National Prekindergarten Center Page Heading
 

Professional Development

NPC hosted a working symposium, Strategies for Preparing Highly Qualified Prekindergarten Teachers, April 14-16, 2002, at the Carolina Inn located on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. This symposium brought together approximately 30 early childhood and education experts to discuss professional development issues related to the prekindergarten workforce.

The purpose of the symposium was to develop strategies for producing highly qualified prekindergarten teachers. Specific meeting objectives included:

  1. delineating the key pre-service and in-service prek teacher preparation issues;
  2. discussing current innovative pre-service and in-service teacher preparation strategies;
  3. discussing lessons learned from early intervention and special education personnel preparation efforts;
  4. recommending promising strategies for preparing well-educated prek teachers; and
  5. developing a next steps plan for implementing strategies.

As a means of facilitating group discussion during the symposium, NPC commissioned several papers that addressed various aspects of professional development. Links to these papers along with their corresponding responses (when available) are provided below. All documents are available as PDF files and can be viewed and printed with Adobe Acrobat Reader. This software is available free from Adobe. If you do not have Adobe's Acrobat Reader software, please click on the Get Acrobat Reader icon.

Get Adobe Acrobat Reader Button

The Need for Highly Qualified Prekindergarten Teachers
Dick Clifford and Kelly Maxwell, National Prekindergarten Center, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Response
Pat Phipps, California Association for the Education of Young Children

Field of Dreams: Higher Education and the Preparation of Early Childhood Teachers
Marilou Hyson, National Association for the Education of Young Children

In-Service Strategies for Consideration
Sue Russell, Child Care Services Association

Lessons Learned: Personnel for Early Intervention, Birth-3
Jeanette McCollum, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and Pam Winton, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Response
Marnie Campbell, Kansas 619 Preschool Coordinator