Core Competencies for Early
Childhood Educators
Research
shows that high-quality early
childhood education produces
substantial long-term educational,
social, and economic benefits with
the largest benefits for children
occurring when teachers are
professionally prepared and
adequately compensated. Furthermore,
the knowledge and skills required of
an effective early education teacher
has increased as science has
revealed more about the capabilities
of young children, how they learn
best, and the importance of early
learning for later school success
.
Therefore it is essential that a
core component of Rhode Island’s
efforts to build a high quality
early learning system is a highly
qualified workforce with access to a
high quality professional
development system.
At the foundation of this system
is the knowledge base of theory and
research that underlies practice
,
often referred
to as core competencies.
In the United States, over 30 states
have published core competencies as
a foundation of their professional
development systems. Rhode Island’s
early education leaders recognize
that our workforce must have access
to a professional development system
designed to build competencies that
are linked to child outcomes.
The Rhode Island Core
Competencies for Early Childhood
Teachers (DRAFT) are the result of
extensive work of many dedicated
individuals across the field of
early childhood education and care
in this state. They articulate the
essential skills and knowledge that
teachers who work with young
children in Rhode Island need to
know, understand, and be able to do
to promote young children's healthy
development and learning. The
competencies are designed for many
purposes including, but not limited
to: supporting teacher’s individual
professional development efforts,
helping program administrators’
articulate teacher job expectations
and design evaluation processes for
staff and guiding higher education
and professional development
providers on the creation of
curricula for college courses and
teacher training offered in the
community.
Draft Rhode
Island Core Competencies for Early
Childhood Teachers