July 10, 2018
Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities awarded $1.2 million contract
Submitted by College of Human Ecology
The Kansas State University-founded program, Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities, or KCCTO, has been awarded a $1.2 million one-year contract that began July 1, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods.
This contract is a continued extension of a September 2012 contract funded through the Kansas Department for Children and Families Child Care Development Block Grant Funds. The funds helped to establish the Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities trainer directory and training delivery system as well as the Child Development Associate resources center and scholarship program.
The new contract will be used to support early childhood education across Kansas by improving training and technical assistance opportunities that are made available to providers in person and through virtual assistance.
"In the new project, we will be able to enhance our content specific technical assistance to providers in addition to providing training," said Patty Peschel, Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities program director. "Different variations of technical assistance include providing coaching, mentoring and peer-to-peer support."
Founded in 1986 by K-State Human Ecology faculty in the School of Family Studies and Human Services, the Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities has a long-standing history of supplying training and resources for licensure and credentialing to early childhood facilities throughout the state, and currently reaches the majority of providers within the first 30 days of their employment. Since its founding, the program has continuously broadened the breadth of individuals they serve, in large part because of the implementation of online learning, logging more than 67,000 unique training enrollments last year.
According to Bronwyn Fees, a member at large of the Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities board of directors and an associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Human Ecology, the focus of the Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities has always been on providing professional development for those who work with young children in various capacities.
In addition, the grant will support the expansion of Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities training to include school-age providers, the formation of a statewide professional development advisory committee, and the creation of a statewide calendar of professional development events and training opportunities provided by Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities and their partners.
To learn more about Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities, visit kccto.org.