About Us

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TECPDS is a statewide program designed to meet the professional development needs of those working in the early childhood field.

TECPDS supports early childhood professionals by providing them with resources and tools (through our growing Career Hub) to help them meet their professional development needs. TECPDS defines professional development as any opportunity that enhances the knowledge and skills of those working with young children, including training, education, and employment. Housed at the Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) at UTHealth Houston, TECPDS is one of several statewide programs managed by CLI to support the early childhood system, including programs, professionals, and families across the state, as part of its role as the Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development.

TECPDS serves as Texas’ early childhood workforce registry, offers opportunities to learn about the workforce through aggregate reporting, and houses the Texas Trainer Registry, one of the approved pathways to deliver training for Texas child care programs.

Texas Workforce Registry

Housed within TECPDS, the Texas Workforce Registry is a web-based application for early childhood professionals to keep track of all of their education, professional development, and employment history accrued during their careers. Through a free TECPDS account, early childhood professionals can create a professional development profile, view reports, link to their program or school, connect to the WorkInTexas.com job search resource and matching system, and evaluate trainings presented by Registered Trainers.

The Texas Workforce Registry is designed for all early childhood professionals, including pre-service teachers and students, educators and others working in the classroom, administrators and school leaders, and specialists supporting other professionals through coaching, mentoring, and training.

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Texas Trainer Registry

The Texas Trainer Registry, housed on TECPDS, is a statewide system that approves early childhood trainers and their trainings. Trainers listed on the Texas Trainer Registry (“Registered Trainers”) have gone through an approval process that is defined by a set of qualifications which include early childhood expertise and experience, and knowledge of adult learning theories and principles. The training approval process is linked to core competencies, principles of adult learning, and other standards, such as early learning guidelines. Registered Trainers can advance to higher levels on the trainer pathway through ongoing training and demonstration of high-quality training practices. To locate a trainer listed on the Texas Trainer Registry or the trainings they offer, visit the Search Trainers/Trainings page.

Apply to Be a Registered Trainer

TECPDS also offers opportunities for organizations that provide training to formally connect their trainings and trainers to TECPDS through an organizational dashboard. Currently, this opportunity is available for non-profit training organizations or organizations in formal agreements with the Texas Workforce Commission to provide professional development. 

As part of the Career Hub, TECPDS offers resources for all early childhood professionals who deliver training, including the Certificate Generation Tool.

Early Childhood Workforce Data

As the state’s early childhood workforce registry, TECPDS offers opportunities to learn about the composition and characteristics of the early childhood workforce through aggregate reporting. The volume of career records, including professional development, education, credentials, and employment, has steadily increased over time, now surpassing more than 1 million records. TECPDS offers a record verification service (currently available for specific programs) to verify the accuracy and authenticity of many records uploaded into the system.

The annual State of the ECE Workforce Report offers snapshot aggregate analyses of the workforce data uploaded into TECPDS for the entire state and regions (as defined by local workforce development boards). See additional reporting available in the ECE Reports, although these reports display data aggregated from the database and may include inconsistencies. Please contact us for additional information.

State of the ECE Workforce Report

Career Hub

TECPDS offers many tools and resources to support all early childhood professionals to advance their career pathway by connecting to advancement resources, including professional development, education, credentials, and work experience across all early childhood settings. Explore the TECPDS Career Hub to view our growing network of career advancement tools.

Career Hub

Get started by creating your free account, then logging in to see all of our tools and resources.

History

TECPDS was launched in 2013 and continues to expand and enhance professional development opportunities, resources, and tools for early childhood professionals.

Formerly known as the Texas Early Care and Education Career Development System (TECECDS), the Texas Early Childhood Professional Development System (TECPDS), housed at the Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) at UTHealth Houston, was developed through a joint project of the Texas Head Start Collaboration Office (TXHSCO) and the Texas Early Learning Council (TELC).

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and TXHSCO offer ongoing support and guidance for TECPDS. Through a partnership with TWC, the Texas Workforce Registry on TECPDS is formally integrated with the Texas Rising Star assessment process for its Category 1 Director and Staff Qualifications and Training measures (learn more about how TECPDS is used in the state QRIS). State and local funding offered opportunities to continue enhancing the tools and resources on the system, including the Find My Career Pathway tool to better guide professional development planning, a statewide job board, and more.

For more information on the system’s initial development as a whole, please refer to the Texas Early Learning Council’s 2010-2013 archive.

Advisory Council

TECPDS is supported by several staff members at the Children’s Learning Institute at UTHealth Houston and a dedicated advisory council with diverse experience in the Texas early childhood sector that provides guidance and support to TECPDS.

Nicole Allen, Fort Worth, TX – Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County
Elizabeth Beavers, Houston, TX – University of Houston at Clear Lake School of Education
Jyrah Knight, Dallas, TX – First3Years
April Crawford, PhD, Houston, TX – Children’s Learning Institute at UTHealth Houston
Alferma Giles, PhD, Houston, TX – Texas Head Start Collaboration Office
Sue Hancock, San Antonio, TX – Hancock P.D. Resources & Counseling
Tracy Anne Jones, EdD, Houston, TX – Texas Early Childhood Professional Development System
Lindsay Stephens, Austin, TX – Texas Workforce Commission
Pamela Benson Owens, Austin, TX – Texas Association for the Education of Young Children
Sylina Valdez, Austin, TX – Texas Education Agency
Albert Talley, Pasadena, TX – San Jacinto College
Allison Martinez, Austin, TX – Texas Department of Health & Human Services
Kim Kofron, Austin, TX- Children at Risk
Dianne Nielsen, Rockport, TX – Children’s Coalition of Aransas County
LaShonda Brown-Hollins, Houston, TX – Children’s Learning Institute at UTHealth Houston
Jodi Nerren, College Station, TX – Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Robert DeHaas, Dallas, TX – Dallas College
Missy Sanchez, Austin, TX – Open Door Preschool