NC Infant Toddler Enhancement Project

Lanier DeGrella, Ph.D.Project ManagerChild Care Services Association

NCSL Legislative Summit, 2008

Why does NC need I/T Specialists?

Increasing numbers of infants and toddlers in child careLowest quality of care in infant/toddler classroomsLowest professional preparation among infant/toddler teachers

Project History

2004 – NC Division of Child Development sought strategy from NC Child Care Resource and Referral Council NC Infant Toddler Enhancement Project created to mirror best practice in other statesGoal: Increase the availability of high quality infant toddler child care settings by

ensuring statewide access for infant toddler teachers to relevant information and resourcesspecialized training and technical assistance

Who are the Infant Toddler Specialists?

Early childhood professionals withBachelor degrees or higher and experience in infant toddler programsSpecialized training and certification including

Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC)Consultation in Child CareI/T Safe Sleep/SIDS ReductionITERS-R and FCCERS

What do they do?

Provide infant/toddler trainings on key topics, including ITS-SIDSSupport development of and access to the Infant Toddler Care Certificate (16 credit hours)Support individual professional development planningLink I/T teachers to resources

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Infant Toddler Scholarships

T.E.A.C.H.® I/T Scholarships

20712344

2817

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008

I/T Total

The specialist’s role continued

Provide on-site technical assistance to support implementation of best practices learned in training/courseworkProvide access to current I/T information

Lend resource materialsPublish I/T topical articles in provider newsletters

Collaborate across systems to strengthen services to I/T teachers

Technical Assistance2004-2007

TA Consultations with Infant/Toddler Caregivers

188

279

162

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

04-05 05-06 06-07

Avg.TAs per ITSpecialist

Quality Rating Improvement Program

Intensive TA provided to eligible infant/toddler classrooms Requires signed agreement and a minimum 3-month commitment Pre and post Environment Rating Scales (ERS) assessments used to measure outcomes

2006-2007 Quality Rating Improvement Program

Goal800 infant-toddler spaces will improve their ITERS-R score as a result of technical assistance

Actual Outcome1,004 infant toddler spaces in 102 classrooms showed measurable improvement

Average pre-assessment score was 2.53Average gain was 1.33

2006-2007Quality Rating Improvement Program

% Classrooms Scoring 5-7 Points on ITERS-R Subscales

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Personal Care Routines

Space and Furnishings

Program Structure

Interactions

Activities

Listening and Talking

PostPre

Comments of TA recipients

“The infant toddler specialist helped me figure out the classes I needed to be a good infant/toddler teacher.”

“The infant toddler specialist gave a written and clear plan of what to work on for improvements.”

“The infant toddler specialist explained the scales (ITERS-R) in a way my teachers could understand. She made us feel valued and professional.”

New roles

Support roll-out of NC’s new early learning guidelines

Development of introductory training Development and implementation of trainer training

Participate in NC’s new initiative with the Center for Social Emotional Foundations of Early Learning (CSEFEL)

Other systems of support in NC

NC Star Rated License (QRS)Emphasis on staff education and program quality

NC Partnership for Children/Smart StartChild Care W.A.G.E.$® and other compensation initiativesT.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Health Insurance ProgramHealthy Social Behaviors Statewide ProjectChild Care Health Consultants

Questions?

Visit www.childcareservices.org to read the 2006 Executive Summary of the Who’s Caring For Our Babies? Study(2008 update available soon)Contact information

Lanierd@childcareservices.org919-967-3272 ext. 1910