The Center for Early Childhood Professionals, formerly known as the Center for Universal Pre-K, has been working with the early childhood community in New York City since the fall of 1999. The Center for Early Childhood Professionals (The Center for ECP) works towards strengthening the competence of early childhood educators, increasing the quality of Pre-K programs, and achieving positive outcomes for children in Pre-K classrooms.
After a period of strategic planning and decision-making, we changed our name to the Center for Early Childhood Professionals. Over the past 7 years, we had broadened our scope and audience to much more than Universal Pre-Kindergarten programs, recognizing that most of the staff we work with comes from programs that serve more than UPK children. Our Center goals remain the same: to raise the professional competence of early care and education workers, to strengthen the quality of program services, and to achieve positive outcomes for children in birth through grade one classrooms. Through research, training, and professional development, advocacy, outreach, and information sharing, the Center for ECP addresses both the needs of and support to the community that serves young children.
Today, the need to build the capacity of those working with early learners in our Infant and Toddler, Pre-K, and Kindergarten, and first grade programs continues. There is a wide range in the quality of the services provided at both public schools and community-based programs. Numerous research studies show that early childhood teachers tend to have inadequate training in many aspects of the profession, including knowledge of children's cognitive development, literacy and other content areas, social and emotional competence, adult-child relationships, and cultural and linguistic diversity (Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers, 2000). This inadequate initial training, coupled with very limited professional development resources, makes the need for increased capacity building particularly urgent.
In response to this need, each year the Center for ECP provides a wide variety of training and professional development opportunities to classroom teaching staff, family support staff, administrators, higher education faculty, advocacy organizations and parents. Through research, training and professional development, advocacy, outreach and information sharing, the Center for ECP provides a broad array of services to the early care and education community.