The Commission on Teacher Credentialing recently completed a three-year statewide partnership known as UPLIFT CA to support Governor Gavin Newsom’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care.

UPLIFT CA stands for Universities and Partners Learning, Innovating, Fostering Equity, Transforming California ECE Degrees. The partnership included multiple California State University (CSU) campuses, community colleges, state agencies, and early childhood care and education providers.

Sacramento State led the project that was funded with a $4.5 million grant from the Early Educator Investment Collaborative. UPLIFT CA focused on preparing teachers to work with dual-language learners, increasing diversity among the pool of early childhood educators, and fostering closer partnerships between two- and four-year institutions of higher education, according to Phyllis Jacobson, Commission administrator and UPLIFT CA liaison who worked on the grant application.

“When the PK-3 credential was introduced, it changed the dynamic of UPLIFT,” said Pia Lindquist Wong, project leader and interim faculty director, Innovation Center for Early Childhood Education, Sacramento State. “To have the CTC along as a partner made our work feel very powerful and made us even more targeted.”

The UPLIFT project includes the following key accomplishments:

  • Five community colleges with Curriculum Alignment Project (CAP8) courses were streamlined with ECE Teaching Performance Expectations in order for students to benefit from a smooth articulation from two- to four-year institutions.
  • The creation of a Dual Language Observation Tool that has been field-tested and is being integrated into ECE programs of several partner two-and four-year campuses.
  • Extensive training and community of practice sessions focused on high quality instruction and curriculum for dual language learners and their families offered to hundreds of ECE professionals and faculty throughout the state.
  • The development of PK-3 ECE Specialist Instruction Program Design Principles which are available for any CSU or other campuses interested in developing this new credential program and multiple onramps.

The Collaborative aims to elevate the ECE workforce, break down systemic barriers in higher education for early educator students of color, and promote professional workforce compensation.

Updated July 31, 2024