Early Childhood
Professional Development Center

The purpose of the Professional Development Center is to improve the reflective practice of early childhood educators by

1) training educators to use clear objectives for children's development as the basis for developmentally appropriate program and assessment, and

2) consulting with administrators and their staff members during the process of implementing new approaches.

Our Professional Development Center programs are based on the philosophy that trainers are most effective when they are master teachers themselves, have advance knowledge of the contexts in which trainees work, and can have long-term contact with trainees for both initial training and follow-up consulting. Similarly, trainees learn best in small groups that are conducive to discussion, when they have detailed documentation of seminar principles and clear practical examples to follow, and with strong support from their administrators and active consulting on implementation after the initial training.

Opportunities at the Professional Development Center

• We design unique programs that equip individual educators or staffs to apply the seminar principles to their centers based on their students, staff, clients, and facilities.

• We offer workshops designed specifically for administrators and head teachers.

• We offer consult services for new programs in goal specification, curriculum and assessment design.

• We offer one, two and five day workshops that focus on developmentally appropriate goals for program structure and assessment design.

• We can support your staff by facilitating brainstorming sessions that focus on setting goals for your program.

• We offer a workshop focused on strategies for developing thematic units.

• We offer hands-on workshops that explore ways to use Cooking, Science, Math, Computers, Large Motor activities and Visual Arts to provide a variety of unique learning experiences for your students.

For more information on our program and attending upcoming seminars or scheduling a workshop, contact Dr. Sharon Carver at (412) 268-1499 or sc0e@andrew.cmu.edu.