Creating an Effective System of Teacher Preparation and Professional Development

With the expansion in publicly funded prekindergarten programs across the country, a number of policy initiatives are aiming to bring these various providers of preschool services together to create coordinated systems of early care and education. This article reports the findings of a focus group study with stakeholders at all levels of the preschool teacher development system in New Jersey after it had been in operation for 4 years. The reported experiences of these early childhood stakeholders offer insights into what is needed for such a system to work and the barriers preventing coordination of services and how they might be addressed in other states.