The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) will host a Pre-Proposal webinar on Tuesday, July 23 from 9:30-11:00 to review the Application for Strengthening and Aligning Higher Education Systems for Early Care and Education Professionals – Strategic Approaches to Using Higher Education to Build High Quality Practices in Child Care Settings Guidelines. This Request for Applications is due by August 12, 2019 by 5:00 p.m.
These guidelines provide direction to developing and/or strengthening systems that result in advancing curriculum focused on child development and instructional practices for young children. The skills, knowledge, competencies, and needs of the ECE workforce must drive the curriculum and structure of programs that increase the attainment of industry-recognized credentials or competency-based equivalents:
- A credit-bearing Child Development Associate (CDA) certificate;
- An associate degree;
- A bachelor’s degree; and/or
- A Pennsylvania ECE PreK-4 instructional certificate.
Applications submitted in response to these guidelines are limited to Higher Education Institutions working to build and sustain high-quality, cross-systems relationships among and between high schools, two-year and four-year IHEs that serve Pennsylvania’s ECE programs.
Please join the webinar on July 23, 2019 at 9:30. Pre-registration is not required. The webinar will be recorded and posted on the Preschool Development Grant (PDG) page of the PDE website. Questions from the webinar will be answered in a FAQ and will be posted on the website.
Please contact Sue Polojac at spolojac@pa.gov with questions as it pertains to the webinar or request for applications. The guidelines can be found at the PA Department of Education’s website.