Professional Development

Training staff so they know what age-appropriate social emotional development to expect and support helps them to achieve all best practices.

The best practices (per GO NAPSACC) and the related resources in this section focus on child cares providing opportunities for both formal and informal staff professional development. Formal professional development, such as attending training/classes, or informal education, such as the sharing of resources and ideas between child care providers, can both help achieve all best practice goals.

Best Practices

The resources in this category are the same for the following four GO NAPSACC best practices:

  • “Educators and staff receive professional development on Go NAPSACC content areas a minimum of four times/year.”
  • “Educators and staff receive professional development on social emotional topics (in addition to child abuse and neglect) one time per year or more.”
  • “Professional development on social emotional topics covers a variety of subjects about child development, behavior guidance and fostering inclusive ECE settings.”
  • “Educators receive informal education or support on Go NAPSACC social emotional module content one time a month or more.”

Resources

Behavior Interventions and Positive Behavior Support

Summary: Guides, tools, training materials, and more regarding appropriately addressing challenging behaviors in young children in partnership with families.

Source: National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations

Building Partnerships with Families Series

Summary: Strategies to strengthen relationships with families, including tips on using a strengths-based approach, being culturally inclusive, and preparing for difficult conversations.

Source: Head Start

Child and Family Development

Summary: Articles, online classes, upcoming virtual events, videos, and more. Early childhood topics include positive disciple, communication, social emotional health, anger management, etc., free of charge.

Source: Michigan State University Extension

Classroom Strategies

Summary: Resource library on building core social emotional skills, including relationship building, self-regulation, and communication. Resources under each strategy may include videos, podcasts, and brief downloadable/printable guides.

Source: ECE Resource Hub by the University of Virginia

Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAPSACC) Bilingual Self-Assessments

Summary: Free for providers. Contacting a consultant and completing the online version of the social emotional assessment opens a suite of planning, learning, professional development, and implementation tools to understand further what the best practices are and how to make them happen in your child care.

Source: Go Nutritional and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (Go NAPSACC)

MiRegistry Course Catalog

Summary: By entering “social emotional” or other terms in the “Course Title, Competency, or Qualification” search box, professional development classes related to social emotional wellness in young children will appear, many of which are free. Click on “View Course Detail” for each class to read more.

Source: MiRegistry

Access: https://go.miregistry.org/CourseCatalog.aspx

Skill Building Opportunities

Summary: 1-page guides for parents and professionals to help them turn common behavioral issues into opportunities to promote life skills in children. Browse all of the resources available in both English and Spanish, or filter by skill or age.

Source: Mind in the Making

“What Works” Training Kits

Summary: Short training packages include PowerPoint slides with accompanying note pages, activities, and handouts, which provide a trainer with the materials needed to conduct a short staff development program on social emotional topics.

Source: Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning