Personnel Preparation

Personnel Preparation is one of the six agenda items in the Division for Early Childhood’s (DEC) Priority Issues Agenda (2020). The agenda item, to adequately equip a highly effective workforce, is accomplished by DEC through promoting and supporting comprehensive, coordinated, personnel preparation systems internationally. Specifically, DEC, in collaboration with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), developed professional Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education Standards (2020 EI/ECSE Standards). DEC will review and update these Standards regularly based on current research and wisdom of the discipline. The Standards serve as the foundation of the personnel preparation system and guide the development of preservice and in-service curricula. DEC creates and disseminates resources to support the alignment of preservice and in-service curricula with the EI/ECSE Standards and DEC Recommended Practices (2014). In addition, DEC advocates for certification/licensure policies to be based on the EI/ECSE Standards. DEC acknowledges the importance of discussions and interactions with related professional associations in the processes of personnel preparation (e.g., CEC and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)).

The EI/ECSE Standards (2020)

The Initial Practice-Based Professional Standards for Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (EI/ECSE Standards, 2020) define what EI/ECSE professionals should know and be able to do to effectively work with children birth through eight years who have or are at risk for developmental delays and their families.