For early childhood educators, high-quality professional development can have an enormous positive impact on teaching practices, and boost young children's outcomes and school readiness. But since early childhood teachers come from diverse backgrounds and educational levels, it can be a challenge to create effective, customized professional development programs for them. This is the book administrators and program directors need to meet that challenge and take the first critical steps toward improving their training practices. Bringing together lessons learned from the eight top-performing programs to receive professional development grants from the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program in the U.S. Office for Elementary and Secondary Education, this book gives readers a valuable inside look at what's really working today. Program directors and administrators will fully explore the who, what, when, where, and how of high-quality, practice-based professional development. Who benefits from it? Examine characteristics of the early educator workforce and how to address their obstacles to professional development participation, such as financial resources, education levels, and burnout rates. What practices are promising? Explore proven models for choosing the right content, scaffolding skills through coaching and mentoring, and promoting effective professional development across whole communities.