About The ECHO Consortium
The ECHO Consortium
- Is a collaborative effort of Early Childhood Faculty to address the new unified early childhood licensure in Kansas.
- Promotes levels of involvement and participation of individual college/university early childhood preservice education programs for delivery of professional development courses across Kansas colleges/universities.
- Is meeting the goals of Kansas State Department of Education – Early Childhood Supplement to the State Improvement Grant.
- Is an effort to address the high demand of educators for young children.
- Supports the delivery of preservice programs by individual colleges/universities.
- Provides a forum for collaboratively developing courses to support statewide accessibility.
ECHO's Guiding Principles
- Committed to the early education of all children from birth through 3rd grade and their families
- Respond to the needs of all higher education students
- Respect individual and institutional differences
- Accept each other as partners
- Seek input from all interested stakeholders
- Maximize available resources
A Brief History of the ECHO Consortium
- December 2001 - State Improvement Grant hosted meeting of Faculty from Institutions of Higher Education
- Spring/Summer 2002 - Institutions of Higher Education Early Childhood Task Force developed to focus on teacher licensure redesign
- July 2002 - KSBE approves unified birth - 3rd grade license
- Fall 2002 - State Improvement Grant Supplement Proposal Submitted and Funded (2/1/03-1/31/04)
- Fall 2002 - ECHO Group Formalized
- January 2003 - ECHO Phase I Awards to Institutions of Higher Education
- February, 2004 - ECHO Phase II of grant - RFP to develop distance education classes
- Summer/Fall 2004 - Development of on-line courses
- Fall 2004/Spring 2005 - the courses developed through ECHO support first offered on-line
- 2006 - Reviewed online systems for delivery of common coursework
- 2007 -Collected information for dissemination of basic data for Kansas Early Childhood Teachers Training Programs
- Provided copies of curriculum-based assessment tools for Kansas ECO system to all IHE Early Childhood Training Programs
- 2008 - Focused on feedback to Kansas State Department of Education regarding Kansas Performance Assessment
- 2009 - Collected descriptive information regarding training programs for dissemination to stakeholder groups
- 2010 - Provided information and participated in presentation to P-20 Council
- 2011 - Provided data and information to Kansas State Department of Education for the Early Childhood Race to the Top Application
- 2013 - Provided information to Kansas Early Childhood Advisory Council - Professional Development Workgroup information related to articulation
- 2015 - Provided Input and Development for Revision of the ECU Licensure standards
- 2015 - Developed four information flyers related to early childhood
- Early Childhood Programs/Settings Acceptable as "accredited experience" related to Licensure Upgrade/Renewal
- Can I collect Categorical Aid?
- Where Can Early Childhood Educators Look for Employment?
- Who Can I Hire as a Teacher/Early Interventionist?
- 2015 - Developed and Presented to State Board of Education a Position Statement on the Prekindergarten/Kindergarten Assignment Policy.