thread offers early care and education training that is current, pertinent, and culturally sensitive. All training counts towards hours required for a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, the Alaska System for Education and Early Development (SEED) program, and state and municipality licensing hours. Some of thread’s trainings count for college credit. Our training services include:

Classroom style trainings

We provide training statewide on an ongoing basis. View our current training calendar and register online. Upon request, we provide training periodically in other hub areas throughout Alaska. If you need a particular training in your community, please contact your regional thread office and we will work to meet your training needs.

Family Early Care and Education Outreach Program

This program is designed specifically for family early care and education early educators in an attempt to increase the quality and number of family early care and education homes by providing opportunities for networking, training, and access to community resources. Early Childhood Specialists provide onsite training, technical assistance, and lending library services in English and Spanish to early educators doing care in their homes throughout Alaska. Contact your regional thread office for more information.

Distance Delivery Training

Recognizing that early educators in rural areas have fewer training opportunities, thread offers several distance delivery training options and we are in the process of developing additional training modules. Contact your regional thread office for more distance delivery information.

On-Site Training and Consultation for Family Home & Center-based Early care and education

Have you struggled with challenging behaviors in the classroom?  Are you stumped about ways to arrange your classroom to best meet the needs of children and decrease negative behaviors? Are you struggling with keeping staff? Do you need assistance with program management?

thread can help. We can provide each early care and education program (family home or center) 10 hours of free consultation per year. Here is what other early educators have said about the consultation they have received from thread:

"I loved getting feedback; it helped us grow. We would love to do this again."

"We have improved the quality of the centers in the classroom and the learning experience was great. Staff has a better understanding of how to run their classrooms."

"I would like to have the same groups assessed quarterly to help build on what we have learned. The staff responds more positively to outside evaluations than to management evaluations."

"We learned that keeping the children busy and occupied will result in less biting and hitting, and makes the day a lot better. Thank you!"

Onsite Consultation can include:

• Identification of strengths and areas of need
• Observing children with challenging behaviors
• How to use the ECERS, ITERS, and FCCERS to make quality improvements
• Guidance about health and safety issues
• Assistance communicating with families

The first 10 hours are FREE. All consultation after 10 hours each year is $25/hour for family home and center-based early care and education.

All center-based training is $5/person/hour. Specific training requests for family early educators will be assessed on an individual basis.

Contact your regional thread office for more information or to enroll your program in this service.