(a) A program must provide to all new staff, consultants, and volunteers an orientation that focuses on, at a minimum, the goals and underlying philosophy of the program and on the ways they are implemented.

(b) A program must establish and implement a systematic approach to staff training and professional development designed to assist staff in acquiring or increasing the knowledge and skills needed to provide high-quality, comprehensive services within the scope of their job responsibilities, and attached to academic credit as appropriate, and integrated with employee engagement practices in accordance with § 1302.101(a)(2). At a minimum, the system must include:

(1) Staff completing a minimum of 15 clock hours of professional development per year. For teaching staff, such professional development must meet the requirements described in section 648A(a)(5)29 of the Act, and includes creating individual professional development plans as described in section 648A(f) of the Act;

(2) Annual training on mandatory reporting of suspected or known child abuse and neglect, that complies with applicable Federal, State, local, and Tribal laws;

(3) Annual training on positive strategies to understand and support children’s social and emotional development, such as tools for managing children’s behavior;

(4) Training for child and family services staff on best practices for implementing family engagement strategies in a systemic way, as described throughout this part;

(5) Training for child and family services staff, including staff that work on family services, health, and disabilities, that builds their knowledge, experience, and competencies to improve child and family outcomes; and,

(6) Research-based approaches to professional development for education staff, that are focused on effective curricula implementation, knowledge of the content in Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five, partnering with families, supporting children with disabilities and their families, providing effective and nurturing adult-child interactions, supporting dual language learners as appropriate, addressing challenging behaviors, preparing children and families for transitions (as described in subpart G of this part), and use of data to individualize learning experiences to improve outcomes for all children.

(c) A program must implement a research-based, coordinated coaching strategy for education staff that:

(1) Assesses all education staff to identify strengths, areas of needed support, and which staff would benefit most from intensive coaching;

(2) At a minimum, provides opportunities for intensive coaching to those education staff identified through the process in paragraph (c)(1) of this section, including opportunities to be observed and receive feedback and modeling of effective teacher practices directly related to program performance goals;

(3) At a minimum, provides opportunities for education staff not identified for intensive coaching through the process in paragraph (c)(1) of this section to receive other forms of research-based professional development aligned with program performance goals;

(4) Ensures intensive coaching opportunities for the staff identified through the process in paragraph (c)(1) of this section that:

(i) Align with the program’s school readiness goals, curricula, and other approaches to professional development;

(ii) Utilize a coach with adequate training and experience in adult learning and in using assessment data to drive coaching strategies aligned with program performance goals;

(iii) Provide ongoing communication between the coach, program director, education director, and any other relevant staff; and,

(iv) Include clearly articulated goals informed by the program’s goals, as described in §1302.102, and a process for achieving those goals; and,

(5) Establishes policies that ensure assessment results are not used to solely determine punitive actions for staff identified as needing support, without providing time and resources for staff to improve.

(d) If a program needs to develop or significantly adapt their approach to research-based professional development to better meet the training needs of education staff, such that it does not include the requirements in paragraph (c) of this section, the program must partner with external early childhood education professional development experts. A program must assess whether the adaptation adequately supports staff professional development, consistent with the process laid out in subpart J of this part.