Project Description:
The GUCEDD in partnership with the University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDC/CC), a Minority Serving Community College, will jointly develop a set of curriculum enhancement modules and integrate them into the existing Associate of Arts in Education, Infant and Toddler Option at UDC/CC. The modules will focus on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to include infants and toddlers with disabilities or delays into existing early care and learning programs. With input from community stakeholders and UDC/CC faculty and students, the partnership program will build the capacity of the early childhood workforce to include young children with disabilities into childcare, Early Head Start, and public and private infant/toddler programs. The goal is to develop a collaborative, comprehensive, viable, and financially feasible program that includes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to promote inclusion and participation in all early childhood programs. The objectives: 1) create six interactive modules that will increase knowledge and skill regarding early childhood inclusion; 2) integrate the modules into the existing UDC/CC infant/toddler teacher training curriculum; 3) evaluate the modules for usability, reliability, feasibility, interactivity, etc.; and 4) engage DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to ensure the curriculum meets enhanced credentialing requirements for the Early Learning Division. Anticipated outcomes: 1) comprehensive program of study ensuring that the DC early childhood workforce will demonstrate the knowledge and skills to successfully include children with disabilities into their programs; 2) a sustainability plan to support the on-going maintenance and updating of the modules. The expected product is a set of curriculum enhancement modules and supplementary materials.
