The Early Childhood Personnel Center

The purpose of this module is to introduce the Initial Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (EI/ECSE) Standard 2. The learning resources provided are designed to be used in both pre-service and in-service to facilitate the integration of the knowledge and skills addressed by this standard. 

Standard 2: Candidates use their knowledge of family-centered practices and family systems theory to develop and maintain reciprocal partnerships with families. They apply family capacity-building practices as they support families to make informed decisions and advocate for their young children. They engage families in opportunities that build on their existing strengths, reflect current goals, and foster family competence and confidence to support their children’s development and learning.

Components:  

2.1 Candidates apply their knowledge of family-centered practices, family systems theory, and the changing needs and priorities in families’ lives to develop trusting, respectful, affirming, and culturally responsive partnerships with all families that allow for the mutual exchange of knowledge and information.

2.2 Candidates communicate clear, comprehensive, and objective information about resources and supports that help families to make informed decisions and advocate for access, participation, and equity in natural and inclusive environments.

2.3 Candidates engage families in identifying their strengths, priorities, and concerns; support families to achieve the goals they have for their family and their young child’s development and learning; and promote families’ competence and confidence during assessment, individualized planning, intervention, instruction, and transition processes.

Note:  The Initial Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (EI/ECSE) standards and components use the term candidate to refer to preservice students in higher education programs. For the purpose of these modules, the term will be maintained in the EI/ECSE standard and component statements.  The term learner will be used in the support materials and resources.

Purpose

The purpose of this module is to: (a) identify what learners should know and be able to do specific to Standard 2: Partnering with Families, (b) provide higher education faculty and PD providers with a variety of learning resources for this standard, and (c) identify the relationship of these resources to adult learning practices.  It is designed to be used flexibly for preservice and ongoing professional development.

Objectives

After engaging with these resources, IHE faculty and PD providers will be able to:

• Identify learner outcomes specific to partnering with families.
• Identify resources to integrate into the higher education curriculum and/or content for PD.
• Identify the relationship of the resources to evidence-based practices for adult learners.