Director Credential Update

Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/director-credential-update/5011084/

Director Credential Update

In October of 1995, Work/Family Directions hosted a Director Credential Symposium in Boston funded by the American Business Collaborative. This meeting was the culmination of mounting evidence that the performance of the director is a key determinant of a center's level of quality. Meeting participants, who represented a wide variety of sectors in our field, concluded that a director's credential would be an effective means of stimulating the improvement of director performance. Eventually a loose coalition of these meeting participants, referred to as the Director's Credential Caucus and currently chaired by Roger Neugebauer, agreed to widen the discussion about a credential.

In various meetings across the country, including most recently NAEYC's Professional Development Forum in Minneapolis, caucus members organized presentations and brainstorming sessions about director development and the concept of a credential. In addition, readers of Child Care Information Exchange were surveyed about their views on a director credential. This update will summarize points of consensus that appear to be emerging from the discussions to date, as well as outline where we need to go from here.

Points of Agreement

_ A center director credential has merit. A credential would recognize and promulgate the professionalism of ...