher preparation.
Guest Lecturer: Caroline Campana, Director of Workforce and Professional Development, First Up
SESSION 3: ELEVATING THE ECE WORKFORCE
May 5, 2023
Learning Goal: Expand and deepen the shared understanding of equitable and effective strategies that institutions of higher education can implement to support pre-service and in-service teachers, as well as the field of early childhood education, as it moves toward professionalization.
Guest Lecturers:
-
- Dr. Anne Douglass, Founding Executive Director, Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Dr. Calvin E. Moore Jr., CEO, Council for Professional Recognition
2021-22
Participants
The list below includes lead grantees, project partners, and additional Year 3 Learning Community participants.
*Names marked with an asterisk indicate participation in previous years of the Learning Community.