Friday, September 25, 2015

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level


The first national organization that I have an interest in is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  I couple of years ago I had the opportunity to attend one of their conferences and it was amazing to be around so many people with a passion for early childhood education. I think it would be a great feeling to be able to go to work everyday where the passion for early childhood education is so prevalent.  A job that is open right now that interests me is Director of Quality Improvement and Program Support.  In this position you are responsible for leading the accreditation team responsible for providing technical, motivational, and process support to programs progressing through the accreditation process (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2015).  The following are the skills and experience needed for this position:

●Strong knowledge of early childhood education content, current issues, and professional development needs and strategies.
● Extensive instructional experience and ability to deliver content through a variety of channels including training, technical assistance, coaching, peer to peer communities, and multimedia resources.
● Ability to positively influence, motivate, and engage staff and other stakeholders.
● Strong experience in program implementation support.
● Minimum 3 years supervisory experience leading staff, contractors, and/or volunteers.
● Demonstrated capacity to recruit, onboard, support, and evaluate staff.
● Bachelor's degree required. Master's degree a plus.  (NAEYC, 2015).

The second national organization that I have an interest in is ZERO TO THREE.  Their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life” (ZERO TO THREE, 2015).  ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and the know-how to nurture early development” (2015).  This organization is appealing because they focus on helping children right from the beginning and they reach out to parents and other member of the early childhood field.  ZERO TO THREE did not have any current job openings that I was interested in but they do employee over 100 people. 

The third national organization that I have interest in is the National Head Start Association (NHSA). 

NHSA's vision is to lead - to be the untiring voice that will not be quiet until every vulnerable child is served with the Head Start model of support for the whole child, the family and the community - and to advocate - to work diligently for policy and institutional changes that ensure all vulnerable children and families have what they need to succeed. (2015). 

A job that would interest me at this association is a professional development coordinator.  The Professional Development Coordinator is responsible for coordinating various activities and functions within the professional development division of face to face events, on-line course offerings, and networks” (NHSA, 2015). 

The requirements for this job are the following:
1.     2 years of professional experience required
2.     Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
3.     Medium degree of computer knowledge
4.     High level of attention to detail and ability to work well under deadlines
5.     Flexible and adaptable to changing priorities
6.     Strong verbal and written communication skills
7.     Excellent data entry, analysis skills, and customer service skills
8.     Bilingual skills preferred (Spanish)
9.     Knowledge and experience with the use of social media tools, conference and Learning Management Systems
10.  Capable of traveling to various cities within the United States and surrounding Territories

I think getting to travel to a variety of different cities and territories would be extremely interesting and exciting.  All these organizations are committed to early childhood education and working for an organization with that much commitment to early childhood education would be extremely appealing.  
References

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2015). Director, quality improvement and program support.  Retrieved from https://naeyc.applicantpro.com/jobs/277560.html.

National Head Start Association (NHSA). (2015).  Retrieved from https://www.nhsa.org

ZERO TO THREE. (2015).  http://www.zerotothree.org

Friday, September 11, 2015

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels


I am actually very content in my current job position.  This is the start of my sixth year teaching preschool in my school district and I may never leave this job!  I enjoy my coworkers, assistant and the wonderful children and families in my preschool.  In Wyoming teachers are paid well and since I work for the school district I am paid the same as all teacher from grades kindergarten through high school. I truly enjoy what I do and I love working right with the children.  I could one day see myself going to teach kindergarten or being the supervisor of the preschools in my school district.  A preschool supervisor interests me because I have experience in preschool and I would love to see more preschools available in our school district.  I also feel like I am gaining knowledge and experience that I could use to help other preschool teachers.  This position would not require any additional schooling but I believe preschool teaching experience would be extremely beneficial.

Once I started looking into organizations in my state it was interesting to learn about some of the organizations working to improve and promote early childhood education.  It made me realize that there are many opportunities right here in my state to be more involved in the promotion of early childhood education.  One of those organizations is Wyoming KidsFirst.  Wyoming KidsFirst mission is “To lead a public-private partnership in the development of an accessible and sustainable, high-quality early childhood system that supports communities and families” (http://www.wyokidsfirst.org).  Later in my career it could be interesting to be the Executive Director of Wyoming KidsFirst.  I am not exactly sure of the educational requirements for this job but the current director has a bachelor’s degree, although it is not in education, and she also has a master’s degree in public administration.  I definitely believe that experience in early childhood education would be necessary and important.

I have heard a lot about the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and have even had the opportunity to attend one of their conferences.  It was a great learning experience and wonderful opportunity to be around so many other early childhood educators.  Working for the Wyoming Early Childhood Association (WYECA) is a job that would interest me because this organization is a state affiliate of NAEYC.  The requirements for being the president of the WYECA is you must be a member of NAEYC and WYECA, demonstrate potential in leading the group and previously served as a board member.  I believe in all of these jobs it is important to have experience as an early childhood teacher prior to having a supervising role.  I believe you also need to be a good communicator and have good collaboration skills.  In all of these positions it would be important to be able to work together with other people to accomplish goals and encourage growth in the early childhood field.   

Reference

Wyoming KidsFirst, (2015).  Retrieved from http://www.wyokidsfirst.org.