This article was published in 2002 in Child and Youth Care Forum. This article built off several studies in Pennsylvania which clearly demonstrated the lack of an effective professional development system, especially involving infant toddler caregivers. The mentoring/coaching intervention as designed and described in this article was revised and enhanced in several other studies to follow in order to address this major gap in the professional development system in Pennsylvania.

These other studies will be described in subsequent posts in which the coaching intervention was utilized by child care health consultants: ECELS-Early Childhood Education Linkage System, was used online: Better Kid Care, and was used as a micro-learning problem solving approach: iLookOut. This line of research helped to complete the Early Childhood Program Quality Improvement and Indicator Model’s quality initiative sector by adding professional development to Quality Rating and Improvement Systems and Accreditation Systems.