ECE Professionals Resources

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This list is for informational purposes only. No official endorsement of any practice, publication, program, or individual by the TECPDS is intended or is to be inferred. Online programs, course offerings, and Web page addresses change frequently, so the information contained on this page may have already changed. Please check with your local and state licensing agencies to be sure the resource you are interested in will meet your licensing requirements.

ECE Career Pathways

Also known as a career ladder or career lattice, a career pathway relates a professional’s training hours, education, work experience, and other factors to a position on the career pathway, from entry-level to expertise in the early childhood field. Additionally, professionals can advance levels on the career pathway by gaining more professional experience, or obtaining additional education credentials, such as a Child Development Associate (CDA) degree, Bachelor’s degree, or beyond. Ideally, professionals will use this information to guide their professional development in the future and market themselves to employers and parents. The Texas Early Learning Council developed the first statewide career pathway for early childhood educators and administrators in 2012, and TECPDS has updated and expanded career pathways. Review the Texas ECE career pathways on the Career Hub.

Career Hub

Professional Development Resources

TECPDS Professional Development Self-Assessments

Use the TECPDS professional development self-assessments for your personal professional development planning, and to support your staff! Align your professional development to the Texas Core Competencies for Early Childhood Practitioners and Administrators, identify gaps, and plan your next professional development opportunities.

Sector-Specific Professional Development Requirements

Online Training Resources

Higher Education

  • Resources developed by the Texas Early Learning Council:
    • Texas Early Childhood Education Degree Articulation Toolkit (published 2013, updated 2017)
    • Texas Higher Education Capacity and Effectiveness Survey (completed 2013)

Content-Specific Resources

Featuring resources from TECPDS and our partners.

Obesity Prevention Resources

ECE settings are one of the places to help young children build a foundation for healthy living. High-quality ECE programming can have a positive impact on a child’s social-emotional well-being, educational achievement, health, and socioeconomic outcomes later in life. Promoting physical activity and encouraging healthy behaviors support children during early development and later in life. Early childhood is a critical time for obesity prevention because it’s a phase where children begin to develop taste preferences, learn to walk and play, and copy the behaviors they see.

In working together to ensure that these opportunities for quality training exist, we provide children with a greater likelihood of being a healthy weight, preventing chronic diseases, and improving academic success and classroom behaviors.

Texas Department of Agriculture

  • Child and Adult Care Food Program: One-stop for everything related to the federally funded Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) in Texas
  • Get Started with CACFP: Information on getting started in CACFP for Adult Care Centers, Child Care Centers, Day Care Homes, and Afterschool At-Risk Programs

Texas A&M Agrilife

  • Nutrition and Physical Activity: Access a collection of online training courses on topics related to nutrition and physical activity for young children
  • Texas Healthy Building Blocks: Access online training courses designed to support ECE programs in implementing best practices in obesity prevention

Child Care Regulation Technical Assistance Library: Technical Assistance is the provision of information, advice, training, and consultation provided to a child care operation to help comply with, maintain, and/or more effectively meet minimum standards and achieve program excellence. This page holds a collection of resources commonly used by Child Care Regulation staff to provide Technical Assistance.

Children with Disabilities: Resources to Share with Families

Funding Opportunities