QCC Workforce Pathways Program (WDP)
The Santa Cruz County QCC Workforce Pathways Grant is designed to align with the Quality California Counts (QCC) professional development system and focus on the local workforce needs across all early learning and care type settings. The QCC Workforce Pathway program offers support for early educators in three ways: Workforce Advising, Professional Development and Higher Education. All areas are recognized as essential to ensuring early learning and care professionalism, and to improve the quality of care they provide to young children. Training topics are guided by state recommendations and investments in researched based topic areas such as: Dual Language Learners, child and environmental assessments, social emotional development and family engagement. The QCC Workforce Development Pathway program informs and supports early educators through the state professional development system in order to increase the professional advancement of early educators and increase the quality of early learning offered to children enrolled in their programs.
The QCC Workforce Pathways Program, in collaboration with the QCC Local Consortia and Partners, represents investments by the CDE/ELCD to support a statewide Quality Improvement System and Quality Rating and Improvement System. It will continue to encourage QCC system alignment in order to build a stronger quality system.