Child Care and Development Quality Initiatives

About

The Learning, Equity Advancement & Development Office (LEAD) provides system infrastructure and professional development supports to the childcare workforce. LEAD engages in continuous quality improvement through advocacy, professional development, and workforce initiatives. The office provides statewide administration to contractors, vendors, and local administrators operating quality initiative grants and contracts that are primarily funded with federal Child Care and Development Funds (CCDF).

Early Learning Resources:

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and the California Department of Education (CDE) develop early learning and care resources to support the early learning and care workforce, and the early learning community. Resources are meant to support the development of ongoing skills and abilities that will create positives outcomes for young children.

Visit CDSS-CCDD Publications to explore a multitude of publications and videos, including the California Learning Foundations, Frameworks, and Program Guidelines.

Current Quality Initiatives, Projects, and Programs


California Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Network:: The California Infant and Early Education Mental Health Consultation Network (IECMHC) Network offers a variety of services, supports, and resources to child care and development providers seeking to support the social, emotional, and relational health and development of children ages birth to five, and the adults who care for them. For more information, please visit IECMHC Network .

Family Child Care at Its Best:: Training is provided to family child care (FCC) providers throughout the state, and to agencies who provide training to FCC providers. A variety of workshops are provided to train FCC providers on various topics to support children’s learning and development and to support serving children in mixed age groups. Courses are offered in English and Spanish (other languages are also available upon request). Trainings are offered at no cost to support quality improvement in early learning and care services. Courses are offered in English and Spanish. For more information, please visit Family Child Care at its Best.

California Early Childhood Mentor Program (CECMP):: Chabot Community College administers the CECMP activities provided at 104 community college campuses across the state to support early learning and care providers with access to experienced mentor teachers and mentor directors. For more information, please visit CECMP.

Child Development Training Consortium (CDTC):: Yosemite Community College District/Child Development Training Consortium (YCCD/CDTC) offers tuition assistance, tutoring, textbook loaning services, Spanish language translation and technical assistance for student support services, including Child Development permit stipends through two programs: the Child Development Permit Stipend Program and the Early Learning and Care Student Support Program. For college faculty, the Curriculum Alignment Project (CAP) serves to offer specialized professional development activities and common course guidelines for faculty in 60 community colleges. For more information, please visit Child Development Training Consortium.

Language Learning Project: Fresno Unified School District offers the Language Learning Project developed to increase knowledge and skills for Family Child Care (FCC) and Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) providers in the area of dual language learners (DLL). Utilizing best instructional practices for DLLs through Personalized Oral Language(s) Learning (POLL) strategies, the project aims to support providers serving infant/toddler and preschool age children. Offering a Training of Trainers model, the project collaborates with local Resource and Referral agencies to ensure professional development activities are in place. For more information, please see visit POLL Strategies.
Assembly Bill (AB) 393:: Requires the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to create new procedures for contractors to identify and report data on dual language learners (DLL’s) enrolled in general childcare and development programs (CCTR) and migrant childcare and development programs (CMIG). These procedures will be implemented in collaboration with families. Additional resources and information for childcare and development services while supporting dual language learners can be found here: Dual Language Learners Information and Resource Document.

California Preschool Instructional Network (CPIN):

The Sacramento County Office of Education administrates the CPIN program statewide and provides statewide professional development activities, technical assistance to preschool program administrators and teachers to improve the quality of preschool programs for children, including children with special needs and dual language learners. For more information, please visit CPIN.

California Teaching Pyramid:: The California Collaborative on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning Teaching Pyramid approach provides a systematic framework that promotes social and emotional development, provides support for children’s appropriate behavior, and promotes positive interactions. This program provides Train-the-Trainer and Train-the-Coach Institutes and support for trainers and coaches through a community of practice. Additionally, the California Teaching Pyramid offers training and coaching annually to cohorts of family child care providers and family friend and neighbor caregivers in English and in Spanish. For more information, please visit Teaching Pyramid.

Beginning Together:: Existing Early Learning and Care (ELC) trainers are provided training, certification, and technical assistance to ensure that children, birth to age five, with disabilities are successfully included in ELC settings and appropriate inclusive practices are promoted. Webinars on inclusion topics are provided annually, which includes technical assistance opportunities, to support quality inclusive practices in child care and early education settings. For more information, please visit Beginning Together

Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC):: The PITC provides Training-of-Trainer Institutes for local or regional trainers and coaches, and higher education faculty. The PITC also provides Academies for program directors, family child care providers, and family friend and neighbor caregivers, webinars, and resources for infant and toddler care providers The PITC Regional Support Network provides regional training, training and on-site technical assistance and coaching activities at the local level to improve the quality of child care and development services for infants and toddlers. The PITC also provides an online infant and toddler course eligible for academic units that count towards a provider’s infant and toddler unit requirement. For more information, please visit Program for Infant Toddler Care

Desired Results (DR) Field Training:: The DR Field Training provides training and technical assistance in all areas of the DR System to assist programs in using the assessment tool to improve the quality of programs and services provided to all children from birth through 13 years of age enrolled in early care and education programs. For more information, please visit Desired Results.

California Early Childhood Online (CECO):: This free online learning system offers overview modules covering key early learning and care publications and resources and other state-approved content. Each module, between one and four hours, provides basic information on approved early learning content, including California’s foundations, frameworks, Desired Results, program guidelines, Healthy and Active Preschoolers, Strengthening Families, Anti-bias practices, Health and Safety practices, courses for Family Friend and Neighbor providers, and many more. Registered participants receive certificates upon successful completion of each module. Most modules are available in English, Spanish and Chinese. For more information, please visit California Early Childhood Online.

Streaming Video Subscription Service:: The California Early Learning Videos streaming service provides free online access to California’s child care and development educational resources on one simple platform. Videos include Infant Toddler Foundations; Preschool Foundations; Preschool Program Guidelines; New Perspectives on Infant and Toddler Learning, Development, and Care; Guidelines for Early Learning in Child Care Home Settings; and A World Full of Language/Un mundo lleno de lenguaje, and many more. Single users or organizations can access videos for free and on demand for individual use or in college courses and professional learning events. For more information, please visit California Early Learning Videos.

Child Care and Local Planning Councils (LPCs):: The primary mission of the LPCs is to plan for childcare and development services based on the needs of families in the local community. LPCs are intended to serve as a forum to address the childcare needs of all families in the community for all types of child care, both subsidized and non-subsidized. For more information, please visit the LPC webpage, or email us at LPC@dss.ca.gov.

R&R programs:: Resource & Referral Programs are located in every county in the state, help families find child care that best meets their needs, recruit and train child care providers, and collect data from parents and child care providers. R&Rs provide a variety of services to parents seeking care, to providers seeking professional development and incentives for remaining in the profession, and to communities seeking support for their youngest residents. Certain counties have multiple R&Rs that cover specific regions by zip code. R&Rs also administer the TrustLine background check application process and many participate in the Foster Care Bridge Program which serves to leverage Trauma Informed Care training into local community provider CCIP training. For more information, please visit the CDSS Resource and Referral webpage or email us at CRRP@dss.ca.gov.

Child Care Initiative Project (CCIP):: The CCIP is a statewide project funded to build supply and improve the quality of care. Efforts include recruiting license exempt providers to become licensed, as well as providing supports to assist small homes with a goal of increased capacity and inclusion of infants and toddlers. Activities to support retention of child care providers are also included. The California Child Care Resource and Referral (R&R) Network team supports local R&R agencies by providing a training of trainer model that utilizes culturally sensitive multilingual training based in the California Foundations and Frameworks and other research based best practices such as Caring for our Children as well as supporting and articulating Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Title 22 requirements. For more information regarding CCIP, please visit California Child Care R&R Network or email us at CCIP@dss.ca.gov.

Subsidized Trustline Applicant Reimbursement:: Resource & Referral Programs over and are reimbursed for the fees associated with the TrustLine registration process for license-exempt child care providers serving families receiving subsidized child care or participating in CalWORKs Stages two and three. TrustLine, created by the California Legislature to give parents an important tool to use when selecting a caregiver for their children, is the registry of California in-home and license-exempt child care providers who have passed a background screening.

Strengthening Families Network and Trainer Coordination:: A network of R&R trainers have been certified and serve as core trainers on the national Strengthening Families ™ model to provide training to local providers on the five protective factors and participate in communities of practice. This is the family engagement model adopted by QCC.

Quality Counts California (QCC):: The goal of QCC is to ensure that children in California have access to an equitable early learning and care experiences regardless of setting type and that contributes to positive child care outcomes and lifelong success. The QCC system strives to improve the quality of early learning and care with a focus in three areas of program quality: child development and readiness for school; teachers and teaching; and program and environment quality. QCC is supported by funding from CDSS, First 5 California, and CDE. This tri-agency effort at the state-level includes communication tools, such as a weekly email as well as the Quality Counts California website.

QCC Block Grant:: The QCC Block Grant allows the local and Tribal consortia the opportunity to provide training, technical assistance, and resources to help all ELC providers improve their quality and meet a higher level of quality. For more information, please send an email to qcc@dss.ca.gov.

QCC Workforce Pathways Grant:

The QCC Workforce Pathways Grant supports increased learning and healthy development of California’s young children by increasing the number of qualified ELC professionals and increasing the educational credentials, knowledge, and competencies of existing ELC professionals across the state via workforce incentives. For more information, please send an email to QCCworkforce@dss.ca.gov.

California Early Learning Career Lattice

Infrastructure Grant Program:: On July 23, 2021, the Legislature enacted the Child Care and Development Infrastructure Grant Program, detailed in Welfare and Institutions Code section 10310, a $350.5 million investment in the child care infrastructure across the State of California that is to be administered in the form of grants by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). The CDSS will administer $200.5 million in grants for minor construction, renovations, and repairs to address health and safety concerns. Additionally, the CDSS will administer $150 million in grants for major construction of shovel-ready childcare facilities. The CDSS posted two (2) separate Requests for Application (RFAs) and awarded each funding source on a competitive basis. Both grant opportunities are now closed. For more information, please visit Child Care and Development Infrastructure Grant or email us at CCDDFacilities@dss.ca.gov.

Additional Resources

NEW: CDSS hosted a webinar with EduPOP! TLC, "Dismantling the Pipeline: A Change Centered Approach."

For resources from the presentation, please see the following:

Webinar: Dismantling the Pipeline: A Change Centered Approach

Slides: Dismantling the Pipeline: A Change Centered Approach (PowerPoint)

Informational Resource Document: Dismantling the Pipeline: A Change Centered Approach (PDF)

800-Kids-793 Phone Line for Parents:: A toll-free phone system, accessible to the public throughout the state of California, that provides general child care information to and connects all parents, child care providers, and other interested individuals to their local child care resource and referral programs in California.

All About Young Children:: A website in eight different languages where families can find out about what skills help children learn, how they learn language, how they learn about feelings and relationships, how they learn about numbers, and how they become skillful at moving their bodies. Information for families on children's early development is available in five different age range. For more information, please visit All About Young Children.

California Making Access Possible (MAP) to Inclusion and Belonging:: MAP is a website committed to providing the most current research and information on improving access to services and care for children with disabilities and other special needs and their families, and includes support, education, and access to training for providers and the families they serve. For more information, please visit California MAP to Inclusion and Belonging

CompSAT:: CompSAT is a competency-based, self-assessment tool kit for the early childhood education field. It is the companion to the California Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Competencies and guides early educators through a process of self-reflection and authentic assessment in the 12 competency areas detailed in the ECE Competencies. For more information, please visit ECE CompSAT.; A series of videos based on the ECE Competencies are accessible on the ECE CompSAT YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/ececompsat. Available in English and Spanish.

Early Learning Resources:: The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and the California Department of Education (CDE) develop early learning resources to support the child care and early education workforce to improve their knowledge and skills in serving young children. Visit CDSS-CCDD Publications to explore a multitude of publications and videos, including the California Learning Foundations, Frameworks, and Program Guidelines.; MyChildCarePlan.org:; MyChildCarePlan.org is a search and support website that offers a customizable child care search tool and live support from local child care counselors to help families make the best child care choices for their children. With MyChildCarePlan.org, parents can access the information they need to find child care they can trust, and providers can easily promote their services to families who need them. For more information, please visit Mychildcareplan.org.; Contact Us: For more information regarding any of the resources listed on this page, you can may contact the LEAD Office at 916-651-5382.