The tradition of early childhood personnel preparation standards alignment analysis

There is an extensive history of collaboration with respect to policy initiatives between the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). In pursuit of promoting high quality inclusive education for all young children, DEC and NAEYC have partnered to create numerous resources and supports over the years for preservice preparation programs and professional development providers who seek to address both ECE and EI/ECSE personnel preparation standards. One notable result has been the development of formal procedures for alignments of the preparation standards promoted by these organizations. In this paper, we detail this established tradition of early childhood standards alignment analysis by describing the development and details of the procedures used for conducting alignment analyses. These procedures are now precedent and provide a roadmap for future alignment analyses. Implications for personnel preparation and future alignment analysis and standards development are discussed.