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

 Three job positions that are available and that interest me.

Training and Technical Development Consultant

Minimum Job Requirements:       Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education or related field; at least 5 years of work experience working with young children and Early Childhood Educators. Candidates possessing a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education or a related field will be given preference. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community.

• Skill in organizing resources and establishing priorities.

• Skills in facilitating and leading strategic planning and organizational development interventions. 

• Skills in observation, curriculum development, and preparation procedures.

• Skills in conducting self-assessment and continuous quality improvement plans

• Ability to set goals and track progress to achieve measurable, long-term, and sustainable change.

My personal weaknesses: I do not have the skills to fulfill these requirements: 

• Knowledge of the New Mexico AIM HIGH Essential Elements of Quality.

 • Knowledge of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), Program Administration Scale (PAS), and the Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care (BASASF). 

• Advanced verbal and written communication skills (Still room for improvement).

• Knowledge of the New Mexico Early Learning Guidelines • Inter-rater reliable in the Environmental Rating Scales.

Reference:

NEOGOV Retrieved from:            http://agency.governmentjobs.com/enmu/default.cfm?action=viewJob&jobID=521578

                        

Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialist

Job Description: 

ICF seeks an experienced Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialist to support Head Start and Early Head Start programs to ensure high quality Head Start and Early Head Start services in accordance with federal regulations that promote healthy development, encompassing the developmental domains of physical development and health, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, language and literacy, and cognition and general knowledge to ensure children’s future success. The Early Childhood Education Specialist will provide training and technical assistance (TTA) to programs to support progress toward established school readiness goals, focusing on the use of child and program data to make decisions about approaches to working with teachers, home visitors, and parents in quality practices. The Specialist will provide professional-level expertise by engaging programs in dialogue and learning of best practices for children from birth to five and encourage a culture of learning that promotes school readiness. This position is home-based and will involve 50-60% travel to programs primarily within the state of Florida. 

Qualifications  Basic Qualifications:

 ■A Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education or Child Development is required (18 ECE Credits are required, transcripts will be requested).

■At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in the field of Early Childhood Education is required.

 ■Ability to maintain up to date knowledge of current child development practices and research based early childhood quality methods and approaches.  

■Understanding of developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education and ability to support its use in school readiness goals is required.

 ■A background, experience, and presence in Florida in early childhood education settings working with children and families from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.

  Preferred Skills/Experience:

 ■Knowledge of Head Start performance standards and all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules and regulations.

 ■Experience working within a Head Start Program.

 Professional Skills:

 ■Excellent verbal, interpersonal, and written communication skills

■Team player with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment

■Proficiency in MS Office Applications (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel) required

 For a listing of other career opportunities at ICF, please visit our Career Center at www.icfi.com/careers/

Reference:       https://icfi.taleo.net/careersection/icf_prof_ext/jobdetail.ftl?job=136320&src=JB-10080

EDUCATION SPECIALIST, EARLY LEARNING

Job Description

GENERAL STATEMENT OF DUTIES: Incumbents are responsible for leading and supporting Federal, State, and/or local initiatives to ensure compliance with applicable laws, acts, rules, and/or regulations; providing technical assistance to parents, educators, and other interested parties regarding applicable policies, regulations, and best practices; and designing and administering early childhood standards and assessments programs.

Job Requirements

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

Knowledge of programs for young children birth through age 8 including operations, and strategic planning.

Knowledge of educational best practices, including principles of special education.

Knowledge of professional development.

Skilled in organizing information.

Skilled in working collaboratively.

Skilled in communicating effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Skilled in communicating and interpersonal exchanges as applied to interaction with coworkers, supervisor, the general public, etc. sufficient to exchange or convey information and to receive work direction. 

EDUCATION: Master’s Degree in Education or a related field.

EXPERIENCE: Five years of experience in area of assignment; additional teaching and program development experience highly desirable and/or any combination of knowledge, skills and experience that is substantially equivalent.

Reasonable accommodations can be made for qualified individuals with a disability.

At least 5 years of relevant experience preferred

Master degree preferred

Citizenship, residency or work VISA in United States required

Reference:

http://www.schoolspring.com/job.cfm?jid=95300&utm_term=All+jobs&utm_content=RI&utm_source=Indeed&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Indeed

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Our local Boys and Girls Club interest me. Being an educator I feel like I can make a contribution working within a community of members with a common passion, goal and positive outcome. The Boys and Girls Club is designed to provide extra guidance for underprivileged children around the community.  The facility promotes health, education and social skills to all their children. The Club is managed by a full-time Executive Director, assisted by full-time career professionals, part-time assistants and program staff and volunteers.  Their goal is to make a positive impact on young lives by building self-esteem, also encourage the development of values and life skills.  The Club is a non-profit organization basically ran by volunteers.

It was fate how I became part of the next two new communities of practice.  I knew in the back of my mind I wanted to become more involved in professional organizations and not just be a member.  

CEC Council for Exceptional Children is my first organization.  This is my first year teaching Pre-k intervention and a friend of mine is the chapter representative for my community. We are at different locations but this week we had a FTE meeting so we were able to reconnect. We began talking and I will be helping along with other CEC members to help organize an Art Showing for our Special needs students in our community. I have talked with others and we share a common goal and purpose.

The next organization in which I will be collaborating with is our local GAE.  The organization provided us lunch one day this week and I had an opportunity to put a name and face together. As Sally and I talked I found we shared a common interest: one being learning to write grants. She has emailed me and we are getting together with others and forming a workshop that will benefit many of our educators in the Pre-k program.

I’m blessed to have skills and knowledge that I can share with others while learning from them.  My time and teaching skills would be my contribution to the community of practice.  I will not make any money directly from any of these communities of practice, but just sharing learning experiences, ideas, a common goal, and an outcome is exciting for me.

Collaboration is a mutually beneficial and well defined relationship entered into by two or more organizations to achieve results they are more likely to achieve together than alone (Winer & Ray, 1994).

Winer, M., & Ray, K. (1994). Collaboration handbook: Creating, sustaining, and enjoying the journey. St. Paul, MN: Fieldstone Alliance.