How Does Professional Development Contribute to School Readiness? What Does It Really Mean?

Washington, DC— Effective early care and education contributes to positive outcomes for children, and professional development for the early childhood workforce helps improve both the quality of care and children’s development.  But what exactly do we mean by “professional development”?  How is it related to school readiness?  Which models and approaches really work?

 

Critical Issues in Early Childhood Professional Development, edited by Martha Zaslow, Ph.D., and Ivelisse Martinez-Beck, Ph.D., will help the early childhood field take crucial steps toward answers. Top experts in early childhood education help readers:

• define professional development
• examine research across a range of settings — Head Start, public preschools, private programs — on professional development and school readiness
• consider both the extent and the content of professional development
• learn from detailed explorations of promising professional development models
• investigate key economic considerations and policy implications, and 
• identify areas for further exploration

Co-editor Martha Zaslow, Vice President for Research at Child Trends, says she “hopes this volume helps to build a foundation of knowledge that the field needs to focus future research studies and make informed decisions about preparation of the early childhood workforce.”

 

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About Child Trends

Child Trends, founded in 1979, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center dedicated to improving the lives of children and their families by conducting research and providing science-based information to the public and decision-makers. For additional information, visit www.childtrends.org.