At a time when early childhood educators confront a deepening crisis despite proving how critical they are to children, families, and the American economy, 16 national organizations and eleven early childhood educators dedicated to young children and the early childhood education workforce have come together to form the Commission on Professional Excellence in Early Childhood Education.
The Commission’s mission, as originally outlined in the Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession, is to advance the framework for a unified, cohesive, and equitable early childhood education profession informed by and in partnership with early childhood educators across states and settings.
The Commission on Professional Excellence in Early Childhood Education formally launched in December 2021. It is comprised of both organizational members as well as individual early childhood educators. As set forth in the Unifying Framework, the primary responsibilities of the Commission are to:
Designate the standards, competencies, and guidelines of the ECE profession and ensure they are relevant to and apply to individuals working in all settings.
Set the parameters for quality assurance of individuals and professional preparation programs, including exploring and setting parameters for the professional assessments required for Early Childhood Education ECE I, ECE II, and ECE III licensure and renewal.
Coordinate with state and federal bodies to promote alignment with the ECE profession’s recommendations.
Serve as a liaison and collaborator with state and federal agencies and regulatory bodies on behalf of the early childhood education profession to promote alignment with the Unifying Framework recommendations.
Additional responsibilities of the Commission include:
Set the parameters for professional preparation and accreditation recognition bodies, approve specializations for the ECE profession, and recommend the required guidance and support structures and autonomy for family child care providers to be effective in their practice.
Establish a process for further determining the competencies, qualifications, compensation, expectations, and supports required for early childhood education pedagogical and instructional administrators, advanced practitioners, higher education faculty, and professional development specialists.
Update the Unifying Framework of the Early Childhood Education Profession as science, research, and practice evolve.
The Commission is guided by five core principles:
1. Publicly accountable and rooted in the profession.
A significant portion of the Commission will be comprised of individual early childhood educators, representing those who work in each setting, including family child care, community-based programs, and school-based programs, and who do not serve on behalf of organizations. Public members also will serve on the Commission, and these individuals could include researchers, related professions representatives, and parents.
2. Equally shared power.
All members of the Commission—organizational representatives and individuals— will have equal voting rights.
3. Transparency.
All members of the Commission will abide by mutually established decision-making processes and protocols, firewalls, conflict-of-interest policies, and formal delegation processes in order to ensure that decisions are made openly, appropriately, and in the best interest of the entire scope of the early childhood education profession birth through age 8.
4. Lean operations.
The Commission will operate with maximum efficiency in order to maximize available funding for the profession the Commission is designed to advance. As such, the Commission will develop a process to disperse any revenue, beyond the expenses needed to operate, to educators to help them pursue professional preparation needed to meet the new qualification requirements embedded in the ECE I, ECE II, and ECE III requirements.
5. Leveraged resources.
The Commission will acknowledge and build on the strengths and assets of organizations and individuals now in the field as they work to meet their new responsibilities and obligations.