|
Early Childhood Education in Pennsylvania
|
|
Child Care Providers: Is Your Email Address Up to Date in Provider Self Service (PSS)?
|
The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) uses email communications, targeted to child care operators for important communications. It is critical that child care locations maintain an up-to-date email address for the primary point of contact at their program.
Looking forward, OCDEL anticipates additional grant and award opportunities in the coming months. To ensure certified child care providers receive complete information on these opportunities, certified child care providers should visit Provider Self Service (PSS) and confirm their contact information is up to date as soon as possible.
Specifically, certified child care providers are asked to visit their Licensing Location Profile(s) in PSS and check to ensure all Location Information is accurate, paying special attention to the Email Address field.
For help with PSS, certified child care providers should contact the PELICAN Provider Help Desk at 877.491.3818 (select option #2 twice), or by email at ra-eln@pa.gov.
|
|
PACCA Accepting T.E.A.C.H. Scholarship Applications for the Summer 2022 Semesters
Application Deadline April 8
|
Early childhood education professionals interested in attending college for summer semesters beginning May or June should apply to T.E.A.C.H. now! T.E.A.C.H. applications must be complete and submitted with all required documentation/ information by Friday, April 8, 2022, to be considered for a summer semester. PACCA will continue to accept applications on an ongoing basis, however, incomplete applications and applications received after this date will not receive priority for consideration. New scholarship awards for the Summer 2022 semester will be dependent upon funding availability.
Interested applicants should also begin the college admissions process now and contact an ECE advisor at their college/university. This helps ensure scholarship applicants are admitted to their college/university and can register for courses if/when they receive a T.E.A.C.H. scholarship. T.E.A.C.H. can provide contact information for ECE advisors at partnering institutions if needed – just contact T.E.A.C.H. and ask to be connected with a T.E.A.C.H. Counselor.
Need more information? Click here to view recent webinars. (Webinars for ECE professionals & employers are available.) Ready to apply? Click here to download a scholarship application. Questions? Click here to contact a T.E.A.C.H. Counselor.
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® PENNSYLVANIA is supported by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and Pennsylvania’s Department of Education (PDE). For more information, visit dhs.pa.gov and education.pa.gov.
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® PENNSYLVANIA is administered by the Pennsylvania Child Care Association (PACCA). T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® PENNSYLVANIA is a licensed program of Child Care Services Association.
|
|
Sign up Now for the March Let’s Talk Quality Series
|
The Program Quality Assessment (PQA) team announces the Let’s Talk Quality Series March topic, “Art.”
Register to join March 10, 2022, 1 PM or 6 PM for the 1-hour Let’s Talk Quality Webinar:
Register to join March 24, 2022, 1 PM or 6 PM for the 1-hour Spotlight session where members of the PQA team will answer your questions and be available for discussion:
The Let’s Talk Quality Series includes three-monthly activities – Let’s Talk Quality Blog, Let’s Talk Quality Webinar, and the newest, Let’s Talk Quality Spotlight. Each month the PQA team publishes a blog article, creates a webinar, and offers a spotlight session--all that focus on a monthly topic. Check out the Let's Talk Quality Blog, for the blog post related to this month’s topic. While there, check out all the other great blog posts!
|
|
Pennsylvania’s Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education (CSPECE) Program
|
Those who own or plan to open a child care center and want to ensure children and staff are protected from preventable environmental hazards are invited to take the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Choose Safe Places survey. Providers who participate in the survey can receive a certificate of acknowledgment to display at their business. For more information about Pennsylvania’s Choose Safe Places Program, please visit the PA Department of Health website or contact choosesafeplaces@pa.gov.
|
|
- March 11: Social Emotional Learning Day
- April 18-22: 2022 National Child Nutrition Conference, New Orleans
- April 19-22: National Training Institute on Effective Practices: Addressing Challenging Behavior, Tampa
- April 27-29: Overcoming Challenge with Courage | 2022 Leadership Connections™ National Virtual Conference
- May 2-5: 2022 National Head Start Conference, Baltimore
- May 3-5: Ready, Set, Go: Innovations for Working with Families, Pennsylvania Strengthening Families Conference, Virtual
- May 17-18: 2022 National SEL Conference, Virtual
- June 23: Pennsylvania Farm to Child Nutrition Summit, State College
- July 12-16: National Summer Learning Week
- July 28-30: SPLASH 2022 Education Celebration Conference, Texas
- Sept. 15-16: Save the Date: PA-AIMH 12th Annual Infant Mental Health Conference
- Sept. 27-30: Division for Early Childhood's 38th Annual International Conference on Young Children with Disabilities and Their Families, Chicago
- Oct. 5-8: Early Educators Leadership Conference, Leading Career Pathways to Equity, Orlando
- Oct. 24-26: National Summer Learning Association Conference Summer Changes Everything, Washington DC
|
|
Call for Proposals: ZERO TO THREE
Submission deadline March 11
|
Proposals are now being considered for ZERO TO THREE’s Virtual Conference presentations ranging from 10–75 minutes featuring content relevant to professionals working with children under 5 years old (including those in the prenatal period) and their families, grounded in the domains from the ZERO TO THREE Competencies for Prenatal to Age 5 Professionals, and focused on addressing and advancing equity.
Find out more about submission guidelines on the Call for Proposals submission site. The deadline to submit a proposal is March 11, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PST.
|
|
Connect Young Children to Nature: Community Assistance
Application deadline March 18
|
Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN) invites cities to apply to receive support and technical assistance to implement strategies that connect young children to nature more equitably.
CCCN will select several cities to receive 18 months of technical assistance in order to:
- Activate city government along with grassroots momentum for nature access for young children
- Implement strategies to change the conditions that hold inequities in nature access for young children in place
- Create sustainable, regular nature access for all young children, regardless of race or income
- Improve child and youth development outcomes through regular connection to nature
|
|
Build A World Of Play Challenge Grant Opportunity
Application deadline April 7
|
The LEGO Foundation has launched a $143 million challenge to fund “bold, transformational ideas” that support children’s learning, well-being and holistic development worldwide. The Build a World of Play Challenge is accepting proposals focused on children from birth to age 6 that address global social issues.
Grants will be awarded to projects that use evidence-based solutions to make substantial contributions to children’s lives, addressing current issues such as toxic stress in homes and communities, violence in homes and communities, pollution, and unequal access to quality early care and education.
Research organizations, nonprofits, NGOs, and for-profits can apply on their own or collaboratively. Read more about the challenge here and submit applications here.
|
|
Head Start Collaboration and Partnerships to Support Families Experiencing Homelessness
|
Pennsylvania’s Head Start program is a critical part of early childhood education. This research brief, Head Start Collaboration and Partnerships to Support Families Experiencing Homelessness from the Center for Schools and Communities, reports on ways that collaboration can enhance the Head Start experience for children and families experiencing homelessness. The brief states, "Based on the analysis of PIR and survey data, it is clear that increased partnerships and collaboration to address housing is necessary. Additionally, more training is needed to ensure staff have sufficient understanding of Head Start goals and identification of families experiencing homelessness."
|
|
Impacts of Reflective Consultation
|
model in a statewide infant & early childcare education professional development system: Evaluation of a pilot, found that following completion of the 12-month reflective consultation pilot, consultees demonstrated a reduction in burnout. The 12-month pilot of a US statewide reflective consultation group model included IECMH consultants, grant specialists, supervisors, and program managers and their group reflective consultants. The pilot evaluation provided an opportunity to design a study that assessed the impact of RC on infant-early childhood professionals. This unique pilot provides an example of an organizational approach to instituting reflective consultation with a broad spectrum of infant early childhood professionals and yields valuable information about the impacts of reflective consultation models on such professionals’ work experience and professional practice.
|
|
Association of Child Masking With COVID-19–Related Closures in US Childcare Programs
|
The newest research, Association of Child Masking With COVID-19–Related Closures in US Childcare Programs, from The Zigler Center finds that child care programs that practiced mask-wearing among children early on in the pandemic experienced a 13% reduction in program closures during the following year. Programs that continued child masking through the one-year period of study saw a higher reduction in program closures, at 14%. This groundbreaking study has important policy implications for families, providers, and early care and learning programs as they grapple with the impacts of COVID-19 on young children and education in the U.S.
|
|
Paid Child Care Strongly Linked to Income
|
A new rep ort, Child Care Usage in the U.S. and Across States, by the Committee for Economic Development, the public policy center of The Conference Board (CED), provides an analysis of who uses paid child care and the percent of household income spent on child care by families who pay for it. The study found that, despite declining numbers of children under the age of 15 in recent years, both the number and share of children in paid child care has increased over the past two decades. Growth in paid child care usage as a share of population is taking place, suggesting increased relative demand for paid child care services. The report details who uses paid child care, what percent of household income is spent on child care for those families who pay for it, and what characteristics are associated with families who pay for child care (e.g., maternal labor force participation, reported expenditures for child care, household income, level of education, and age of children in paid care) across states.
|
|
A new highlight from Child Trends and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation summarizes recent research on child care accessibility using four dimensions to measure access: the effort child care takes to find and reach, affordability, supportiveness of child development, and ability to meet parents’ needs. This research highlight can help policymakers develop child care and early education policies that better meet the needs, preferences, and constraints of local families.
|
|
Resources for Reading Aloud to Young Children
|
Research shows that reading aloud is the single most important thing families can do to help their young child prepare for reading and learning. Did you know reading aloud for only 15 minutes per day is enough to make an impact on a child's brain development and build literacy skills? There are plenty of good books, but if you're looking for a place to begin, PA's Promise for Children has printable book lists for young children. Print the book list and take it to your local library and find a new favorite book!
|
|
March is Read Aloud Month
|
During March, celebrate Read Aloud month, a time to change children's lives by creating a new habit and reinforce early literacy. Read Aloud 15 MINUTES has fun, printable one-pagers to help adults reinforce their child's early learning. Check out:
|
|
Learn what the key elements of program quality are and how to infuse them in every aspect of your program with the help of Michigan Afterschool Partnership's Summer Learning Toolkit. Get the latest scoop on how to get the word out about your summer program, and how to grow it for maximum community impact.
|
|
Podcast: The Brain Architects: Building Resilience Through Play
|
Play contributes to sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience, yet its importance is often overlooked. In this podcast, The Brain Architects: Building Resilience Through Play from the Center on the Developing Child, explore the role of play in supporting resilience with a panel of experts on play. Andres Bustamante, Erum Mariam, Laura Huerta Migus, Lynneth Solis, and Michael Yogman share their ideas and personal stories about applying the science of play in homes, communities, and crisis environments around the world.
|
|
Resources from Camille Catlett
|
The February resources from Camille Catlett are now available. The February edition of Baby Talk includes information on A Year of Play, Babies Sleep Can Be Interrupted and more. The February edition of Natural Resources shares free resources for Delivering on the Promise of Effective Early Childhood Education for Black Children: Eliminating Exclusionary Discipline and Concentrating on Inclusion, Supporting Positive Racial Identity Development in Black Children and more.
|
|
Did you receive this from a friend?
Click here to subscribe and get the PA Early Ed News delivered to you.
|
|
The PA Early Ed News is a project of the PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning, and the PA Departments of Education and Human Services to inform early learning professionals, the early childhood community, policymakers, community leaders and the public on developments in early childhood education and care in Pennsylvania.
Find more information about early childhood education in Pennsylvania
Please share this email with friends, family and colleagues.
WE ARE WHERE YOU ARE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|