Volume 4, Number 3

March 2011

Dr. Shulamit Ritblatt, Chair of the Department of Child and Family Development, was asked to participate on an advisory steering committee called the Early Childhood Educator Competencies Integrated Project (CIP). The CIP Steering Committee is comprised of six California State University faculty and six California Community College faculty from 125 campuses.

The Competencies Integration Project is a multi-year effort beginning January 1, 2011 and ending June 30, 2013. Baccalaureate Pathways in Early Care and Education (BPECE) and California Community Colleges Early Childhood Education Curriculum Alignment Project (CAP) have been named in the child development federal quality improvement grant, $1.1 million to work together to develop a set of tools and procedures to map the ECE Competencies onto ECE curriculum in our higher education system.

The CIP will seek to design a common core of Child Development/Early Childhood Education courses based on faculty-agreed-upon competencies. These competencies describe the knowledge, skills, and dispositions early childhood educators need to support young children's learning and development. Their intent is to promote the early childhood profession and enhance the educational preparation requirements. The Competencies Integration Project will assist faculty by giving them mapping tools to help them evaluate their curricula to determine where and to what extent their degree program will result in the desired competencies.

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