Introduction
State and territory child care and early education (CCEE) leaders typically support a range of professional development (PD) opportunities for the CCEE workforce. This highlight describes the Professional Development Matrix for Quality Improvement created by Douglass, Tout, and Doyle. The matrix provides a framework for organizing and describing PD that can support CCEE leaders’ decisions about what PD to fund and how to support evaluation of PD efforts. The highlight also provides examples and summarizes research evidence for each type of PD in the matrix.
Purpose
State and territory CCEE leaders invest in a portfolio of PD strategies to improve the quality of CCEE for young children and their families. A matrix (Figure 1) originally described in Considerations for Incorporating the Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) as a Quality Improvement Methodology in Early Childhood Systems can help CCEE leaders describe, organize, and evaluate state/territory PD efforts:
- The matrix provides a framework and terminology to help CCEE leaders describe the many types of PD that their state/territory funds.
- CCEE leaders can use the matrix to organize the various PD strategies, which can help them better understand the collection of strategies they fund.
- The matrix can support CCEE leaders to evaluate their PD strategies, collecting data about how strategies are improving knowledge or practice for particular types of providers or organizations.
Key Findings and Highlights
- State/territory child care and early education (CCEE) leaders offer a range of professional development (PD) strategies that help providers reach their goals. Considering the “who” (who is receiving the PD?) and “why” (what is the purpose of the PD?) can help ensure that the collection of PD meets the varying needs of the CCEE workforce.
- Different types of professional development strategies support various goals, and some strategies are more effective at changing practice than others.
Recommendations
Once state/territory CCEE leaders have categorized their portfolio of PD strategies into the four quadrants, it may be helpful to consider questions, such as the examples listed below, to inform decisions about future PD efforts and investments:
- How many of the strategies fall under the training category, either at the individual (Q1) or organizational (Q4) level?
- How many of the strategies fall under the coaching category, either at the individual (Q2) or organizational/system (Q3) level?
- What proportion of federal and state/territory CCEE funds does the state/territory invest in each type of PD strategy? Does the proportion of funding reflect the state/territory priorities?
- Which type of PD aligns best with the state/territory CCEE goals? If one of the goals is to improve practices with children, for example, then is the investment in coaching strategies (Q2 or Q3) great enough to reach the goal?
- Is there evidence to suggest that the collection of PD efforts is effective in meeting the state/territory goals? If not, what data would help CCEE leaders better understand how the PD investments support change in knowledge and practices among the CCEE workforce?
- What are the facilitators and barriers to PD in the state/territory? Which workforce members have access to PD and are there disparities between groups (for example, by race and ethnicity, by program type, by age group served, by community characteristics)? What actions could support equitable access to PD?
CCEE leaders may find it helpful to review resources about theories of change to help generate other questions to consider when examining the effectiveness of their portfolio of PD investments.
Citation
Douglass, A., Maxwell, K., & Tout, K. (2023). A Framework for reviewing professional development strategies in child care and early education. OPRE Report #2023-238. Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.