Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Community Services of Venango County (CSVC). (http://www.csvenango.com/) Our Mission statement at CSVC is: Community Services provides leadership and high quality services to promote healthy children, families and communities. I currently work at this agency already in the job that really appealed to my own passion. I am currently the program supervisor/education coordinator for our Families First Early Head Start, Crawford program. CSVC is made up of many wonderful programs. The following is directly from our agencies website to just show what all CSVC has to offer the community. To be able to obtain the current position that I have, I had to either already have a master’s degree in early childhood or be willing to earn a master’s degree. So here I am on the last leg of this journey. Having a background in early childhood education is vital when you are the program supervisor/education coordinator for an early head start program. I have also found out that knowing how to work with young children is not the only thing I need to know, but knowing how to work with adults as well. Having a background as a home visitor is also key to this position.
 

Social Service Programs: Our Social Services provide assistance to families and individuals to help them gain the tools they need to overcome barriers that prevent their success in many aspects of their lives. These programs are designed to help those in need become more self-sufficient. View a complete description of the programs.

Early Head Start: This federally funded program promotes healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women, enhances the development of very young children and promotes healthy family functioning. Services are provided weekly in the home and parents are actively involved so they may gain knowledge of age-appropriate development in their child.

Welcome Every Child: Provides expectant parents and families with support and education to welcome their children into our community. The intent of the program is to help ensure a healthy pregnancy and baby.

Nurse Home Visitor: Prevention-oriented home visit program that serves pregnant women, infants, toddlers and their families, providing them with ongoing support and education. Services also include health assessments, developmental screenings, family goal setting and the utilization of community services.
 

Community Voices: Community Voices Independent Monitoring for Quality (IM4Q) provides persons with developmental disabilities, their families and persons who know them well the opportunity to voice their perceptions about the quality of life they are living, their supports and services. Community Voices Consumer/Family Satisfaction Team (C/FST) provides persons and families with alcohol/substance addictions and mental health needs the opportunity to voice their perceptions about the quality of their supports and services.

Community Engagement Group: Promotes the importance of quality early care and education to the community, provides parents, teachers and caregivers with information on early learning and assist parents in understanding the options available to them for their child’s early care and education

The second organization is Child to Family Connections (http://www.childtofamilyconnections.org). Child to Family Connections' mission is to partner with individuals and families to recognize their strengths, build relationships, and provide the support and encouragement they need to succeed. Services provided at Child to Family Connections include: Foster Care, Adoptive Home Studies, Adult Direct Support Services, Connections, a Truancy Program, Home & Community Habilitation 

Services, Family Group Decision Making, Family Living, In-home Counseling Services, Parenting/Homemaking, Supervised Visitation, Mentoring, Family Behavior Therapy, Learning to Live, an independent living program for teens, and Strengthening Families Program

The one service that really interested me is the family group decision making. Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) is a process that empowers families by placing them in charge of developing their own plan which will guide their future. FGDM is a voluntary process; if the family chooses to end the process, they can do so at any time.  An FGDM Coordinator will assist the family in determining which relatives, friends and service providers they want to include in their family conference (Child to Family Connections, 2011).

I have had the opportunity to be part of a FGDM meeting while I was working as a home visitor. The position that really appeals to me is the FGDM coordinator. The coordinator not only works with the family but also with all the other agencies that are involved as well so that the family knows all the agencies that are available to them. The meetings focus on the families strengths, and ultimately lets the family decide what is best for them. Typically the referrals come from Children and Youth Services (CYS) but other agencies can refer a family.

Office of Head Start is the last organization I chose to talk about.

(http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc)  This is the center of where everything happens for head start and early head start programs. I would be honored to work with the professionals that have the same passion about early learning programs as I do. The job that I found interesting was the NCQTL Regional Field Specialist (Philadelphia) – Pennsylvania. They were currently looking to fill this position as of January 23, 2012.

The following is directly from the job advertisement from their website:

“Duties:

The Regional Field Specialist will represent the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning (NCQTL) to the Head Start Regional Program Officers and the public. The primary responsibility of the Regional Field Specialist is to communicate and disseminate the Office of Head Start’s School Readiness Framework and NCQTL’s evidence-based early childhood practices to the Head Start Regional Offices and Head Start community and to support Regional Office staff in improving their efforts to put research-based concepts into everyday practice in Head Start programs. The Regional Field Specialist, in alignment with an Integrated Service Team comprised of representatives from other Head Start National Centers, will deliver training and technical assistance and provide consultation on using data collection and analysis to make changes that improve child outcomes in support of school readiness. The Regional Field Specialist will collaborate with NCQTL colleagues to provide direct support to Head Start Regional level staff members, including but not limited to Program Specialists, Program Managers, Early Childhood Education Specialists, Head Start State Collaboration Officers, and grantees. Applicants for the Regional Field Specialist should have an extensive knowledge of and experience working with children and families from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds and have background and experience in Early Childhood Education, preferably with Head Start programs.

Essential Functions/Major Responsibilities :
Early Childhood Education Expertise
• Understand, communicate, and promote principles for school readiness to the Head Start Regional Office staff members and the Head Start community at large.
• Provide guidance and support on effective implementation of child assessment and screening tools, classroom curricula, and research based effective teaching strategies.
• Provide information and act as a resource to the Head Start Regional Office staff members and the Head Start community by maintaining up-to-date knowledge on multiple states’ requirements for early childhood care and education, including PreK-3rd grade Policy and/or Alignment Initiatives as needed.
• Provide assistance to the Head Start Regional Office staff members and the Head Start community in accessing information to state-level early childhood standards and required             assessments and making connections with Head Start requirements and performance standards.

Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA)

• Support the Integrated Service Team and the OHS in the implementation of a capacity building plan to support training and technical assistance efforts in the areas of (1) school readiness, (2) child outcomes and (3) parent and family engagement.

• Communicate Office of Head Start’s School Readiness Framework, NCQTL’s Framework for Effective Practice and the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement’s (NCPFCE) - Family Engagement Framework as foundational to all T/TA provided in the field.

• Deliver NCQTL T/TA on developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood programs. Training and technical assistance delivery will be implemented onsite at Head Start Regional Offices, at regionally based conferences/institutes, and/or remotely using various media as needed.

• Provide customized onsite T/TA to Head Start Regional Office staff members based on regional program needs, using adult learning principles and culturally relevant content.

• In cooperation with the Integrated Service Team, convene regional level staff members and/or grantees for regional level trainings, T/TA, Listening Sessions, and other events/meetings throughout the year.

Programmatic Data Consultation
• Provide T/TA to Head Start Regional Office staff members to improve regional level support of programs’ data collection, data review, and data analysis practices, in order to make meaningful and strategic decisions to increase overall program quality and individual child outcomes for school readiness.
• Support Regional staff members to effectively use a wide variety of programmatic data for planning and decision-making purposes.  

• Provide resources and support to develop staff abilities to use data to describe program practices, and apply techniques of data analysis to real-life program practices.

• Provide consultation to regional staff in identifying and articulating programmatic trends and patterns in data gathered over time to inform decision making on improving child outcomes and school readiness.

• Support regional staff in developing a framework for analyzing the data collected on the grantee/program level and using it to improve overall program quality as well as individual child outcomes.

Collaboration and Communication
• Maintain regular communication with Regional Head Start Program Specialists and Early Childhood Education Specialists and/or other OHS staff on grantee progress and T/TA needs.

• Participate in twice monthly conference calls with all NCQTL Regional Field Specialists and Integrated Service Team.

• Travel to NCQTL at the University of Washington (or other specified location) on a regular basis for Train-the-Trainer meetings to:

1. Receive content training on latest NCQTL products from NCQTL Curriculum Specialists/developers
2. Receive information on product alignment with Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework (HSCDELF) to be disseminated to grantees

3. Stay abreast of messaging from NCQTL Leadership about the work of the other Head Start National Centers and about upcoming initiatives

4. Update NCQTL colleagues of regional programmatic strengths and T/TA needs to inform future product development

• Participate in and help facilitate monthly webinars on ECE content.
• Communicate NCQTL’s mission, programs, products, and services in a strong, positive        way to the public.
• Submit regular reports on regional activities/support provided to grantees and outcomes to NCQTL staff.    

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in education, early childhood education or related field, to include 3-5 years of experience working with early childhood education programs, preferably with Head Start programs, as a teacher, administrator, director, or as a consultant, and experience as a trainer/facilitator for early childhood professionals.
• Extensive knowledge and experience working with children and families from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.
• Experience training diverse communities as well as large and small groups.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Head Start history and understanding of Head Start performance standards.
• Demonstrated knowledge of various State level early childhood care and education requirements, policies, and resources.
• Knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood programs.
• Knowledge of basic data analysis techniques and tools to support organizational change in an early childhood settings.
• Familiarity with elements that are critical for children’s successful transition from preschool to K-12 settings.
• Ability to be work independently and be self-motivated.
• Ability to work as an integral member of a team and work collaboratively with multiple organizations/units (NCQTL, Integrated Service Team, OHS Regional ECE specialists, etc.).
• Ability to successfully communicate, verbally and in writing, with multiple stakeholders and audiences both remotely and in person.
• Ability to problem solve, take initiative, set priorities, handle multiple projects and exercise good judgment in a fast paced, dynamic and deadline driven environment in an organized and professional manner.

• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills.
• Proficiency with personal computing environment, Microsoft Office Suite, and the
Internet.
• Ability to travel regularly to local grantees throughout assigned region across multiple states and/or territories.
• Ability to travel to NCQTL at the University of Washington or other location on a regular basis for meetings and Train-the-Trainer sessions.

All three of these organizations all deal with young children and their families. They all focus on the strengths and not the weaknesses. These organizations want what is best for young children and their families. They focus on education and improving the supports and services that are available to families.

Resources:

Child to Family Connections (http://www.childtofamilyconnections.org).

Community Services of Venango County (CSVC). (http://www.csvenango.com/)

Office of Head Start (http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc)