1 - Vermont Northern Lights Career Development Center

PRINCIPLES WORKSHEET: Project/organization: Starting Points Groups in Lamoille Valley
Purpose of this project: to help provide local professional development and support and to increase professionalism of local
provider community
1) Clear and Known
Practitioners know there is a
professional development system
that is available to them.
WHAT WE DO NOW QUESTIONS/ISSUES/GAPS WHAT WE COULD DO/
OUR PRIORITIES
Information sent out by
Starting points leaders: Maybe some redundancy in Consider:
Newsletters and RDS listerve, trainings throughout region -Various ways to advertise
newspaper, fliers; starting (ie PCAVT) . Providers like the -Increase coordination among
points leaders know they are local, small trainings though sponsors, more partnering
part of bigger system; list in and do not see this as a - evaluate when providers do
BFIS course calendar. Tell negative.
go out of local area to attend a
community about what they
training, how to support this
are doing -promotion and More staff are going to starting - how to ensure all trainings
outreach. In addition to the points workshops – which are are comfortable/public
mentioned methods, SP one time workshops; multipart
leaders call and send letters to
workshops are more likely
the providers in their areas to offered by LFC.
promote membership. Some
coordination between LFC
offerings and Starting points
offerings in region.
This is a strength.
2) Supportive of Professional
Growth
Learning opportunities build upon
knowledge and skills in a
systematic and meaningful way.
Support and recognize each
others’ achievements; peer
support for achieving STARS,
Level certificates, etc; share
Providers not always up on
current practice (ie where new
bonus info is kept, new level II
portfolio info)
Consider:
- Incentive to be on career
ladder
- tie in trainings intentionally

Professionals who attain
enhanced knowledge and skills
are recognized and compensated
for their achievements along their
professional career pathways.
WHAT WE DO NOW QUESTIONS/ISSUES/GAPS WHAT WE COULD DO/
OUR PRIORITIES
information about career
to career ladder or STARS
pathways and professional
practices. Starting points
leaders are compensated for
their leadership skills. Support
recognition by the community
for their work.
3) Research-based and Relevant
Useful professional development
content and instructional
practices are based on recognized
and effective standards that
support best practices.
Use instructors in the registry
or local agency or professional
expert; collaborate with RDS,
Northern Lights, BBF leaders to
ensure best practices are used
and shared.
However, sometimes leaders
find it difficult to find fresh
new ideas and instructors for
trainings in Instructor Registry.
Consider:
Learning about latest researchbased
training and who does
them; check with Head Start
and Northern Lights (ie IMIL,
FEL, more PCAN modules, PITC
(infant toddler care) etc.)
4) Integrated and Aligned
Professional development is
articulated so that it is recognized
and meaningful across different
systems and work settings.
STARS, CDA, Career ladder and
Credentials are all considered
when developing activities in
the context of local needs.
Attends state wide Starting
Points meetings to assure
alignment and are updated
with current activities and
trends
Identifying and promoting how
Professional Development and
other work such as support
groups and community work is
linked to STARS and certificates
Consider:
- how does training calendar
as a whole connect to a
variety of levels – is there
interest in higher level
training (ie college
coursework)
- promote higher ed
coursework by having a
cohort attend together,
- have a higher ed faculty
visit to share
information/resources

WHAT WE DO NOW QUESTIONS/ISSUES/GAPS WHAT WE COULD DO/
OUR PRIORITIES
- explore other options such
VSC office of experiential
programs (APL, Course
Challenge, CLEP tests,) or
CEUs
5) Accessible
Professional development
opportunities and pathways are
designed with a variety of delivery
options and are available to
diverse populations and skill
levels.
Open to all providers, parents
and community members;
local and no charge
Is online format a way that
would increase access
Is there enough higher level
and more in depth (multisession)
professional
development available
Consider:
- survey providers about
interest and readiness for
online learning
- support providers to attend
intro to online learning free
workshop at CCV
6) Financially supported
Sufficient and dependable
funding, both public and private,
is available to support quality
professional development that
reflects these principles and
related practices.
Supported by Starting points
grant and Northern Lights
(state$) and fund raising
(private$) and Lamoille Family
Center (state and private $);
activities are free of charge
Money needs to be spent by
Dec 31 st . New grant money
doesn’t come in until March or
April, leaving no funds for
Jan/Feb
Consider:
- talking with Jan Walker
about how to address the
funding gap better
7) Evaluated on all of the above
criteria
These principles are used to
evaluate professional
development activities and the
system as a whole in order to
ensure an increasingly proficient
Evaluate workshops and
activities informally- what is
working and what is not and
what presenters were
effective Survey members
reaction to activities and
How can all instructors be
evaluated and what would be
the criteria
Consider:
-design instructor eval and
borrow from NL instructor eval
-design consistent ,simple
participant evaluation tool
based on learning objectives

workforce.
WHAT WE DO NOW QUESTIONS/ISSUES/GAPS WHAT WE COULD DO/
OUR PRIORITIES
interest in future
and application of training
activities/topics. Members are
content
informed about these
- identify outcomes and then
principles and their uses;
how to measure if we
informed about different
addressed them (NL is resource
evaluation methods. Formal
for this- attend advisor
evaluation report created
meeting)
biannually for funder (CDD)
that includes these principles.