Let's talk about Professional Development!

Last week, we introduced the revised Core Body of Knowledge (CBK) and why it matters for early childhood educators across New York. If you missed it, you can read it here.

The 2024 revision of the CBK introduces two major updates for early childhood trainers to be aware of:

• Separation of Core Competency Areas: Practices previously grouped under "Environment and Curriculum" (Core Competency Area 4) are now split into two distinct sections: 4. Learning Environment and 5. Curriculum and Teaching.
• Focus on Direct Care and Teaching Roles: The new CBK includes competencies exclusively for professionals in direct care and teaching positions. Competencies for program leaders are being developed separately and will be released digitally in early 2026.

In addition, the updated CBK expands its content to include important areas such as:

• Equity-focused practices
• Strategies for supporting multilingual learners
• Teaching academic subject matter
• Addressing stress, adversity, and trauma
• Supporting executive function development
• Integrating technology into early learning contexts

The CBK also aligns with other key standards, including:

• The New York State Teaching Standards
• NAEYC’s Professional Standards and Competencies
• The InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards

Coming up next week: We’ll share how these changes will impact your training work — and the timeline for transitioning to the revised CBK.

For a full overview, visit the Institute’s blog post: A New CBK Is On the Way