Volume 05 | January 2021
Professional Development in Pennsylvania
Have you completed your PD Registry profile for placement on Pennsylvania's Early Childhood Education (ECE) Career Pathway?
The updated Keystone STARS Standards requires Early Childhood Education (ECE) professionals working in STAR 2 facilities or higher maintain a completed profile in The PD Registry (SQ 2.1). An individual's profile is considered complete when an individual's the Career Pathway status is listed as applied or verified.
Do You Believe Your Career Pathway Level in The PD Registry Is Incorrect?
If you have already completed your profile and received your Career Pathway placement, but believe you should be on a different level, download and complete the Career Pathway Placement Review form from the Pennsylvania Key website and email it to Donna Wennerholt ([email protected]) for review.
Are You Ready To Move Forward in Your Career and Level Up on Pennsylvania's ECE Career Pathway?
Connect with your local Professional Development Organization (PDO) and find out the opportunities for getting your CDA, a college degree in early childhood education. PDOs are available for career advising and required DHS and Keystone STARS training hours. 
Thank You To Pennsylvania Child Care Providers Who Participated in Yale's COVID-19 and ECE Workforce Study
A big thank you to Pennsylvania’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) workforce for their contributions to the first large-scale, national study on how COVID-19 has affected the child care field conducted by a team of researchers from Yale University and Dr. Walter Gilliam and facilitated through the National Workforce Registry Alliance.

Pennsylvania was one of 18 states and 57,000 providers that participated in the study. The findings showed that childcare providers that continued to work in programs during the first three months of the pandemic were no more likely to contract COVID-19 than providers whose programs were closed.

This study has been published in the Jan. 2021 issue of the peer-reviewed journal American Academy of Pediatrics and on a multitude of websites including today.com. The Executive Summary is available now on the National Workforce Registry Alliance’s website.
Early Childhood Education Professional Development Organization through Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education (ECE-PDO@PASSHE) Expands Early Childhood Educator Apprenticeships
Pennsylvania’s Early Childhood Educator Apprenticeship Program aims to address early childhood education (ECE)workforce shortages while addressing equity and access to high-quality early childhood for all families through a statewide registered apprenticeship system grounded in local andstate partnerships. 

The Early Childhood Education Professional Development Organization through Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education (ECE-PDO@PASSHE) is an ideal partner to meet this goal! With an overarching commitment to model honesty, kindness, a gentle spirit, and an unquestionable work ethic, the PDO-sponsored apprenticeship opportunity will include regional apprenticeship coordinators who will develop partnerships between intermediaries, employers, higher education, and community organizations to scale apprenticeship more strategically. 

Apprenticeship Program Goals

  • Partnership development
  • Intermediary capacity building
  • Marketing and outreach
  • Employer recruitment
  • Higher education partner recruitment
  • Funding for apprentices

The ECE Apprenticeship Program focuses on both the existing ECE workforce, as well as job seekers. Providing a seamless transfer of college credits from the Child Development Associate credential (CDA) to Associates and Bachelors degrees, the apprenticeship program includes a commitment from employers to provide higher compensation to apprentices as their skills and knowledge increase.
Several Financial Assistance Options for Early Childhood Educators Working Toward a new Career Pathway Level
On behalf of Pennsylvania's Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), the Pennsylvania Key administers the Rising STARS Tuition Assistance (RSTA) program.

RSTA pays 95% of tuition costs for college coursework towards a Child Development Associate (CDA), credential or endorsement taken by child care professionals. This program can help employers too by providing a short-term support to those pursuing academic credits that articulate into an endorsement, credential or certificate programs that lead to advancement in their Career Pathway. 

Also on OCDEL's behalf, the Pennsylvania Key administers the CDA Voucher program. The CDA Voucher Program can cover your assessment process. If you are employed by a licensed childcare center or home and work at least twenty hours a week, you may be eligible.

Tips for Directors: Successfully Using the PD Registry for Your Organization and Staff
Child care programs in Pennsylvania’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) Keystone STARS who maintain a STAR 2, 3, or 4 rating are required to participate in Pennsylvania’s Professional Development (PD) Registry. The PD Registry is a learning management system (LMS) that supports the professional development of Pennsylvania's early childhood education (ECE) and after school workforce. 
 
To meet requirements, staff members employed by these programs must complete their PD Registry profile, apply for placement on Pennsylvania’s ECE Career Pathway and document their professional development through their Professional Development Learning Record.

This section is a resource for Directors, Administrators, and/or Owners to successfully set up their organization profile and support their staff members in the PD Registry.
Claim Your Organization
In order for you to verify your staff members' employment and generate reports with their Professional Development Learning Records, their Career Pathway statuses, and their PD Self-Assessments, you need to claim your Organization's profile to receive administrative access.

Find out if your organization is registered, email the PD Registry team at The Pennsylvania Key at [email protected] with your MPI number.

If your organization is already registered, a PD Registry team member will verify the correct individual who should receive administrative access.

If it is unregistered, you will need to register your organization. Take the following steps to do so:
  1. Click + Organization Profile within the dropdown menu by your name.
  2. Click Create Profile.
  3. Complete all required information.
  4. Click Submit.

Allow 1-2 business days for processing.
Verify Staff Employment
After receiving administrative access to your organization, you can verify your current staff's employment. This can be down in two ways:

  1. Staff can add your organization to their profile under their Employment tab and you can then verify their employment.
  2. You can also invite your staff members via the email address associated with their individual PD Registry account.

Your staff members must have their employment verified for their profile to be considered complete. Your organization reports will also be incomplete without all of your current staff members listed.

Detailed tipsheets with screenshots for both of these options are available on this page of the Pennsylvania Key website. Tipsheets for your staff members are toward the top of the page and tipsheets for directors, administrators, and/or owners are closer to the bottom of the page.
Pull Organization Reports
Once you have administrative access and you've verified your current staff members, you will be able to access a variety of information. You can now also access your staff's Professional Development Plans and their Self-Assessments in one report. On a basic staff report, you can now also view your staff's Career Pathway placement, Career Pathway expiration date, the status of their application, and their STARS 101 and 102 completions.


Below is an example of what the Staff Report looks like.
Online Professional Development
Opportunities
Locating Required Online Professional Development To Meet Keystone STARS Requirements
Find online courses:

  1. Log into your PD Registry account.
  2. Click on Search Training Events from the black left-hand menu.
  3. Click on the Training Content tab on the left-hand menu.
  4. Click on Areas of Interest and the Topics will be displayed.
  5. Click on the topic you are looking for.
  6. Click on Training Type and choose E-Learning.
  7. Click Search at the bottom of the screen.
  8. Find the correct training event and click register.
  9. You will be able to access the only course by clicking the MY Professional Development (PD) tab on your profile.
  10. Scroll down to the title of the course and click the blue graduation cap icon to the left of the title to take you to the online course. 

Find online courses from national organizations:

  1. Log into your PD Registry account.
  2. Click on Search Training Events from the black left-hand menu.
  3. Click on the Training Content tab on the left-hand menu.
  4. Click on Areas of Interest and the Topics will be displayed.
  5. Click on the topic you are looking for.
  6. Click on Training Type and choose Online Self-Paced.
  7. Add additional search terms as needed.

NOTE: These courses may not have a register tab. Click View Website within the event to register for the course on the national organizations website. It is these organizations responsibility to ensure you receive the correct number of PD hours on your Professional Development Learning Record upon completion. Confirm that your Registry ID# is accurate.

For a more detailed tipsheet with screenshots, visit the Pennsylvania Key website.
Register for the Pennsylvania Foundations of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®)
This 2-hour virtual session was developed by the Pennsylvania Key Program Quality Assessment CLASS® Team and includes content used with permission from Teachstone. Participants that attend this session will learn how CLASS® measures quality and how CLASS® is currently being used to support continuous quality improvement work in Pennsylvania. It will be a pre-requisite for age specific sessions, which are also being developed. Sessions have been added to the PD Registry and will be facilitated by a Pennsylvania Key Program Quality Assessor that is a certified CLASS® observer.

Take Better Kid Care's 911: Responding To Medical Emergencies Online Now
Information for PQAS Instructors
A Reminder To Consider Course Ownership Before Creating New Trainings in the PD Reg
As you create courses in the Professional Development (PD) Registry, consider who rightfully owns the course you will be instructing. Is it owned by my organization or under my personal training organization? Then choose the organization tab under your name on the right-side menu.
 
For more Instructor resources, visit the Pennsylvania Key website.
You are receiving this email because you have a registered email address on The PD Registry. If you think you are receiving this email by mistake or you would like to unsubscribe, please email [email protected] or call 1-800-284-6031.

Find more information about Quality Early Learning in Pennsylvania 
The Pennsylvania Key | 200 N. 3rd St. | Harrisburg, PA 17101