Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Smart Beginnings is an organization that appealed to me because I believe in their motto "Ready for School. Ready for Life."  Smart Beginnings is an organization that is designed to support state initiatives within the field of early childhood development and education.  The organization also has regional programs that supports a group of local communities across the state.  The state's star quality improvement initiative is supported by Smart Beginnings.  The be a quality rater or mentor one would need to have the knowledge of early childhood education, development, and practices.  Specific training is required for each position.  Trainings are focused on the observation tools that are used to determine the rating.  The tools that are used is CLASS, and ECERS.  Depending on the age of the classroom the appropriate observation tool is used.  Smart Beginnings offers resources for parents.  Smart Beginnings also offers community members to be part of the organization by participating on various committees.  To be a member of a committee one must value and support the overall healthy development of children to ensure each child is "Ready for School. Ready for Life".  For more information visit the Smart Beginnings website:  http://smartbeginnings.org/

I chose Voices for Virginia's Children as an organization that appeals to me because they focus on advocacy to ensure the children are Virginia have a voice and ensure the programs are in place and funded in order to support and provide children across the state with the resources and services they need in order to learn and grow in order to reach their full potential.  This organization keeps communities and programs within those communities abreast of legislative changes that impact children. This organization lobbies for change by supporting new initiatives and bills that make positive impacts in communities across the state.  They all lobby in order to  protect programs from cuts or policies changes that could have negative impacts on communities across the state.  To work with this organization one will need to have knowledge of various content areas that support children's health and development.  The knowledge of the legislative process would be needed in order to advocate in the most effective manner.  For more information visit Voices for Virginia's Children website: http://vakids.org/

 

 I chose the Virginia Head Start Association, Inc. as an organization that appeals to me because I worked with Head Start for 12 years.  Through my work with Head Start I have developed a wonderful network of colleagues that provide support  for the mission of providing high quality services for children and families.  Head Start is inclusive of providing comprehensive services to children and families.  Head Start supports professional development for all staff.  Head Start has a strong commitment to community partners.  Those that share the passion of providing quality services to at risk children are able to join the work of Head Start. Head Start has provided what I believe is the ultimate model of how to support early childhood education and development.   Even though I have moved on in my career I still rely on my network within the Head Start community.  The mission of my current program is to support children and families that are not able to attend Head Start because of limited slots.  Therefore the Virginia Preschool Initiative is a partner with Head Start within many communities across the state. For more information visit the Virginia Head Start Association's website:  http://headstartva.org/