PITC Academy for Program Directors
The Academy supports leaders in guiding educators to provide high-quality care for infants and toddlers in partnership with their families.
8 hours of training
English
Free event for California residents
The Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) Academy for Program Directors is a virtual event for infant/toddler program leaders that builds awareness and supports the utilization of new materials developed as part of the California Early Learning and Development System. The Academy for Program Directors is presented by the PITC, a collaboration between the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and WestEd.
EVENT DETAILS:
- Tuesday, November 10, 2026
- Thursday, November 12, 2026
- Tuesday, November 17, 2026
- Thursday, November 19, 2026
All sessions are held from 1:00-3:00 p.m. (PT).
The foundation of this year’s event is the new California Framework for Infant-Toddler Learning and Development (IT Framework), a recently updated publication from WestEd and CDSS replaces the California Infant-Toddler Curriculum Framework, ITLDF. This new resource is not a curriculum, but a framework for supporting each child’s unique approach to learning and development.
Please note, while the training is conducted in English, the publication is available in English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese, making the content available to all.
For questions, contact PITCEvents@wested.org.
Click on the following sections below to find out more information, then submit your online application by October 15.
For application support, refer to the "MyPITC.org Guidance" tab.
The application consists of four sections:
- Contact
- Organization
- Education and Employment
- Statement of Interest (include details about how your participation will positively impact your program)
- All sections must be completed with sufficient detail to evaluate your related experience and interest in attending the training. Refer to “Review Criteria” section below for guidance.
- Once all sections are completed, make sure to select the Submit button.
- Be sure to check your email (including junk and spam folder) for confirmation that your application was submitted.
- Applicant’s Title and Position: Participation is limited to Californians in a leadership role in programs serving infants and toddlers, inclusive of preschool programs serving children under 3 years of age.
- Education/Professional Certification: Your educational background, including credit hours in early childhood education (ECE) and Child Development Associate (CDA), and other child development-related licenses, certificates, degrees, and training. This information is collected for data purposes only and does not impact decisions on fellowship awards.
- Past Professional Experience: Professional experiences in child development, with a focus on serving infant and toddlers and program leadership.
- Description of your program. The description should include information on:
- Program type (e.g., campus-based, EHS, EHS-CCP, family child care, Pre-K, CCSP, fee-for-service, etc.)
- Program structure (e.g., number of children served, number of employees, age groups, group size and ratios per age group, etc.)
- Funding sources (i.e., state-funded, privately owned, etc.)
- Statement of interest to participate. Address the following items briefly, but completely:
- Why are you interested in participating in this training project?
- How do you plan to utilize the knowledge gained from this experience on an individual and professional basis? How will the training be disseminated to your childcare community and to others?
- Please describe your professional experiences listed in the Education & Employment section.
- Consideration of geographic, linguistic, and program type diversity are part of the review process.
WestEd will review and consider each completed application based on specific criteria (refer to “Review Criteria” section) and space availability.
WestEd does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.
California child care program leaders whose services include infants and toddlers, inclusive of preschool programs serving children under 3 years of age:
Directors and Assistant Directors
Managers
Supervisors
Coordinators
Curriculum Specialists
Owners of Large Family Child Care Homes (licensed for 12-14 children)
Lead and Mentor Teachers
Academy participation is limited to California child care program leaders who serve infants and toddlers.
MyPITC.org Guidance
Applying to this training requires two steps:
- If this is your first training, create a MyPITC account using an email address that you have access to 24/7.
- The system will require you to verify your email address. An email will be sent to the email address you entered for you to confirm. Click on the link in that email to confirm your email account which will return you to MyPITC to complete your application.
- If you have attended a past training, log in under the Returning Applicants section using the email address you previously used to create an account.
- If you forgot your password, click Forgot Password?, enter your email, then click Reset Password.
- After clicking Apply and logging in successfully, click Apply for Academy for Program Directors in the blue button. If you do not see this button, please follow these steps:
- Log out from your MyPITC account (on all devices, if using more than one), then clear your web browser cache.
- Click Apply again.
- Log in to your MyPITC account. You should now see the Apply for Academy for Program Directors in the blue button.
- Complete your application. Once you have finished, click Submit to send it. If your application is submitted successfully, you will receive an email with the subject line, "PITC Academy for Program Directors Application Received."
- After your application has been reviewed, you will receive another email notifying you of your application status. The email will have the subject line, "PITC Academy for Program Directors Acceptance - Please Enroll."
- For all emails, please be certain to check your SPAM, junk, and promotion folders if you do not see them in your inbox.
- Enroll
Detailed instructions are included in your "PITC Academy for Program Directors Acceptance - Please Enroll" email and are also included below.
- Select Enroll next to the event on the My Events page.
- Confirm your preferred mailing address. (Note: delivery cannot be made to P.O. Boxes.)
To change an existing address, click Update. To change your preferred address, click Set as preferred.
PITC materials, if applicable, will be mailed to your preferred address as noted in your application. Select Complete My Enrollment at the bottom of the page. If submitted successfully, you will receive an enrollment confirmation email.
If your enrollment is not completed by October 15, 2026, you may be waitlisted.
Upcoming Event
PITC Academy for Program Directors
Our Funding Partner
Resources we think you'd be interested in...
What people are saying...
"I am grateful to have been able to participate due to the California grant. This made the amazing opportunity very accessible to my program and my program will benefit greatly because of it. Thank you."
"For me as a head teacher, (the Academy for Program Directors) has really had an impact on how to not only guide the toddlers I work with, but also how to support my team of teachers with information and theory. Materials are very important to me because the expectations we agree on are not my ideas; instead, we are making agreements based on good theory information by PITC."
"I really became more aware of how important it is to take into account my teachers' points of view and how to support them to put some ideas aside when it comes to working with little ones."