.png)
Red Rocks Community College’s Child Care Development Specialist Apprenticeship Program helps job seekers and early learning professionals choose their path to becoming early childhood educators.
With campuses in Lakewood and Arvada, Colorado, Red Rocks Community College’s Child Care Innovations department is helping address rising costs & labor shortages in the Child Care industry through Registered Apprenticeship programs designed to help job seekers launch a career in early childhood education.
Their two-year Apprenticeship program allows childcare teachers to get support from their employers to increase the quality of their early childhood programs. Apprentices work collaboratively with their support network to develop professional development plans that fit the needs of today’s workforce.
Last month, we sat down with Julia Brink, Quality Improvement Coordinator at Childcare Innovations to learn more about the inner workings of their innovative Apprenticeship program and how they're using ApprentiScope to support it.
Child Care Innovations
Red Rocks Community College's Child Care Innovations department manages diverse funding provided by the state, federal, county, and private contracts, and fees. The department also operates the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency that serves neighboring counties.
The department’s primary goal is to ensure all children in its service area have opportunities to thrive and develop to their fullest potential. Child Care Innovations sees improving quality, access, availability, and equity in early childhood services as the pathway to achieving this.
The organization provides regulatory services, training, and support for caregivers and early childhood professionals, as well as advocacy and innovative community partnerships to promote the importance of early childhood experiences, their connection to school readiness, and the overall health of families and communities.
Brink stresses how an early childhood Apprenticeship program ties into these goals.
“With a lot of support from Red Rocks, we’ve been able to develop our early childhood Apprenticeship program, which at first was a time-based program but was recently adapted to be a competency-based program to help early childhood educators become teacher and director-qualified."
Julia Brink, Quality Improvement Coordinator at Childcare Innovations
The Curriculum
The curriculum differs from most early childhood programming. There’s no standard that says apprentices must take specific coursework. Rather, apprentices aged 16 and up are required to have 306 hours of education – be it post-secondary or academic education – training through Colorado Shines Professional Development System, or other training programs. The Child Development Associate credential is a national training program apprentices can participate in.
Brink says anything apprentices do, including college courses or training programs, ties into the required 306 hours. The program also requires 4,000 hours of work-based learning in early childhood programs.
The goal of the Apprenticeship is for apprentices to gain full-time employment and demonstrate the required competencies for early childhood teachers and directors in Colorado.
Participating employers benefit because apprentices provide needed support for teachers in the classroom, assist their needs to get staff qualified, and develop committed staff that will stay on long after the Apprenticeship ends.
Required Competencies
Apprentices must demonstrate their knowledge of early childhood education during the program, according to Brink.
Beyond mastering 86 competencies, apprentices must show their skills in the classroom, in written research, or in an interview. “This ensures they have base knowledge related to child development theory processes and things like that,” she adds.
The program also partners with workforce centers to ensure apprentices learn applicable job skills, such as conflict management and conflict resolution, working as part of a team, and more.
Once students master the required competencies, they receive nationally recognized U.S. Department of Labor credentials showing they have completed the program. Apprentices also meet the credentialing requirements for Colorado through the Professional Development Information System, known as PDIS, achieving a Credential Level 2 or higher, depending on the apprentice’s goal.
“These credentials will help them work in a child care program independently. They could essentially run a classroom of newborns to five-year-olds.”
Julia Brink, Quality Improvement Coordinator at Childcare Innovations
Not without Challenges
There is a heavy lift at the beginning of every new endeavor, including the Child Care Innovations Apprenticeship program. The program initially experienced funding challenges and struggled to navigate the U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship Standards Process.
“Funding is always an issue for early childhood Apprenticeships because of the low rate of pay for teachers in the classrooms. People often see these individuals as not having a degree. But when taking care of young children, a degree isn't always required. It’s more important to understand the technical skill, theory, and practice.”
Julia Brink, Quality Improvement Coordinator at Childcare Innovations
It was difficult to learn what the U.S. Department of Labor required, according to Brink. She notes the college received some misinformation along the way. Child Care Innovations also needed to work closely with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and the U.S. Department of Labor, which she says sometimes made communications difficult. This is another reason they decided to use ApprentiScope, she said. Having a single source of truth for their Registered Apprenticeship programs made a huge impact on the quality of communications, employee onboarding, and continuous administration.
Advice for Others
Before starting any Apprenticeship, especially one in a community college, recognize where people are,” says Brink. “Whether writing a program or considering a program, look at training and components, look at the field, and consider what is absolutely needed to perform that job and reflect that. And consider the support apprentices need to succeed.”
All training is free for students in the Child Care Innovations Apprenticeship program. Brink says apprentices receive money for their education. “We also support mentors, teachers, and journey workers who work with apprentices. It is important to consider all the people working in the program,” Brink says.
Funding supports are provided for:
- Employers: Childcare centers receive $1,000 when an apprentice completes the probationary period and funds to cover substitute costs when apprentices must attend training or mentoring sessions.
- Mentors: These individuals receive funds to cover mentor training and $500 stipends twice a year for experienced teachers serving as mentors.
- Apprentices: Receive up to $1,500 per semester to cover education costs and a $500 stipend at the start of the program to support upfront costs such as child care, living expenses, and other wraparound supports. Apprentices also receive $500 when their six-month probationary period ends.
Future Goals
Child Care Innovations has been around for a long time, despite its Apprenticeship program is new. The new program will help the department provide quality training and workforce support in early childhood education throughout the state of Colorado.
Child Care Innovations is collaborating with the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to form statewide registered Apprenticeships so that every Apprenticeship need not register with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Help from ApprentiScope
The Child Care Innovations Apprenticeship program achieves its goals with the help of ApprentiScope.
The added IT support and flexibility of our platform make it a big draw. Brink says ApprentiScope's IT department is quick to adapt to their needs. “They are always willing to add a new feature that will help us support our apprentices,” she says.
The software helps track apprentices from application to completion, including training, trends, completion successes, case management notes, spending, and more.
“To put those components into one system and use it for multiple programming is something we’ve sought for a long time. With Apprenticeships, ApprentiScope is great and useful. But when we started using it for multiple programming, that’s when it became really exciting. I love it so much. It has made my job so much easier.”
Julia Brink, Quality Improvement Coordinator at Childcare Innovations
