Facts In Action

The message from research about school-age programs is unequivocal: qualified, well-trained and stable staff members are the essential ingredients in creating high-quality environments for children. But what makes a staff member qualified? People enter the school-age field from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. College teacher-training programs rarely offer courses specific to school-age programs. Other training programs geared toward school-age issues may offer the same basic courses over and over. School-age staff who have the dedication and interest to seek out training to improve their skills are often discouraged because the courses they take seldom lead to either a degree or even to advancement at their own programs. Many wind up leaving the field, which is evidenced by the extremely high turnover rate of nearly 60%.

In order to tackle these difficult obstacles to attracting and retaining qualified, well-trained and stable staff, a broad coalition of Massachusetts school-age practitioners and other experts led by the Massachusetts School-Age Coalition (MSAC) and involving more than 60 organizations set out to construct a coordinated and comprehensive professional development system dedicated to improving the work of school-age practitioners.

The first step of the process was to identify "core competencies" - key areas of knowledge and skills necessary to provide quality services to children - which form the cornerstone of professional development efforts. After an extensive review process - with guidance sought from members of several minority communities to gain a multicultural perspective, MSAC published the final document, entitled Core Competencies for Massachusetts School-Age Practitioners. It is divided into eight categories, ranging from child and youth development to program management. The numerous competencies represent what experts believe are the "best practices" that, if mastered, will result in high-quality services and positive outcomes for children and youth in school-age programs.

A number of other states that have developed core competencies for early childhood providers have gone on to use them as building blocks to develop a comprehensive professional development system. Oregon and Connecticut are two examples of states that have career development registries, which track individuals' achievement of core competencies, and career ladders or lattices, which establish levels of achievement that can be tied to salary increases.

Professional development is a process - these competencies provide both immediate and long-term strategies in addressing the professional development needs of the field. They can be used at the program level, as a way to measure outcomes in staff development, and encourage the progress and training of staff members. They can be used to assess and evaluate staff when making decisions about hiring or promotion. Ideally, these competencies will form the foundation for a new professional development system in Massachusetts.

The development of the Core Competencies for Massachusetts School-Age Practitioners is a first step in improving the professional development of school-age staff, and thus the quality of school-age programs. The ultimate beneficiaries, however, will be the thousands of children and families throughout the state who rely on school-age programs every day. Better quality staff mean better quality programs, which mean more enriching experiences, and better futures for children.

Copies of the Core Competencies for Massachusetts School-Age Practitioners are available for $15 each. Discounts are offered to MSAC members and to those ordering multiple copies.

For more information:
on the core competencies, trainings and how to order copies, contact Massachusetts School-Age Coalition, 745 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, (617) 522-9550.

Facts in Action, April 2002