Early Childhood Coaches

The Colorado Competencies for Early Childhood Coaches are meant to serve as the key guide to coaching as a professional discipline and adult learning strategy within Colorado’s early childhood professional arena. The Colorado Competencies for Early Childhood Coaches are designed to be used interactively; by aligning the domains, competencies, indicators lists, and lenses, early childhood coaches can provide the most impactful support for their coaching partners. It is an adjustable dial that they can modify to use in their work through its changes and discoveries. Coach partners may work with the tool to support shared remembering, understanding, and applying information as well as to evaluate, analyze and create—especially to create new indicators. Specifically, this tool supports the partnership to discover the indicators that pertain to their professional development-driven outcomes. The tool recognizes that a comprehensive list of indicators cannot be fully articulated in advance of the actual practice of the coach and their partner. 

Coaching is an adult learning strategy that relies on co-construction of knowledge and reflective capacity to transform both participants' practices. Coaching draws on observations for collaborative analysis and decision-making with the coaching partner that inform planning to build upon the positive, equitable experiences children and families have daily. 

Experienced early childhood professionals wishing to share their expertise with others may choose to follow a coaching career path. Visit About the Coach Credential to learn more about becoming an early childhood coach, the coach credential, and its requirements.