Improving the Quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE) Training through Collaborative Community Partnerships

The benefits of high-quality early childhood education (ECE) affect students, families, and the community as a whole. Shifts in the demographics of student populations in ECE classrooms have highlighted a need for improvements to teacher training, recruitment, and retention programming. In Pennsylvania, in particular, there is a substantial demand for high-quality preschool settings staffed by ECE professionals with a post-secondary degree and/or certification. As such, a more predictable pathway to ECE teacher credentials is necessary to demonstrate universal competencies between and among ECE educators. Solutions to these concerns rest with effective collaboration among stakeholders with multiple perspectives. This paper describes an Institution of Higher Education (IHE) and community-based partnership formed to address the goals of a federally funded planning grant. In particular, the partnership was charged with the development of credit-bearing coursework to improve skills and knowledge of ECE professionals and to examine the barriers that inhibit enrollment in formalized training. This paper describes how the expertise of the participant groups offered value to the team as a whole and how these personal resources propelled the work of the collaboration. Through a shared purpose and identity as ECE advocates, the collaboration became committed to the work both within and beyond their communities. As a community of learners, the partnership sponsored and sustained active engagement, reciprocity, and cohesion among the group.