As released in the March PA Early Ed News, t
he PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is excited to announce a new resource for families and communities to improve the quality and accessibility of early learning services in Pennsylvania. Beginning July 2018, the Early Learning Resource Centers (ELRCs) will serve Pennsylvania’s communities and provide a single point of access for families, early learning service providers, and communities to access both information and services supporting children and families. ELRCs will allow OCDEL to deliver effective and efficient services to families, early care and education providers, and communities to support increased access to high-quality early care and education for children and quality-building supports for early learning programs.
ELRC agency selection occurred in coordination with the Department of Human Services (DHS) Bureau of Financial Operations (BFO) through a formal, competitive procurement process. All proposals were scored on technical points and reviewed for financial eligibility. DHS is in the process of finalizing the grants with the goal of announcing the successful ELRCs offerors in the coming weeks. Future communications regarding the ELRC awards, contact information, and transitions supports will continue to occur throughout Spring 2018.
OCDEL is committed to supporting the on-going professional development (PD) of all of Pennsylvania’s early learning professionals. OCDEL believes early learning professionals should have the flexibility to focus on areas of need and/or interest as well as attain college credit-bearing coursework in early childhood-related fields of study. Early Learning program leadership teams and their staff are encouraged to personalize each staff member’s professional development plan and/or focus on college credit bearing coursework resulting in a degree. Programs should work with their Quality Coach to ensure a solid understanding of their staff’s needs as well as all available PD opportunities. The expectation is that programs will continue to utilize PQAS approved events to ensure their staff are receiving the very best PD. Non-PQAS PD is intended for high-quality PD opportunities from nationally known experts or credit bearing coursework. Please contact your Quality Coach if you need additional clarification around PD and STARS.
OCDEL made it a priority to develop and implement a professional development (PD) system for the early childhood workforce that integrates services and reflects the focus of the new Keystone STARS performance indicators. In February 2017, OCDEL solicited a Request for Information for Early Learning Professional Development Organizations. In an effort to support professionals in a time of significant transition and based the feedback OCDEL received, implementation of the Early Learning PDOs will occur in July 2019. PD offerings will continue through the agencies currently offering those supports to early learning programs for the 2018-19 year.
