The Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC) is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to assist states to develop, implement, and evaluate an integrated and comprehensive system of personnel development (CSPD) for the early childhood workforce so that young children with disabilities and their families receive effective early childhood intervention.
Focusing on the Personnel/Workforce component of the Early Childhood Systems Framework, the ECPC supports states to develop a Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) for state systems serving infants and young children with disabilities and their families.
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A CSPD is a framework used to improve the quantity, quality, and effectiveness of the early childhood intervention workforce who provide services and interventions to facilitate the development and learning of infants and young children with disabilities and their families. The CSPD has a prominent history in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the CSPD is a statutory requirement for early intervention programs for infants and toddlers, known as Part C of IDEA.
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This month we spotlight Minnesota’s CSPD
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The Minnesota team began their journey by attending a Cross-State Leadership Institute in CT. A leadership team consists of representatives from Part C, Part B/ 619, Families, Higher Education, Early Childhood State Staff, and the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) to attend and complete the Personnel/Workforce component of the Early Childhood Framework. The team explored the opportunity to develop a CSPD, using the Readiness Tool. Determining that Minnesota was indeed ready to begin the CSPD Strategic Planning Process they completed a memorandum of agreement with the ECPC to enter into formal intensive technical assistance.
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Minnesota Vision Statement:
Each and every child gets the great start needed to succeed from their families, communities, and early learning experiences.
Minnesota Mission Statement:
Because each and every child, prenatal to 5, and their families deserve high-quality early care and education, Minnesota will integrate and align existing systems of personnel development in order to empower practitioners to implement and sustain the use of evidence-based practices.
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The Minnesota CSPD workgroup members, comprised of key partners from cross-sector early childhood stakeholders interested in improving outcomes for children and families, include the following:
- Minnesota Department of Education Staff including Part C and Part B 619 coordinators
- Higher education faculty preparing personnel to serve young children and their families
- Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB)
- Family members from across the state
- PACER Center staff, the parent training and information center
- Minnesota Centers for Excellence professional development trainers
- Child Trends staff member
- Child Care Aware staff
- Institute on Community Integration, Minnesota’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)
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The importance of involving families
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Minnesota’s CSPD prioritized recruiting family members to each workgroup. Listen to Sue Thomas, Minnesota’s Part B/619 Coordinator, as she shares the importance of involving families within the CSPD process for early childhood.
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A formalized system for onboarding families, including a presentation and time for questions, was developed to be part of the Minnesota CSPD process to support families interested in joining a CSPD workgroup. This onboarding process allows families to make informed decisions about their role within the Minnesota CSPD.
Two of the Minnesota CSPD workgroups are led by family members, and through the Department of Education, Minnesota has developed a policy for reimbursing family members for their time attending meetings and engaging in the work of the CSPD. Additionally, Minnesota created a family member position on the DOE team specific to the work of the CSPD, highlighting their commitment to involving families in the state CSPD.
This is an example of what states can do to support family involvement in the CSPD process!
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Minnesota: CSPD Subcomponent Workgroups |
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Using the ECPC CSPD Self-Assessment, workgroups first identified the changes or outcomes, they wanted to see, specific to their CSPD subcomponent (preservice, in-service, recruitment and retention, personnel standards, evaluation, leadership, coordination, and sustainability). Together, members of each group worked to develop an action plan with specific goals and objectives to accomplish the identified outcomes. Each goal included measurable action steps, which were accomplished during the monthly workgroup meetings.
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Implementation Phases to CSPD |
Currently, Minnesota’s CSPD is in phase three and planning for phase four of the phases to develop a sustainable CSPD. Below are examples of Minnesota’s workgroup action plan goals and activities.
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The Preservice Training subcomponent Quality Indicator 6 states that institutes of higher education (IHE) programs and curricula address early childhood development and discipline-specific pedagogy.
Results of this survey suggested that program directors/directors of field placements in higher education programs are unfamiliar with the ECPC Cross-Disciplinary Competencies and how to include the competencies in curriculum planning. Survey results also indicated an inconsistent understanding and application of the DEC Recommended Practices.
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In partnership with the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB), the Personnel Standards workgroup is focused on Quality Indicator 3 which states that state personnel standards across disciplines are aligned to national professional organization personnel standards.
Using the ECPC crosswalk of standards, the workgroup and stakeholders conducted a systematic review and comparison between the current Minnesota state standards and the Division for Early Childhood’s Initial Practice-based Professional Preparation Standards for Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (2020), referred to as the EI/ECSE standards. The workgroup and stakeholders reached consensus to take steps to fully adopt the EI/ECSE standards as the Minnesota state standards for licensure. The group continues this work and will present their justification documents to the state legislature, followed by a public comment period, in the fall of 2021.
Minnesota demonstrates the power to the profession and the importance of the new EI/ECSE standards by adopting the EI/ECSE standards as their state standards!
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The recruitment and retention workgroup developed a survey to address Quality Indicator 9 which states that comprehensive recruitment and retention strategies are based on multiple data sources.
The purpose of the survey was to learn more about the practices used to recruit and retain Minnesota’s early childhood workforce. The survey was distributed to early childhood professionals who may have worked in early childhood special education roles, either currently or in the past. The survey was open from January through May 2021: 467 individuals responded to the survey.
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The map represents the home zip codes of the respondents, which depicts the statewide representation. |
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Respondents identified a variety of reasons behind their decision to leave the early childhood profession:
- Low compensation
- Lack of growth opportunities
- Retirement
- Lack of respect for the profession from others
- Lack of paid time off
- Health insurance or other benefits
- Financial debt
- Lack of professional supports in the job
- Family and my own children
- Went back to school
- Accepted a different position in education, outside of early childhood
- Never my career path
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With the help of a workgroup member from ChildTrends, the workgroup continues to analyze survey data as well as focus group data. Focus groups were held with groups that were not represented in the respondents to the survey. As next steps, the workgroup intends to highlight possible solutions to the barriers identified through the use of the survey to share with Minnesota’s early childhood systems.
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With a focus on Quality Indicator 7 and the Minnesota statewide system for in-service personnel development, the workgroup has developed resources and materials to support the use of the EI/ECSE standards within their existing Minnesota Centers for Excellence State Innovations professional development training.
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What is your state doing to develop and sustain a CSPD? Are you ready to work on your CSPD? If so, there are resources to get you started.
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