Board of Early Education and Care Motion 2000-??

Approval of Funding for Child Development Associate Scholarship Program in Fiscal Year 2009

Line item 3000-6050 of the Commonwealth’s Fiscal Year 2009 Budget provides $4,558,000 in funding to the Department of Early Education and Care (Department) to provide professional development for early education and care providers. The legislature specifically earmarked $250,000 of this funding for a Child Development Associate (CDA) scholarship program.

The CDA National Credentialing Program, which is administered by the Council for Professional Recognition (Council) in Washington, D.C., is designed to provide a performance-based assessment of early education and care providers in center-based care, family child care, and home visitor programs. The CDA credential is awarded to individuals who demonstrate competency in thirteen functional areas that encompass the skills needed to meet the developmental needs of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and manage a well-run early education and care program.

EEC currently provides scholarships to eligible[1] educators to support costs associated with applying for the CDA credential. Scholarships are available directly from EEC for the assessment application fee ($325), the second setting application fee ($225), and the renewal application fee ($50). Educators generally apply for the scholarship once they have completed, or are close to completing, the requirements for the credential. Scholarship recipients receive a voucher from EEC to send to the Council in lieu of payment.

An overarching challenge to professional development is that educators have difficulty navigating the fragmented system that currently exists in Massachusetts. Individual components are often not connected in a consistent manner, creating confusion and “dead ends” that discourage students and waste resources. For example, credits earned at one college might not be accepted by another; some institutions award credits for CDA credentials while others do not. Moreover, non-traditional students are typically not as comfortable with the higher education community as those who are entering college directly from high school. A cohort model supports non-traditional students by providing coursework and support services, such as career and academic counseling, during non-traditional hours, which is essential to their success. This pathway is particularly well-suited to family child care providers who often have more difficulty accessing professional development than their center-based counterparts.

Recommendation

Consistent with the Governor’s Education Action Agenda and EEC’s legislatively mandated workforce development plan, it is a priority of EEC’s to build a continuum of professional development that aligns fragmented components of the current system, and supports students as they navigate the system. Accordingly, EEC recommends expending the $250,000 earmark for the CDA Scholarship to support Massachusetts educators in obtaining their CDA Credential and pursuing on-going professional development through direct scholarships and through developing and/or expanding current CDA cohort models in accordance with the following:

§  CDA Scholarship Program (~$50,000):

EEC recommends continuing to provide CDA Scholarships directly to eligible educators to support CDA credential application fees. EEC will conduct targeted outreach to FY2008 applicants that have not completed the CDA scholarship process, and will improve advertisement of the CDA program by, among other things, disseminating information in languages other than English.

§  CDA Cohort Model Program (~$200,000):

EEC also recommends supporting educators to attain their CDA through a cohort model. EEC would issue a competitive Request for Responses (RFR) for qualifying professional development organizations/academic institutions to establish new or expand existing CDA programs that can provide a cohort model, academic support, and links to further professional development. Eligible programs would include those that:

•  currently award college credit for CDA coursework; or

•  have a relationship with a college that awards credit for CDA attainment; or

•  commit to developing a relationship with a college that will result in credit in the future (planning grant).

MOVED: subject to the continued availability of funding in the Department’s FY2009 budget, that the Board of Early Education and Care hereby approves the Department’s recommendation to expend approximately $50,000 in CDA scholarships to be awarded directly to eligible educators to support CDA credential application fees, and further approves the Department’s recommendation to expend approximately $200,000 to develop and/or expand current CDA cohort model programs through a competitive RFR in accordance with the criteria described above.

[1] To be eligible for the CDA Scholarship applicants must be resident of Massachusetts, working in an EEC licensed or license-exempt program, and have a family income at or below 100% SMI.