The Division of Child Care was invited to work with the Governor’s
Office of Early Childhood and many other early childhood
partners to revise the Early Childhood Core Content Standards
starting in July 2025. The committee has worked diligently to
better align and define the Early Childhood Core Content
Standards to fit all fields of Early Childhood Education across
Kentucky. GOEC’s description of the Kentucky Core Content
Standards explains, “The Kentucky Core Content Standards are a
set of guidelines that define what early childhood educators in
Kentucky should know and be able to do to support the
development, learning, and well-being of young children.”
Additionally, this work led into the revision of the Kentucky Early
Childhood Education Professional Career Pathway. The new ECE
Professional Career Pathway is structured to offer several entry
points to the different 5 different levels and shows a clear way of
progression for professionals in the ECE field. The new Career
Pathways continues to bridge the gaps between different fields
that Early Childhood Education serves in Kentucky including Head
Start, child care programs, certified in-home programs, out-ofschool
time care, public preschool and Montessori early
education.
The next steps are to continue to work on revising the Professional
Development Framework system to support the growth and
development of Early Childhood Educators in Kentucky. You can
learn more by viewing:

“Growing Professionals: Kentucky’s Guide to Early Childhood Development”

https://kyecac.ky.gov/career-pathway/Pages/default.aspx

Article written by Andrea Day, Director of DCC.