Who We Are

We are team of early childhood professionals from many agencies and organizations in Arizona dedicated to improving the outcomes of children in our state.

Purpose

To provide early childhood professionals throughout Arizona equitable access to high-quality professional development using ECHO. ECHO stands for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes. Increased access will provide opportunities to increase the knowledge, confidence, and skills of early childhood professionals.

What is Project ECHO®?

Project ECHO® is a lifelong learning and guided practice model that exponentially increases workforce capacity to provide the application of best practices. The heart of the ECHO model is its hub-and-spoke knowledge-sharing networks, led by expert teams who use multi-point videoconferencing to conduct learning sessions about evidence-based practices in education, health, and disability services. With this method, educators, healthcare providers, special service providers, case managers, administrators, and families have access to expert advice right in their homes, schools, and offices.

ECHO: Moving knowledge, connecting people.

What is AZ Early Childhood PD Collaborative?

AZ Early Childhood Professional Development Collaborative (AZ Early Childhood PD Collaborative for short) is a topic-focused virtual learning community for early childhood professionals and their communities. Together we grow our expertise on how best to address the needs of young children. ECHO trainings include research-based best practices, idea sharing and recommendations, and collaboration with peers, experts, and professionals across the state. ECHO strives to make expert knowledge accessible to everyone through high quality online trainings.

Participants include, but are not limited to, directors/administrators, teachers/assistants, family child care providers, instructors/teaching assistants, home visitors, early interventionists (ECEs, OTs, PTs, and SLPs), service coordinators, prospective teachers/assistants, and college students.

AZ Early Childhood PD Collaborative is a collaboration among the ASU College of Health Solutions, other ASU colleges, state agencies, and community organizations. We support existing early childhood professional development systems to address community-specific training needs. We provide a way for professional development providers to extend the reach and impact of their evidence-based training in Arizona through ECHO.

Community Partners (Join us!)

• Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children

• Arizona Department of Education

• Department of Economic Security - Arizona Early Intervention Program

• Department of Economic Security - Division of Child Care

• F.A.C.E.S. of AZ

• First Things First

• Raising Special Kids

• Tucson Regional Educator Collaborative

• United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona

Benefits of Joining

• Collaborative problem-solving with other early childhood professionals in AZ

• Professional development and training from any location using a smartphone, tablet, or computer at no cost.

• Support, training, and empowerment to implement best practices.

• Interactive case study discussion and recommendations from experts and fellow colleagues.

• Increase job satisfaction and retention of professionals and administrators.

• Increase the skills of young children that make them successful in school and in life.

• Potential for CEU or other professional credits.