The North Carolina Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development serves as an advisory group to the Division of Child Development in the NC Department of Health & Human Services in matters related to developing an educated work force to care for children who are in group care. Membership of the Advisory Committee is diverse and representative of numerous fields that constitute the early childhood profession. The members are invited because of their professional role or their experience and expertise in the area of early childhood professional development and their willingness to work toward improving the quality of care of all children in North Carolina.

Working since 1993, the Institute is dedicated to defining and advocating for the implementation of a comprehensive early childhood professional development system that provides supportive, accessible, and individually appropriate education which is linked to compensation in order to ensure high quality care and education services for children and families.

The Institute is guided by an Executive Committee which meets four times a year. In addition, Executive Committee members are expected to chair one or more task groups and to recruit and involve the participation of early childhood stakeholders in its work.
Currently there are six task groups:

• Professional Development Infrastructure Coordination
  - Birth-Kindergarten Licensure
  - AAS Degree Program Accreditation
  - AAS Degree Program Quality
  - Workforce Literacy
  
  
• Compensation & Education
  
  
• Educational Certification
  
  
• Research & Policy
  
  
• Outreach & Support
  - PD Connections
  
  Most of the products that have been developed by the Institute have resulted from the work of the Task groups.