Project Description:
The proposed Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Equity Center will improve outcomes for young children with disabilities by increasing the number of early childhood personnel and faculty from racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and enhancing equity content within early childhood preparation programs. We will also ensure that early childhood personnel have the necessary knowledge, skills, competencies, and dispositions to deliver equitable evidence-based interventions and services to young children with disabilities and their families. We will do this through five core objectives:
Increase the capacity of institutions of higher education (IHEs) with early childhood preparation programs to develop, implement, and sustain a program of study centered within an equity framework that is aligned with national professional organization personnel standards, State personnel standards, and evidence-based practices (EBPs);
Increase the capacity of States to revise and implement State personnel standards so that they are aligned to national professional organization personnel standards and define the knowledge, skills, competencies, and dispositions that early childhood personnel need to deliver equitable interventions and services for young children with disabilities and their families;
Increase the capacity of IHEs at the associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels to attract, prepare, and graduate scholars from racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse backgrounds that will lead to an early childhood workforce that is more diverse;
Increase the capacity of States, local educational agencies (LEAs), and early intervention service providers to address personnel shortages by partnering with IHEs to develop an infrastructure and implement programs and incentives that attract, prepare, and graduate scholars from racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse backgrounds at the associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels and support them to enter and stay in the early childhood profession; and
Increase the capacity of IHEs to recruit and retain faculty from racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse backgrounds to improve scholar engagement and retention in early childhood preparation programs.
Area of Emphasis
Education & Early Intervention, Child Care-Related Activities, Employment-Related Activities, Other - Cultural Diversity, Other - Leadership
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas
