Alaska System of Early Education and Development (SEED)
State:
AK
Region:
10
Category:
Child Care; Professional Development; Professional Development
Status:
Active
Year Started:
2001
Administered By:
University of Alaska
Description:
Alaska System for Early Education Development (Alaska SEED) is a system of professional development for Alaska's field of Early Care and Education. Alaska SEED is housed at the University of Alaska Southeast. SEED was created in 2001, funded with federal grant dollars, to help Alaska meet the professional development standards for Head Start. Though federal funding ended in 2007, SEED continues its work with funding from the University of Alaska, the State of Alaska Departments of Education and Early Development and Health and Social Services.
SEED's Mission: Advocate for the best interests of Alaska's young children and support coordination of comprehensive services for them, with an emphasis on professional development for teachers and caregivers of young children through age 8.
Desired Outcomes: 1. All early care and education for children birth through age 8 is high quality; 2. All children have the opportunities and supports they need to succeed in school; and 3.All children and families can find and access appropriate early care and education.
In Fall 2007, the SEED Council recommended that Alaska develop a statewide professional development plan for the early care and education workforce. The need for such a plan was brought to the Council by the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Child Care Programs Office. Many of the stakeholder entities have plans that include professional development such as the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Plan (ECCS) and Best Beginnings. However, there was no comprehensive plan that specifically addressed professional development for this sector. The plan was disseminated in Summer 2008:"Alaska's Professional Development Plan for the Early Care and Education Workforce" is available at http://seed.alaska.edu/support%20docs/PDP_June_08%20_FINAL.pdf
The plan is intended for multiple sectors of the early care and education workforce including child care, Head Start, pre-kindergarten, early intervention and home visitor programs. Aspects of the plan may also be useful for school-age care and friend, family and neighbor care.
The system is built on a career development philosophy. It assumes that, while some workers will enter the field with college degrees ready to assume roles with high levels of responsibility, the majority will enter the field without degrees or other credentials. They will participate in some limited pre-service training followed by ongoing training while they are employed. The ongoing training serves, in a sense, as a pre-service training for their next role. In order to maximize opportunities for professional development and career advancement, training should count towards recognized credentials. The levels recognized have been the subject of much debate by the SEED Advisory Council. Quality Assurance, the recognition of various methods of training, and equivalencies have been at the heart of the debate.
The SEED Registry is Alaska’s recognition system for Early Childhood Educators. As a core component of Alaska’s System for Early Education Development (SEED), the Registry provides the vital link between various aspects of the Professional Development System within Alaska.
SEED identifies four main purposes of the registry:
1. Collecting statewide data on the workforce 2. Bringing recognition and professionalism to the field of early care and education 3. Informing policy makers about the early care and education workforce 4. Tracking individual advancement on the Early Childhood Professional Development Framework for practitioners