Learning and Growing Together has many examples of successful and innovative programs in which participants have, with investments of substantial time and energy, navigated the pathways to partnership to achieve shared professional development goals. In the pages that follow, we take a brief look at six such partnerships.

West Virginia Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist
The purpose of the Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist (ACDS) program in West Virginia is to promote highly skilled, confident, early childhood employees; quality early childhood classrooms; and informed, supportive, early childhood professionals. With an apprenticeship focus, the program requires 4,000 hours of on-the-job training under supervision and four semesters of related course work and assignments. Staff from Head Start, child care, and public school programs all participate in the program.

Primary partners in this effort include the West Virginia State Office of the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training; the U.S. Department of Labor; the Bureau of Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education; the West Virginia Department of Education; the Head Start Bureau; and local vocational schools and higher education institutions. Funding for the program comes from several public and private sources, including the Department of Health and Human Resources, Head Start agencies, and apprenticeship fees. Fees are per apprentice, per semester and may be paid by the apprentice, the employer, or shared by both.

A few major successes of the program include–

• Those who complete the program meet the requirements of the nationally recognized Child Development Specialist Credential from the U.S. Department of Labor and have done the preparatory work to be able to submit their portfolios for the CDA credential. (For more information on the U.S. Department of Labor's Apprenticeship Program, contact your regional Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, or call the BAT at the U.S. Department of Labor at 202-219-5921.)
  
• The Head Start Bureau recognizes that individuals who complete the ACDS requirements and receive the state-awarded certificate for preschool teachers meet the qualifications for Head Start classroom teachers with a credential equal to the CDA.
  
• Articulation agreements now exist between the ACDS program and a number of community and technical colleges. These agreements allow students who continue their educations to apply credits already earned from ACDS toward the total number required for an associate's degree.
  
• Employers increase apprentices' wages after they complete the ACDS program.

Along the pathways to collaboration, partners in this effort have learned the importance of having one person in the county who coordinates the work necessary for program implementation and follow-through. Partners have also grown to understand the importance of establishing strong local councils to ensure continuity of the program within the county. They have experienced the reality of collaborative partners who share the work, the responsibility, and the rewards of a successful effort.

For more information on the West Virginia Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist program, contact Suzi Brodof at T: 304-529-7603, F: 304-523-2678, E-mail: suziLB@aol.com.

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Texas Head Start-State Collaboration Office
The mission of the Texas Head Start-State Collaboration Office (THSSCO) Career Development System is to promote excellence in early childhood programs for all children and their families through the development of a comprehensive, coordinated, statewide career development system for all occupational roles and levels in the early care and education system. Over the past 10 years, the THSSCO has played a leadership role in forging partnerships between Head Start and State programs on behalf of economically disadvantaged children and families.

The THSSCO conducts its work through a task force comprised of over 130 diverse representatives from around the State who provide input and guidance into the processes of the project. The group includes parents, legislators, State agency staff, teachers, Texas Head Start Association board members, Head Start staff, higher education representatives and faculty, community college instructors, private consultants, and others who work with young children.

Major Accomplishments
The THSSCO's task force and staff have worked steadily to achieve the goals of the project and can report several key accomplishments, including—• In 1993, a subgroup of the task force developed a three-pronged framework for the career development system. The framework incorporates professional standards for roles and training, coordinated and articulated training, and a personnel registry and credentialing system.

• In 1995-96, the THSSCO Task Force developed legislative recommendations that resulted in the State legislature passing House Bill 1863. This bill created an interagency work group on early care and education programs to study the need for, design of, and potential funding for a statewide training and certification system for providers.
  
• The THSSCO works with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), which provided approximately $880,000 through annual Interagency Agreements to THSSCO over the first ten years to enhance statewide training and technical assistance partnership initiatives for Head Start, child care, and public school pre-kindergarten. A portion of this financial support has been used for the implementation of the early care and education career development system for Texas.
  
• The Career Development Initiative has worked with the Higher Education Community to establish links among CDA, one-year technical certificates, associate's degrees, and bachelor's degrees. In 1998 and 1999, their efforts resulted in the articulation of coursework from CDA to local community college one-year certificates and associate's degrees. Students entering community college with a CDA now receive six semester credit hours for their CDA. All of the courses that a student takes to receive a local one-year technical certificate count toward the completion of semester credit hours for an associate's degree. The Higher Education Coordinating Board approved Child Development as a "field of study," so that twelve to fifteen semester credits from an associate’s degree articulates to a bachelor's degree program. The twelve credits have the prefix of "TECA," which stands for Texas Early Childhood Articulation.
  
• On January 8, 2000, the State Board for Professional Educator Certification (SBEC) approved a new teacher certification for children three-years-old to fourth grade. This effort marks the completion of two years of work with the SBEC Advisory Committee to convince them of the need for a certificate for teachers working with young children.
  
• A Higher Education Symposium conducted at the Career Development Initiatives National Training for Early Childhood Conference successfully highlighted existing partnerships and techniques used by community colleges and local Head Start programs to support Head Start staff seeking to complete an associate’s degree program.
  
• Professional Development 2000: A Report of the Focus Group Meetings with Head Start Programs on the New Teacher Qualifications. Provides information collected through a series of focus group meetings conducted in 1999. These focus groups addressed how the Head Start programs in the State of Texas could come into compliance with the new staff qualification requirements in the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start. In the spring of 1999, the Texas Head Start-State Collaboration Office conducted seven focus groups with the help of the Region VI Administration for Children and Families, the Region VI-B Head Start Quality Improvement Center, the Disabilities Quality Improvement Center, the Texas Head Training Cluster Offices, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Local Head Start Grantees hosted and co-sponsored the events in their communities.

For more information on the Texas Head Start-State Collaboration Project, contact Gwen Chance at the Office of the Governor in Austin, TX at T: 512-936-4059; F: 512-463-7392; E: gchance@governor.state.tx.us.

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Macon Program for Progress New Horizons Training Center
Macon Program for Progress (MPP) Head Start provides quality comprehensive services to children from birth to age five and their families. In 1994, MPP Head Start established the MPP New Horizons Training Center to enhance the skills of early care and education providers. The training component has grown into a statewide, regional, and national initiative that uses model classrooms as experimental learning labs.

A central focus of the program is working collaboratively with other agencies and service providers to maximize and streamline services for children and families. A few of the program's collaborators include higher education institutions, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Child Development, the Department of Public Instruction, and the North Carolina Information Highway.

With primary funding from State (North Carolina Partnership for Children Smart Start) and Federal (Region IV ACF Head Start) sources, MPP Head Start has gone on to establish a broad base of funding sources. The program participated in a partnership to obtain start-up funds for the training center, and wrote a grant that enabled it to be the only child care center designated as a training site on the North Carolina Information Highway.

Accomplishments of the MPP New Horizons Training Center include–

• Delivering a variety of interactive video trainings and initiating collaborative roundtables for both Smart Start and Head Start programs statewide. Strong, active support networks have emerged from these trainings that have created new "communities" via technology among programs across North Carolina. In 1996, the Center was designated a Model Technology Center by the National Head Start Association.
  
• Offering a birth to age three infant/toddler mentoring model of training in which providers–including family child care and center-based providers–spend a day at the center shadowing mentor teachers. Its training calendar is disseminated to over 500 early childhood providers in the area.
  
• Teaching community college and university courses for providers, parents, and child care administrators on-site at the Center. An example of one of these courses is the North Carolina Child Care Credential.

The Center has found that using computers, live interactive video training, the Internet, and other advanced electronic communication tools helps to remove geographic barriers to training and creates a broader, more inclusive community with full and efficient access to services.

For more information on the Macon Program for Progress New Horizons Training Center, contact Susie McCoy at T: 828-524-4471; F: 828-524-0823.

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Washington County Partners in Change
In 1993, the New York State Career Development Initiative was organized to address concerns about training, access to higher education, and compensation for providers of early care and education. In 1994, the initiative was chosen to participate in the national Partners in Change (PIC) initiative.

Washington County Partners in Change was funded as one of three New York State PIC pilot training projects. Collaborators included Washington County Head Start, Adirondack Community College, Southern Adirondack Child Care Network, and an advisory group including providers, government officials, public school administrators, and higher education representatives.

The goals were to collaborate to extend CDA training to non-Head Start staff and establish a clearly articulated path to higher education degrees for practitioners in the community. The partnership's accomplishments include the following–

• Adirondack Community College now offers a one-year, 32-credit certificate program in Early Childhood Studies. All coursework is fully transferable into a two-year associate's degree program. The new certificate program was developed in a direct collaboration with the Partners in Change initiative. The College intends to develop a two-year associate's degree program specific to Early Childhood Studies in the next few years.
  
• Anyone who has completed a CDA credential can now receive 10 credits towards the Early Childhood Studies certificate at Adirondack Community College. This makes the CDA credential a viable local career development path to higher education.
  
• The Southern Adirondack Child Care Network, the local resource and referral agency, now offers 60 hours of CDA training each year. The agency also now offers continuing education units for all training offered under their auspices.
  

Prior to the Washington County Partners in Change initiative, there was no local access to study early childhood education within a 50-mile radius. Now there are several new and permanent rungs on the ladder of career development in this field.

Participants in this partnership found an understanding of the higher education and early care and education training finance systems to be very useful in their work. They also learned that effective outreach and communication are essential to publicize new pathways to career development. And, as a result of this partnership, the connection between the local Head Start, the Child Care Resource and Referral Network, and Adirondack Community College is stronger and very positive.

For more information on Washington County Partners in Change, contact Kathy Flanagan at T: 518-746-9066X.26; F: 518-746-9068.

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Arkansas West Campus Technical Center
The purpose of the Arkansas West Campus Technical Center program in Fayetteville, Arkansas is to assist high school students and teen parents in developing careers in early care and education by helping them achieve the CDA and/or the Child Development Specialist credentials. By offering CDA training for college credit that is open to all providers in the community, the program allows participants with 1,000 hours of on-the-job training to enroll at no charge. With 144 hours of classroom work and an additional 1000 hours of on-the-job training, they will meet the requirements for the CDA credential plus the Child Development Specialist credential from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The primary partners of this program are Fayetteville schools, Washington County Head Start, the New School, and Northwest Arkansas Community College. Additional groups participating are private, non-profit, and church-based providers; Family Day Care Providers Association; University of Arkansas Human Development and Family Studies; and Northwest Arkansas Community College. While current funding for the program is provided by the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training section of the U.S. Department of Labor, funding for the program originated from the School to Work Opportunities Act.

Among the program’s main accomplishments are–

• Northwest Arkansas Community College awards six college credits to participants who complete the CDA credential.
  
• Articulation agreements now exist between schools and the community college as a result of the School to Work Opportunities Act. The State of Arkansas Early Childhood Commission now pays all the assessment fees for CDA candidates.
  
• Employers in the community offer higher pay to providers who have obtained CDA credentials and now advertise for potential positions as "CDA required."
  
• As a result of the higher demand for providers with the CDA credential, Northwest Arkansas Community College started an early childhood program.

Due to these accomplishments, the general community has learned the importance of a CDA credential and is demanding that providers have it as a way to promote quality care for their children.

For more information on the Arkansas West Campus Technical Center, contact Phyllis McGinty at T: 501-444-3058 x. 105; F: 501-444-3017; or E-mail: pmcginty@fayar.net.

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Sacramento Employment and Training Head Start
The Sacramento Employment and Training Head Start initiative provides training and career counseling to a diverse group of entry-level participants to prepare them for employment in early childhood care and education. The purpose is addressing the shortage of qualified workers in this field. Head Start parents, TANF recipients, individuals with little training, and those from diverse ethnic groups are recruited and trained to become providers in both center and home-based child care.

Collaborators on this initiative include Sacramento Head Start, Child Action Inc., Los Rios Community College, Child Care Coalition, Rancho Cordova Coalition, Family Child Care Inc., City of Sacramento, Sacramento Child Care Initiatives, and the County of Sacramento. Funding for the initiative comes from federal Community Development Block Grant funds, Child Development Training Consortium funds, and Head Start grant funds provided out of the Training and Technical Assistance funds. The Mentor Teacher Project also lends its support to the initiative.

The project was designed to–

• Provide participants with the opportunity to continue their education, gain college credit, and become an assistant, an associate teacher, or a teacher.
  
• Provide participants with the training that will allow them to pursue employment and a professional career as a home-based or center-based child care provider.
  
• Train approximately 100 participants per year in developmentally appropriate early care and education services.

This initiative soon learned that many participants believe that their inadequate educational level will prevent them from progressing on a career ladder in early care and education. Consequently, recruitment efforts now stress that while some education is needed to enter the field, a college degree is not a prerequisite and can be pursued over time.

For more information on the Sacramento Employment and Training Head Start, contact Buffie Engstrom at T: 916-263-4061; F: 916-263-3779.