Personnel standards address the need to establish and maintain standards that define the knowledge, skills, and competencies of the early childhood intervention workforce. State standards are credentials, certifications, or licenses awarded to professionals after they complete a course of study that prepares them to provide intervention services as one of the disciplines recognized under IDEA. State standards should meet or exceed personnel standards that have been developed by national organizations that represent the various professional disciplines that provide services to young children and their families. State standards ensure the quality of the state’s early childhood workforce.
For more information: CSPD State Personnel Standards
- Establish and maintain high standards of knowledge, skill, and competencies of the early childhood workforce.
- Ensure that the state personnel standards are based on the core knowledge and skills needed for working with young children and their families in cross-sector early childhood systems.
- Provide guidance to administrators and staff on how to use state personnel standards.
- Ensure that the state personnel standards are accessible to program administrators and staff.
Link to State CSPD Page
CSPD State Work on Personnel Standards
National Database of State Personnel Standards
Information about personnel standards for professional disciplines serving children with disabilities from birth to five years and their families by state.
Resources
The Initial Practice-Based Standards for Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (EI/ECSE) standards represent the first Standards to focus specifically on the preparation of early interventionists and early childhood special educators who work with young children ages birth through eight who have or are at-risk for developmental delays and disabilities and their families, across home, classroom and community settings.
Cross-Disciplinary Competencies
Representatives from each of the seven professional organizations reviewed the competency areas and sub-areas and presented these core competency areas for approval to each of their respective organizations. American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Division of Early Childhood (DEC), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); and ZERO TO THREE.
Crosswalks of the EI/ECSE Standards
Crosswalk of the Initial Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards EI/ECSE with DEC RPs
Crosswalk of the Initial Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (2020) with the DEC Recommended Practices (2014)
Crosswalk EI/ECSE and ECE Standards
Crosswalk of the Initial Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (2020) with the Early Childhood Educators Standards (NAEYC)
Crosswalk Tools
The intended use of the ECPC Curriculum Planning Tool is to provide higher education faculty with a tool to develop initial Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) programs and blended Early Childhood Education (ECE) and ECSE programs aligned with personnel preparation standards and recommended practices and to ensure that the standards and recommended practices are embedded within and throughout the curriculum. The development of the ECPC curriculum planning tool was driven by the EI/ECSE Practice-based Professional Preparation Standards aligned with the DEC Recommended Practices (RPs) (2014). You will find each EI/ECSE Standard as a separate tab on the tool. This is a downloadable excel file and should be personalized to meet the needs of your EI/ECSE or blended ECE/ECSE program. The tabs represent Standards in early childhood special education and are not intended to represent single courses within an EI/ECSE program.
ECPC Curriculum Planning Tool including IMH ZTT
Enhanced Curriculum Planning Tool version that includes alignment of the EI/ECSE Standards, ECE Competencies, DEC Recommended Practices, ECPC Cross-Disciplinary Competencies/Indicators, Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Competencies (IECMHC), Zero To Three Competencies.
Adult Learning Planning Tool
ECPC Adult Learning Planning Tool
The ECPC Adult Learning Planning Tool is for use by higher education faculty and professional development providers when planning and implementing a topic/content/practice. These seven evidence-based adult learning practices are derived from a meta-synthesis of 15 research reviews of professional development which included 550 studies and 50,000 teachers and practitioners (Dunst, Bruder, & Hamby, 2015).
Literature Review and Data Reports
The ECPC collaborated with the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) to create an Early Childhood Systems Framework for Part C and section B(619) Coordinators to evaluate their current systems, identify potential areas of improvement, and develop more effective and efficient systems that support the implementation of evidence-based practices in each of the six main areas. The ECPC's work resides in the Personnel/Workforce (PN) component of this framework, which addresses the necessity of understanding workforce capacity in order to provide timely and consistent services by prepared personnel in early childhood. ECPC-CSPD Self-Assessment
Quality Indicators
Quality Indicator 3: State personnel standards across disciplines are aligned to national professional organization personnel standards.
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- State personnel standards are based on the core knowledge and skills needed for working with young children and their families in cross-sector early childhood systems.
- State personnel standards are specified, accessible, and used by program administrators and staff.
- State certification or licensing boards have a mechanism for assessing the degree to which state personnel standards are demonstrated by graduates of pre-service programs across disciplines.
- State personnel standards are reviewed annually and updated, when appropriate, to reflect state personnel needs, changes in legal requirements, changes in professional organizations personnel standards, evaluation data, and updated knowledge on evidence-based practices.
Quality Indicator 4: The criteria for state certification, licensure, credentialing and/or endorsement are aligned to state personnel standards and national professional organization personnel standards across disciplines.
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- A system for articulating and attaining a certification, licensure, credentialing and/or endorsement exists across disciplines.
- The criteria and requirements for attaining certification, licensure, credentialing and/or endorsement are specified and accessible for personnel across disciplines.
- The criteria and requirements for a system of certification, licensure, credential and/or endorsement are competency or skill based.
- Mechanisms such as inter-state agreements and policies are defined and exist for cross state reciprocity of certification, licensure, credential and/or endorsement.
- The system criteria and requirements are reviewed and updated, as appropriate to reflect state personnel needs, changes in legal requirements, changes in professional organizations personnel standards, evaluation data, and updated knowledge on evidence-based practices.