!e Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council Rebecca Herr-Stephenson A formative in!uence on the Professional Development working group is the Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council "rst convened by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop in January 2010. #e Council, comprised of experts in early childhood education and child develop-ment, educational policymakers, and technologists, worked together to identify necessary changes in teacher training and professional develop-ment within the context of 21st century schooling.

#rough its collaborative work, the Council put forward several recom-mendations for educational policy and program design that better support the integration of digital technologies and participatory learning prac-tices into educational settings for children from three to eight years old. Speci"cally, the DATPC highlighted "ve general goals for improvement and innovation related to training and support of early childhood and elementary teachers:

Goal 1: Modernize program designs and professional development models to promote success. Of primary importance to meeting this goal is helping teachers and students gain meaningful access to new tech-nologies. In addition, the Council recommended changes to sta$ng, scheduling, and communication practices to create space and time for collaboration and intentional learning, as well as increased opportunities for parental involvement.

Goal 2: Train early educators to integrate digital and screen media into their teaching practices in developmentally appropriate ways. Following the lead of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the Council’s recommendation in this area focused on empowering teachers to make choices about the kinds of media to use in their classrooms, recognizing teachers’ expertise in principles of devel-opmentally appropriate practice. Goal 3: Expand public media use as a cost-e"ective asset for teach-ers. #is goal focused on raising awareness among teachers of the catalog of media available for use in the classroom through public channels and supporting design and production of public media across new platforms. Goal 4: Advance coherent and equitable policies to promote technol-ogy integration across standards, curriculum, and teacher professional development. Acknowledging the ongoing, dual challenges of the digital divide and the participation gap, the Council recommended restructuring the allocation of funds and resources to ensure a more equitable distribu-tion of new technologies. Goal 5: Create R&D partnerships for a digital age. Also related to improving equity in the distribution of technologies and funds for profes-sional development, the Council recommended creative, interdisciplinary approaches to R&D. (Barron, Cayton-Hodges, Bo%erding, Copple, Darling-Hammond, and Levine, 2011).

#ese broad goals outlined by the Council have been addressed by a variety of programs for students throughout K-12 schooling and expanded learn-ing opportunities.