Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community (Week 2)


South Carolina Center for Child Care Development -TAP

The Technical Assistance System is dedicated to the improvement in the quality of all early childhood programs. The voluntary system enhances the state’s capacity to effectively support and monitor Early Care and Education programs. Technical Assistance is a multi-level process of a range of on-site assistance which includes guidance, consultation, modeling, and support that strengthens the quality of care provided to infants, toddlers, preschool, and school-age children.


 

Rationale: The reason I selected this organization because it support moving center towards quality. I believe the outcome of a child’s development is connected to the quality level of program.

 

 

United Way Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R)

CCR&R provides families with an individualized referral of early care and education programs based on their specific family needs. CCR&R also supports families to increase access to quality child care and parenting resources needed to nurture children.



 

Rationale: The reason I selected this organization because it supports child care referrals, promotes quality programs, provides child development and parenting workshops to professionals and families.

 

 

ICF International

 
ICF is a recognized leader in providing individualized and outcomes-driven training and technical assistance and research services to support a variety of federally-funded projects in seven Head Start Regions. Serving the nation's most at-risk populations, ICF assists public and private organizations to structure, standardize, and evaluate their programs to achieve the highest-possible performance and to provide comprehensive resources in areas of school readiness, child welfare, family engagement, professional development, and community support. 

 



 

Rationale: The reason why I chose this organization because ICF International provides training and technical assistance to Head Start and Early Head Start grantees with activities designed to improve the quality of early childhood education services.

 

 

Job Opportunities…..

 

ICF seeks experienced Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialists to support Head Start and Early Head Start programs to ensure high quality Head Start services in accordance with the Head Start performance standards and all applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations. The Early Childhood Education Specialists will provide training and technical assistance (TTA) to programs appropriate to the physical, social, and emotional development of children, including language development and emergent literacy skills. The Specialists will provide professional-level expertise and TTA to promote, support, and improve the early development of children from the prenatal stage to five years of age using research based practices. The positions are home-based and will involve travel to programs within clusters of states where the candidate is assigned. Extensive travel is required.

 

Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education or Child Development (18 ECE credits are required, transcripts will be requested).
  • 5+ years of demonstrated experience in the field of early childhood education.
  • 5+ years of experience offering training and technical assistance within early care and education.
  • 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 the ability to support its use in school readiness goals.

Preferred Experience/Skills:

  • 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:

  • Experience with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) required.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills required.
  • Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision making capabilities
  • Team player with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment

Ability to work with all levels of internal staff, as well as outside clients and vendors

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing. I also chose united way as a COP. Until now I had never heard of ICF International. After visiting the website I will have to consider adding them to my list of COPs. It is great that they not only work with policymakers and providers in early childhood but K-12 as well. This would be an organization for my current school to partner with.

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  2. Andrea,
    As a Head Start director I am very familiar with ICF. I work with a specialist assigned to my region that is awesome. She provides professional development for my staff and is also a great support for me when I am faced with administrative issues. Our working relationship is something I find so helpful. She is a great lady who has also become my friend which makes it even better.
    I enjoyed reading about the other organizations in your area.
    Judi

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  3. Andrea,
    We have a similar organization here in Arizona (Az Child Care Resource and Referral). The primary difference that I see between the two organizations is that Arizona offers parents a data base for child care providers throughout the state - or did I just miss this feature for Greenville County? I too value the resources that this organization provides and will likely become more involved as the years go by.
    I also found this job opportunity to be intriguing! That sounds like a wonderful opportunity to impact young children through assuring that they are receiving the quality care they deserve!
    :)

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  4. Andrea,

    The fact that got my attention about United Way Child Care Resource & Referral is that they help families in an individualized way in order to meet their specific needs. An individualized attention makes me think they recognize that not all families are the same. Looking at their website I found they also offer child development and parenting workshops, which reflects their interest in not only serving children and families but also their commitment to help them thrive.

    The Early Childhood Education Specialist position looks interesting to me, are you applying for it?

    Thanks for sharing Andrea!

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  5. Andrea,
    Thank you for sharing this information. ICF also works in Mississippi. The organization provides child care assistance for low income families. I find that commmunities of practices have common goals and diverse members.

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