Gateways to Opportunity Credential Content Areas—History

An Ad Hoc Task Force of the Professional Development Advisory Council (PDAC) was formed in 2003 to identify the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that ensure all practitioners are highly qualified to educate, nurture, and meet the needs of children and families in Illinois. This work represents the combined efforts of early care and education professionals from a variety of settings within the field and reflects a review of current professional standards and program quality guidelines as well as work completed by other states. The work is intended to be comprehensive, inclusive, and descriptive, but also fluid and flexible to allow needed changes over time.

The field of early care and education in Illinois includes a broad range of individuals who work with children and families in a wide range of settings and/or who work with training and education programs. Attempts were made to develop Content Areas that are inclusive of the breadth and depth of the field in Illinois. The following definitions attempt to capture this intent and are only for clarification and reference purposes:

• Children: Throughout the Content Areas, the focus is on all aspects of development and learning for ALL children—children as individuals with different learning styles, strengths, and needs; children with developmental delays or disabilities; children whose families are culturally or linguistically diverse; children from diverse socioeconomic groups; children who are gifted and talented; and children with diverse backgrounds and experiences. While the scope of early care and education in the state of Illinois is birth through age 8, these Content Areas are also appropriate for use by those working with children 5–12 in out-of-school settings.
• Early Care and Education Practitioners: We recognize that while many individuals who work in the early care and education field have direct contact with children (birth through age 8) and families, many other individuals serve in indirect ways. Hereafter, early care and education practitioners will include individuals who work directly with children and families in a variety of settings, individuals who provide training and/or education opportunities, and individuals who work in organizations or agencies that have a direct influence over programs for children, families, and practitioners. Additionally, practitioners refer to those individuals working with children ages 5–12 in out-of-school settings.

Standards

The Content Areas for Gateways to Opportunity represents a review of multiple professional standards from various associations, agencies, and organizations that influence all levels of training, education, and role responsibilities in Illinois. A guiding structure for the development of the Content Areas included the following:

• Illinois Early Childhood Education Content-Area Standards
  
  
• Illinois Professional Teaching Standards (IPTS)
  
  
• Professional Standards for Teacher Preparation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

Additional program quality guidelines, program outcomes, and professional standards include, but are not limited to:

• Illinois Director Credential (IDC)
  
  
• Illinois Birth to Three Standards
  
  
• Head Start Program Outcomes
  
  
• Illinois Early Intervention Credential
  
  
• National Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential
  
  
• Illinois Early Learning Standards
  
  
• Illinois Kindergarten Standards (1.48 MB)
  
  
• Illinois K–12 Learning Standards

These Content Areas, as well as the performance areas and knowledge, skills, and dispositions identified for each, have been approved by the Professional Development Advisory Council (PDAC) and Illinois Department of Human Services Bureau of Child Care and Development. Content Areas including skills, knowledge, and dispositions are continually revised based on the most current standards available. This work is guided by an overall goal to develop a set of professional knowledge, skills, and disposition competencies that will be used as a framework for professional development at different levels of education, training, and role responsibilities in the early care and education field in Illinois.

PDAC's goal is to promote the use of the Gateways Content Areas and the Career Lattice structure to unify training requirements for the early care and education field by providing a basis for credentials and degrees, and developing a coordinated system of training and professional development.