Spotlight On: Professional Development Systems

Providing the early care and education workforce with high-quality training is a critical step in preparing the workforce to meet the needs of the children and families they serve. The Forum is offering several administrative tools for use by local and state organizations to administer a Professional Development System in an organized, seamless fashion, including:

Professional Development Registry
Training Calendar
Online Event System
Continuing Education Unit

The Professional Development Registry collects, tracks, acknowledges, and manages workforce data for the early care and education field. In addition, the Registry can produce records that validate credentials earned, create a transcript or formal record of all training completed by an individual along with information on employment history, and assist both teachers and support staff in working together effectively to create Career Development Plans. Legislators and community leaders can use the Registry to view county turnover, retention rates and trends in training participation to make informed decisions regarding child care policies and investments.

The Online Training Calendar enables organizations to house a database of training and education opportunities on their website which helps inform child care practitioners about the options that are available to them. In addition, the Training Calendar can categorize trainings by geographic region, content, language, training organization or trainer and helps organizations identify deficits in order to develop new trainings.

The Online Event System (OES) works in concert with the Training Calendar and acts as a behind-the-scenes module to allow trainers to manage, track and report the registration and attendance of their events. Attendees register themselves online, involving event staff only in special circumstances. The OES offers customized features such as templates, pricing, maximum attendance, limited registration, discussion topics, hotel or location information, and other options offered on a per-event basis. It can be accessed anytime, anywhere by both staff and attendees.

Many programs require early childhood practitioners to obtain ongoing training or continuing education to remain qualified for a position, maintain a credential or certification, or remain in compliance with regulatory standards. The Forum provides Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for qualified trainings in order to fulfill these obligations and has been approved as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). The application, approval, and management of the CEUs is completed online through the Forum's Online Event System and Registry.

For more information about Professional Development Systems, please call 888-FL-CHILD or send an e-mail to Registry@thechildrensforum.com.

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Spotlight On: Professional Development Systems