The Center is pleased to offer this valuable “in-time” resource to help you select high-quality training opportunities that align with your professional development goals.
Search the listings below to find:
- in-person workshop sessions facilitated by local trainers
- online PD modules developed by national organizations, such as the Office of Head Start, NAEYC, and Better Kid Care
If an online PD session does not include a certificate of completion and you want documentation for your records, you can submit a Training Verification Form to the Center. All of the opportunities listed are approved by the Center to meet state child care licensing requirements.
Review this list of organizations whose PD is approved:
The Center updates these listings monthly—check back regularly to see the latest entries!
Mixing in Math/Stirring Up Science
This workshop will introduce participants to the idea that math and science concepts are everywhere in the world for young children to experience in fun, educational ways. They will learn that young children are natural-born scientists and mathematicians, and will explore ways to teach children a variety of math and science objects in systematic ways that appeal to their natural curiosity. Fun, hands-on activities and experiments will be part of the workshop.
| Organization | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Education Consultant | Tracy Cheney, M. Ed. | tlcheney2@gmail.com |
Creating a Responsive and Supportive Environment for ALL Children
Creating a responsive and supportive environment includes many elements: designing effective physical spaces that match the developmental needs of the children, selecting and using appropriate materials, creating a structure of the day through a consistent schedule and routine, and sending positive messages through positive relationships.
| Organization | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Education Consultant | Tracy Cheney, M. Ed. | tlcheney2@gmail.com |
Tips for Planning Smooth Transitions
This professional development opportunity will explore how to help make transitions into a child care program (for a brand-new child/family) as well as the transitions between classrooms go more smoothly. Topics to discuss include: creating a transition plan, communicating with families before and during the process, and developmental expectations for children.
| Organization | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Early Childhood Consultant | Tracy Cheney, M. Ed. | tlcheney2@gmail.com |
Teacher Leadership
In every preschool, there are teachers whose vision extends beyond their own classrooms—even beyond their own teams or programs. They recognize that a child’s experiences depend not only on interaction with individual teachers, but also on curriculum choices, program culture, and community engagement. This awareness drives these teachers to want to influence programmatic decisions. They experience professional restlessness. Sometimes through their own initiative and sometimes because of a formal process, these teachers find ways to become teacher leaders. Through interactive learning activities, group discussion forums, multimedia learning experiences, and reflective writing exercises, participants will learn to identify the skills, dispositions, and knowledge necessary to become effective teacher leaders.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Safe Sleep and Sweet Dreams for Infants
This course provides information about creating a safe sleep environment in the child care setting. It presents an overview of the risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of infant death, and educates child care providers about ways to reduce the risks. Participants will gain a greater understanding of SIDS, as well as other sleep-related causes of infant death, and will learn specific strategies to reduce the risk. They will learn how to create a safe sleep environment in the child care setting, as well as tips for talking with parents and other family members about creating a safe home sleep environment.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
To Expel or Not to Expel
Participants will explore the conditions and risk factors that lead to expulsion and suspension, strategies to promote social-emotional development in children and personal well-being in educators, ways to develop trusting partnership with families, and discipline practices that reduce the risk of suspension and expulsion.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Exploring the Piramide Approach
The Piramide Approach to Learning was created in the Netherlands to help teachers better understand their role in supporting children’s higher order thinking skills and become more intentional about deepening children’s learning. Piramide is not a curriculum. It is an approach to teaching and learning that helps teachers effectively scaffold and deepen children’s learning. Piramide can be used with any developmentally appropriate classroom curriculum. Piramide is an easy, four-step approach that can be applied to any curriculum and provides teachers a way to help children deepen and extend learning. This course provides training suitable for teachers working with students from infancy through kindergarten.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Traveling With Precious Cargo
In this course, participants will become knowledgeable about the safe transport of young children. Best practice recommendations from Caring for Our Children, as well as the National Highway Administration, will be referenced as participants explore: vehicle safety; proper child safety seats; loading zone safety; emergency readiness; recommendations for children’s behavior; and other policies to ensure the safety of children before, during, and after transportation. This course provides training suitable for teachers and administrators working with students from infancy to kindergarten.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Making Circle Time Count
This workshop is a bit of a “Part 2” to my training entitled Circle Time: It’s More than Calendar and Weather, as its focus reaches beyond Circle Time in general, and offers ways to align the 5 components of math (Number and Operations, Classification and Patterns, Measurement, Geometry and, last but not least, Time) into a developmentally appropriate Circle routine.
| Organization | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Early Childhood Consultant | Tracy Cheney, M. Ed. | tlcheney2@gmail.com |
Biting Hurts
Learn reasons why young children bite, strategies to prevent biting, appropriate ways to intervene in biting incidents, and how to talk to parents about biting.
| Organization | Phone Number | |
|---|---|---|
| Care Courses | 800-685-7610 | info@carecourses.com |
It Really IS All in Your Head! The Three Parts of the Brain and Their Impact on Behaviors
This training will first assist attendees in reflecting on their own triggers (hot button behaviors) to determine how to more beneficially respond when those occur. Second, we will learn about the brain’s top priority ensuring safety and how that impacts our reactions to people and events. Third, we will discuss the three parts of the triune brain, their functions and what strategies we can use in the classroom.
| Organization | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Education Consultant | Tracy Cheney, M. Ed. | tlcheney2@gmail.com |
Administrative Leadership
Leadership is an often used but seldom defined concept. While leadership skills are important in every business endeavor, these skills are particularly critical in an early childhood setting. Due to the many challenges child care owners/managers face daily, they rarely take the time necessary to focus on their own knowledge and skills. This course seeks to provide early childhood leaders that time. Essentials of Leadership will give participants a foundational understanding of leadership and multiple opportunities to assess and reflect on their own leadership abilities. Leadership can take many forms. The leadership skills addressed in this course focus on the day-to-day operations and the big picture task of vision-setting.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Child Assessment: The Essentials of Individualizing
Learn how to recognize what each child in your classroom needs to reach their full potential. Explore the principles of child assessment, the role of observation, and techniques for collecting anecdotal notes. Survey a variety of assessment tools, and link assessment results to planning for each child as an individual.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | regsitrar@qassist.com |
Basics of Inclusion
According to the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division of Early Childhood, practically speaking, “inclusion is children of all abilities learning, playing, and working together.” While this sounds great, teachers and parents may wonder if inclusion is really the best choice for a child. Will the child with disabilities struggle and the child without disabilities fall behind? This course introduces learners to the value of inclusion, steps to creating an inclusive classroom, laws regarding inclusion of children with disabilities, benefits to everyone involved, and the importance of teamwork with families. Participants will create their own inclusion policy and will practice pre-admissions conversations with parents.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Building Positive Relationships
In this course, participants will learn about the impact of classroom climate on children’s behavior and learning, and how the subtle nuances of their own behavior as a teacher impacts the atmosphere in the classroom. The course reviews important ideas about the nature of positive relationships; it provides examples of and strategies for positive teacher-child and child-child relationships. This course provides training suitable for teachers working with students from infancy to kindergarten.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Principles of Quality Teams
This course is designed to provide a foundation for establishing a quality team, which is a team that focuses on quality improvement. Participants will explore the elements and benefits of quality early childhood programs, how the dynamics of change impacts the successful achievement of quality improvements, and the key considerations for establishing a quality team.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
STEM in the Preschool Classroom
Participants will be able to identify the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the classroom. They will learn to understand what STEM is, the importance of STEM for young learners, activities that promote STEM learning, and strategies for getting all children involved in STEM activities. A STEM focus ensures that children will learn to innovate, adapt, understand social and cultural cues, and problem-solve.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Outdoor Learning Environment
Spending time outside is vital for young children, and not just because they get to burn off some energy. From a very early age, children are curious about nature. By providing children with rich, purposeful outdoor learning environments, early childhood educators can help the children in their care learn, have fun, and begin to develop a sense of connection to the world beyond the playground. In this class, participants will learn the importance of the outdoor environment across multiple developmental domains in addition to the health benefits and safety concerns.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | https://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Trauma Informed Practices
Approximately 66% of children report experiencing traumatic events before the age of 16. The effects of these experiences can be devastating, but with support, many children can overcome their traumatic experiences. This course, Trauma Informed Practices, raises awareness of the impact of childhood trauma on children’s learning and development and provides strategies to support the healing, resilience, and well-being of traumatized children and those who care for them.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | https://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Creating Positive Connections
The love and nurturing that a child receives in the first few years of life can have effects on development that last a lifetime. As educators learn more about children and how they develop, they understand more clearly that warm, nurturing relationships based on respect, understanding, and acceptance are essential for children’s optimal development. Through interactive learning activities, group discussion forums, videos, reflective writing exercises, scenarios, and a field assignment, participants will learn to create an environment where relationships flourish.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Curriculum Unpacked
Teachers are often expected to not only implement an existing curriculum but also to design appropriate supplemental activities to meet the needs of individual children. In many cases, teachers lack the deep understanding of developmentally appropriate practice that they need in order to implement curricula effectively and meet children’s needs. The purpose of this course is to provide early child care professionals with a deep understanding of what is meant by the term curriculum and what is included in a high-quality curriculum. Participants will explore the many facets that are considered to be a part of the curriculum in the early childhood field, including the importance of developmentally appropriate practice and play. In addition, participants will review several examples of prominent early childhood curricula and gain an understanding of how different child development theories guide best practice in the early childhood field.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | http://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Recognizing Our Own Triggers to Assist Others
In this two-part series, we will discuss various triggers (or hot button) behaviors exist for both adults and children. Once those triggers have been identified, we will then begin to assess what types of strategies can be put in place to help lesson or even eliminate them through tips such as mindfulness, deep breathing, etc.
| Organization | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Early Childhood Consultant | Tracy Cheney, M. Ed. | tlcheney2@gmail.com |
Program and Classroom Assessment
The Program and Classroom Assessment Course focuses on self-evaluation in a single classroom or across multiple classrooms in a center-based program, or in a family child care home. The purpose of the course is to prepare early child teachers, administrators, and family child care providers for self-guided, self-evaluation. This course reviews the methods of program and classroom evaluation and how to use objective information to make changes in practices. This course involves two field assignments and evaluation tools. A field assignment involves completing an activity away from the computer.
| Organization | Registration Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | https://www.quorumlearning.com | Help@QuorumLearning.com |
Literacy for the Early Learner
This professional development series aims to increase the knowledge of early literacy skills for those who work and engage with children from birth to kindergarten. The four sessions focus on oral language, vocabulary, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, pre-writing skills, and age-appropriate ways to engage with text to promote comprehension.
| Organization | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Sargent Rehabilitation Center | Cheryl Cotter | cheryc@sargentcenter.org |
Engaging Families with Social Media
Many teachers and administrators build quality relationships with families in their schools and community-based organizations. Internet-based social media tools offer multiple ways to support communication between school, home, and community partners. In this course, participants will learn the key characteristics of family engagement practices and the basic fundamentals of using social media tools for family engagement.
| Organization | Website | Phone Number | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Assist, Inc. | https://www.quorumlearning.com/ | 404-325-2225 | Help@QuorumLearning.com |