DEC Personnel Preparation Standards

Abstract

The revision and process of validation of standards for early childhood special education (ECSE) and early intervention (EI) personnel at the initial and advanced levels of preparation, which occurred during 2005-2008, are described to provide a record of the process and to inform future cycles of standards revision. Central components focus on the importance of the relationships forged in the process, especially with Council for Exceptional Children, and their contributions to its success. The results are discussed in terms of changes in terminology for the ECSE/EI standards, limitations of the process, and suggestions for next revisions.

Blended Preparation in Early Childhood and Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education: Reflecting on the Past, Paving a Path Forward

“…By the mid-2000s, NAEYC and DEC were updating and validating their professional standards. The EI/ECSE specialty sets' knowledge and skills were developed to help the field apply the CEC standards in EI/ECSE contexts and were validated for initial and advanced levels of preparation in 2007 (Lifter et al, 2011). The NAEYC (2010) standards were revised to address meeting the needs of all children, in collaboration with EI/ECSE and other professionals.…”

Early Childhood Special Education and Early Intervention Personnel Preparation Standards of the Division for Early Childhood

“…During the initial standards revision and the advanced standards development, the DEC work group provided input and obtained feedback from their membership at annual conferences with the final draft of the initial standards presented at the 2006 DEC annual conference (Lifter et al, 2006), the final draft of the advanced standards at the 2007 DEC annual conference (Lifter et al, 2007), and both sets of standards at the 2008 CEC annual conference (Lifter, Christensen, & Gallagher, 2008). Readers can find more details about the DEC standards development/revision process in Lifter et al (2011). The purpose of the current article is to describe the methods, data, and results of the field validation survey of the revised DEC initial and new advanced standards.…”