Partners for Quality
Services
WestEd’s Center for Child and Family Studies offers a comprehensive system of training and technical assistance for family child care and center-based programs serving infants and toddlers. California's groundbreaking endeavor includes: recruiting and training new and existing family child care and center-based infant/toddler providers; developing an infrastructure at the local and regional levels to increase the supply and quality of services for children 0-3 with disabilities as well as typically developing children; and creating a comprehensive system of training and technical assistance for family child care and center-based programs serving infants and toddlers.
As part of this endeavor and in partnership with the California Department of Education, PITC Partners for Quality (PQ) provides subsidized training in California funded by federal child care and development monies earmarked for infant/toddler program capacity building. Funds are limited and are distributed based on the number of infants and toddlers in each county. PITC services are also available for a fee to programs outside California or California programs that are not able to access subsidized training (see Fee-Based Services).
PITC In Practice
PITC in Practice is divided into two sections covering all four PITC Modules. This service is offered on-site by a PITC Infant/Toddler Specialist and occurs over a 10- to 18-month period. Each section includes 32 hours of training and approximately 40 hours of mentoring. Family child care and license-exempt providers are each required to participate in a minimum three home visits during the entire service.
Together with the center-based program administrators, teaching and caregiving staff, or the family child care providers, the assigned Infant/Toddler Specialist will create a schedule, conduct observations and develop a program action plan. The program action plan will include specific goals and objectives to increase the quality of care provided to infants and toddlers.
Academic units are available for PITC in Practice when offered by a qualified instructor. Where applicable, participants interested in enrolling for credit can receive two semester units per section.
PITC in Practice includes the following topics:
| Section I: Infant/Toddler Social Emotional Development & Group Care (PITC modules I and II) | Section II: Infant/Toddler Learning, Culture and Family (PITC modules III and IV) |
|---|---|
| Temperaments | Facilitating Early Learning |
| Social Emotional Milestones | Discoveries of Infancy |
| Socialization and Guidance | Early Brain Development |
| Understanding Children’s Behavior | Language, Communication and Culture |
| Responsive Caregiving | Inclusion of Children with Special Needs |
| Caregiving Routines as Curriculum | Culture, Family and Providers |
| Primary Care | Harmonizing Cultural Diversity |
| Continuity of Care | Responding to Families in Culturally Sensitive Ways |
| Individualized Care | Protective Urges |
| Small Groups | |
| Environments |
For more information, please download our PQ Services Brochure .
PITC In Practice Implementation Plan
Programs and groups of providers receiving an Implementation Plan must have attended both sections of PITC in Practice and have demonstrated both a commitment to and progress towards quality improvement. This plan consists of 16 to 20 hours of mentoring over a one-year period to support the implementation of the PITC Essential Policies. Groups of Family Child Care providers will meet four to five times in group sessions over a one-year period to support continued action planning. Professional Growth Incentives are not offered for the Implementation Plan.
Pre-Service Training Plan (20 hours, center-based only)
A pre-service training plan (PITC training and mentoring services, delivered prior to the opening of a new program) is a separate plan. This plan can be any combination of training and/or technical assistance. Participants under this plan are not eligible for Professional Growth Incentives and the training hours under this plan do not count toward future training plans.
Training for Home Visitors
The PITC PQ Home Visiting Training emphasizes the importance of nurturing responsive relationships in the healthy development of infants. The information presented in the training assists the home visitor in how to best support the important relationship between the parent and the child as well as ways to individualize care for each child and parent. The training includes resource materials and DVDs for parents, activities to be conducted and modeled by the home visitor, and activities to be conducted by the parent after the home visitor is gone.
For Early Head Start home visitors, the focus is on deepening the relationship between the parent and child. The training will provide support for socialization events, incorporating the parent’s desires for their child. Training may include a brief presentation on any topic of interest that strengthens the parent/child relationship, and parents will have opportunities to exchange ideas and put activities into practice.
Program Start-Up Consultation
In order to support agencies such as Early Head Start in opening or expanding services to include new infant/toddler programs, Partners for Quality offers a start-up consultation. This consultation can be any combination of training and/or mentoring.
Generally these services include support in the following areas but are not limited to these topics:
- Environments
- Primary Care Assignments
- Orienting Staff to the PITC Philosophy and Essential Policies
- Individualized Care and Responsive Caregiving
Based on a program’s individual needs, these services may also include some of the standardized training topics (click here to see full list of PITC topics).
California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development System Regional Seminars
These seminars, offered in local communities across California, provide an overview of California’s Infant/Toddler Learning & Development System. The seminars focus on two major publications by the California Department of Education, Child Development Division: California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development Program Guidelines, and California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development Foundations.
Designed to support continuous improvement efforts of infant and toddler programs, the seminars will help participants to: understand the five components of the California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development System; deepen their understanding of the Program Guidelines and the Foundations; understand the importance, characteristics, and benefits of high quality infant/toddler care; and plan effective infant/toddler curricula.
Faculty for the seminars are Partners for Quality Regional Coordinators, who are Infant/Toddler Specialists with a deep knowledge and understanding of early care and education. The seminars are subsidized by the California Department of Education, allowing California participants to pay only a nominal fee for registration and catering costs. Participants outside of California may inquire about fees.
For seminar details and a PDF downloadable flyer, go to the PQ Featured Items page. Go to the PQ Calendar for seminar dates, times and locations.
Fee-Based Services
Fee-based services might include but are not limited to the topics offered in a standardized plan (see above for list of PITC topics), consultation on implementation of the PITC philosophy and essential program policies, program start-up or home visiting.
Fee-based services are available to groups outside California, groups with an immediate need for services or preferring services outside of the standardized training, or those who do not meet the criteria for subsidized training. A customized fee-based training comparable to the standardized training would cost approximately $25,000. Shorter, more focused trainings are approximately $1,500 a day.
For more information, please download our PQ Fee for Service Brochure .