The California CTC Discusses the Development of the PK-3 Early Childhood Education Specialist Credential
On April 8th, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) convened to inform and provide feedback on the work relating to early childhood education. At this meeting, Item 3H: Update on the Development of the PK-3 Early Childhood Education Specialist Credential: Proposed Authorization Statement, Draft Teaching Performance Expectations, Proposed Credential Requirements, and Draft Program Standards for PK-3 Early Childhood Education Specialist Credential Preparation Programs was presented by Phyllis Jacobson, CTC administrator, Deborah Stipek, Professor at Stanford University, Sarah Neville-Morgan from the Department of Education, and Cassandra Henderson, Consultant for the Professional Services Division of the CTC.
Phyllis Jacobson presented a summary of the feedback received by the field in both the survey and focus groups organized by the CTC around the PK-3 ECE Specialist Credential and draft Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs), which can be found starting on page 5. She also provided information on the overall draft authorization statement, draft TPEs, and details on the multiple candidate pathways. Following her, Deborah Stipek elaborated more on the process of the Early Childhood Credentialing workgroup and how they came to develop the TPEs. Then, Sarah Neville-Morgan provided context on the state’s investments and research in the Early Childhood Education space and Universal Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten expansion. Finally, Cassandra Henderson provided an overview of the content and a walkthrough of the early childhood pilot performance assessment.
Early Edge Public Comment
Early Edge, as a member of the work group, delivered remarks that applauded the Commission for providing opportunities for the field to give feedback on the proposed PK-3 ECE Specialist Credential. We emphasized the importance of the Commission ensuring that the feedback from the field is incorporated as they continue to develop the credential.
We urged the Commission to ensure that the credential focus on developmentally appropriate practice and play-based learning, especially for Multilingual Learners. We also urged the Commission to include a bilingual authorization component to the credential to help build our bilingual teacher pipeline. Finally, we advised the Commission to meet the urgency for the inclusion of pathways that allow existing ECE workforce to move into Transitional Kindergarten classrooms as fully qualified teachers if they elect to do so.
The public raised concerns regarding the fast pace of the development of the credential and ensuring teachers who earn the credential have extensive knowledge in Early Childhood Education practices.
As the CTC works to develop the PK-3 ECE Specialist Credential, they have drafted a new set of Preparation Program Standards, which describe program quality and effectiveness expectations and are used for accreditation.
A survey for public input regarding the draft PK-3 ECE Specialist Credential Program Standards is now available here. The deadline for responding to the survey is Tuesday, April 26, 2022.
ECE practitioners, Multiple Subject Credential Holders, teachers grades PK through third grade, school administrators with PK-3 grades at their site, ECE and Multiple Subject Teacher Educators from two- and four-year institutions of higher education, as well as others from communities of interest in the field, are encouraged to respond.
Please respond to the survey and share the opportunity with your colleagues and networks. For questions, please email [email protected].
Please see this table that indicates the next steps and associated timeline to establish the credential.
The next CTC meeting will be held on June 16th and 17th. Learn more about the CTC.