Alignment and Professional Development

This portion of the survey focused on issues related to the coordination and partnerships in place with regard to professional development. The questions asked in this section include:

A. Is the professional development that you provide coordinated across sectors?

B. If your professional development is coordinated with others, who do you coordinate with?

C. How have early childhood partnerships been strengthened in Oklahoma to assist with professional development (check all that apply)?

D. Give example(s) of cross-sectors that have aligned standards/requirements/articulation successfully.

E. To what degree are the following aligned: (1=not aligned and 5=highly aligned)?¹⁶ F. Other comments related to professional development alignment.

Coordination across sectors: Survey respondents were asked whether they thought the professional development they provide is coordinated across sectors. Of the respondents who answered this question, 64% thought the professional development they provide is coordinated across sectors, 20% did not think there is coordination across sectors and 16%

were unsure. Of those who said yes, there is coordination, 31 people provided more details. Some of the respondents who indicated coordinating with others in the area of professional development reported more than one affiliation. The most often reported affiliation was with institutions of higher education (colleges and community colleges) (10). Many of the respondents indicated having an affiliation with more than one institution of higher education. The specific responses include:

Articulation Agreements

o Non-specified agreements (2) o Tulsa Technology Center o Tulsa Community College (2) o University of Oklahoma (2) o Oklahoma State University (2) o Northeastern State University (2) o Langston University (1)

Community colleges o Non-specified (2)

o Tulsa Community College (1) Colleges

o Non-specified (2)

16 See appendix for complete list of indicators for this question

Full Aggregate Report Page 69 of 208 o University of Central Oklahoma (1)

o Oklahoma State University – Stillwater (1) o Murray State College (1)

The second most often reported affiliation was with Head Start (9), specifically:

Head Start (5) Early Head Start (3) National Head Start (1)

The two next most often reported affiliations were with CECPD (8) and OKDHS (8). 3 of the 7 respondents who indicated DHS reported a specific connection with OKDHS Child Care Licensing. A coordinated effort with scholars was also reported by some of the

respondents (5). Other affiliations reported include:

Resource and Referral (3)

o Great Plains Child Care Resource and Referral (1) Smart Start (2)

Local public schools (2) Nursing education (1) Lactation (1)

Wellness (1)

Community outreach (1) Child Care Services (1) Faculty/ institutions (1) Other state agencies (1)

Child Development Associate National Credential program (1) Connors (1)

STARS (1)

Early Learning Guidelines (1) Success by 6 (1)

State Accreditation Standards (1) State licensing (1)

State Department of Education (1)

Oklahoma Department of Career Tech. (1)

Early childhood partnerships: When asked how early childhood partnerships have been strengthened in Oklahoma to assist with professional development (respondents were asked to check all that apply), 66% of respondents selected articulation agreements as one of the ways childhood partnerships have been strengthened. Local councils/groups made

Full Aggregate Report Page 70 of 208 up of a cross-sector of early childhood entities that meet and communicate regularly (38%) and interagency agreements (36%) were the next most frequently selected. 29% selected formalized cross-sector agreements and 24% selected involvement within Oklahoma’s early childhood advisory council. Only a small portion of respondents indicated that there has been no effort to strengthen early childhood partnerships to help with professional development (6%). 13% of respondents were unsure. Additional comments from respondents include:

“Those who lead early childhood partnership efforts tend to devalue the importance of k-3/public school teachers as part of the profession”

“Maybe other areas but no for sure”

Examples of sector alignment: Respondents were asked to give examples of cross-sectors that have aligned standards, requirements and/or articulation successfully. Of the 23 respondents who answered this question, many indicated more than one example;

therefore there are more responses than the number of respondents. 18 mentioned alignments with institutions of higher education. Specifically, 9 of the respondents referenced articulation agreements. These include:

Non-specific articulation agreements (4) Tulsa Technology Center (1)

Tulsa Community College (3) University of Oklahoma (1) Oklahoma State University (3) Northeastern University (2) Langston University (1)

Eastern Oklahoma State College (1)

24% 29% 36% 38%

66%

Involvement within OK's EC advisory

council

Formalized cross-sector

agreements Inter-agency

agreements Local councils/groups of a cross-sector of EC entities that meet and communicate regularly

Articulation agreements

How Partnerships Have Been Strengthened

Full Aggregate Report Page 71 of 208 Oklahoma City University (1)

University Central Oklahoma (1)

Specific comments regarding alignments with institutions of higher education include:

“Common course offerings”

“DHS/OCCS partnering with Scholars Program and Higher Education keeping college informed of course needs and education information”

“First, at the annual Course Equivalency Project (CEP) the CD and ECED faculty from 2-year and 4-year have tried to meet together. Then the CD group met and aligned the CD classes”

“Murray State College Alliance”

“Murray State College”

“Particular courses which are equivalent in terms of competency and level of scholarship have been included on approved lists to be taken at local, 2 year institutions”

“Students may earn college hours in assessment through OSU/OKC when taking Focused Portfolios”

“TCC & TTC FOR CDA WORK”

“The Early Childhood program at an urban community college with our urban completion program in Early Childhood Education”

“Tulsa Tech (Career Tech) offers CDA, Tulsa Community College offers first 2 years of college, OU Tulsa offers final 2 years, Northeastern offers Master's and OU Tulsa &

OSU Tulsa offer Doctoral programs. All work together for seamless transitions”

“Redlands Community College”

Other non-specific comments regarding general alignments include (within this group 7 mention Head Start):

“Seeking to be a sponsor site for the CECPD, work with local area agencies including Head Start programs”

“Head Start and Child Care have worked together”

“Choctaw Nation Career Development, Head Start

“Professional development opportunities across sectors”

“The creation of Core Comps and ELG’s include HS, NAEYC, Public Pre-K, child care, tribal care, CDA, etc.”

“The Oklahoma QRIS (STARS) has decided to allow completion and good standing with all Federal Monitoring Requirements as Accreditation for Head Start

programs”

“Licensing, STARS program, Oklahoma Rewards, and the Scholars for Excellence in Child Care are/have aligned their requirements to collaborate eligibility”

Full Aggregate Report Page 72 of 208

“Washita Valley Community Action Council, Kiowa Tribe Head Start”

“Work with the following groups: Washita Valley head Start and Early Head Start, Kiowa Tribe Head Start”

Degree of alignment: Respondents were asked to what degree a list of systems related to OK PD are aligned. Rating was on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1=not aligned and 5= highly aligned. Those who answered “not sure” or “n/a” were excluded from data analysis.

Alignment between core competencies for early childhood practitioners and OK's child care licensing was rated, on average, the highest at 4.0 out of 5. Core competencies for early childhood practitioners and OK’s professional development ladder and teacher licensing were also rated as highly aligned (average of 3.9 out of 5). The lowest rated alignment was between data collection, data sharing and data dissemination (2.7 out of 5.)

To what degree are the following aligned: (1=not aligned and 5=highly aligned)

Average Rating a. core competencies for early childhood practitioners with OK's

child care licensing 4.0

b. core competencies for early childhood practitioners with OK's

professional development ladder 3.9

c. core competencies for early childhood practitioners with

teacher licensing 3.9

d. professional standards with competency demonstration 3.8 e. core competencies for early childhood practitioners with OK's

QRIS: Reaching for the Stars standards 3.7

f. core competencies for early childhood practitioners with

Pre-K standards 3.7

g. professional development opportunities across sectors 3.6 h. core competencies for early childhood practitioners with

credential programs 3.4

i. community-based training with credential programs 3.3 j. core competencies for early childhood practitioners with Head

Start standards 3.3

k. community-based training with degree programs 3.2 l. data collection, data sharing and data dissemination 2.7

Full Aggregate Report Page 73 of 208 Other comments related to professional development alignment include:

“Oklahoma core competencies are grounded in NAEYC standards, and as such, are aligned with teacher licensing and credentialing.”

“It appears to me that none of it is truly coordinated OR aligned. Each still works and develops in their own silo which causes confusion for practitioners. if could just follow one HIGH STANDARD of best practice that is already established nationally and is already very well research based, then we wouldn't need so many entities trying to vie for the same $$$ , thus putting those $$ back into the program/teachers to be able to do what is best for our children.”

“It would be nice to have a chart for practitioners and educators to reference for this.”

“Infant's, Toddler's and Two's content information is often over looked with credentialing and licensing preparation programs.”

“Given the requirement and process of national accreditation of teacher education programs, it is most difficult to coordinate any standards or competencies other that licensing competencies, NAEYC standards, or the individual university

competencies.”

Full Aggregate Report Page 74 of 208