The COVID-19 crisis has provided an important moment for NCDHHS’ Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) to lead the country by offering innovative, digital professional development supports to all NC Pre-Kindergarten (NC Pre-K) teachers across the state.
While in-person learning is strongly recommended for all NC Pre-K children, DCDEE is working proactively to ensure that families who may need to quarantine are able to continue to readily support their child’s learning and stay aligned to their classmates.
To this end, the Division has begun to host virtual professional development sessions with Teaching Strategies for NC Pre-K teachers and teacher assistants to better communicate with families, to provide a seamless transition of learning in case a family needs to quarantine, and to focus on best practices for tracking a child’s process throughout this important year of early learning.
Training sessions began on Aug. 31 and run through Sept. 10. The first week was a success with nearly 1,500 teachers and assistant teachers trained, and extremely positive participant survey results, with over 80% of participants rating themselves as confident in utilizing the strategies learned in their training.
Secretary Mandy Cohen expressed her appreciation and gratitude for the work Pre-K teachers and teaching assistants are doing across the state and thanked them for their participation in the new online learning platform in a recent video.
Ariel Ford, the new Director of the Division of Child Development and Early Education, shared, “As I come into my new role and look forward to being back in North Carolina, I am filled with hope to see our NC Pre-K educators coming together. Our entire state team, and our entire state, for that matter, are here alongside you as we support our youngest learners.”