WK 4 Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

·         Careers at NEA, Is a Great Place to Work
National Education Association (NEA) got my interest because of their description of the careers they offer. Even though there is not a job available for me they have positions available for Interns, Professional, and Technical Supports. I found it interesting that they have position for interns and they are family oriented.
Working Mother magazine has named the National Education Association as one of its 100 best companies for family-friendly benefits. More than 58 percent of NEA's workforce of roughly 500 employees at its Washington, D.C. headquarters is female. NEA offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes a variety of paid health and dental insurance options; paid maternity and parental leave for newborns and newly adopted children; up to five days each year for parents and grandparents to participate in a student's school activities; back-up childcare; telecommuting; and flexible work schedules.

Positions at NEA include executive, managerial, professional, technical, administrative/clerical and trades/crafts. Vacancies may involve skills in communications/media relations, information technology, education policy analysis, research, lobbying/political advocacy or secretarial/office administration.

·         Department of Education (ED)
ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. ED was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. ED's 4,400 employees and $68 billion budget are dedicated to:

• Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds.
• Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research.
• Focusing national attention on key educational issues.
• Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.

There is no position available for me but they have other position available for those that have a doctoral degrees or three years academic of graduate education. This site interests me because I can go and see policies that have been established and data and research being done with education. I love how they have a site for families and parent engagement along with a blog section that give helpful information for families and parents to help plan for college for their children and other helpful information to help children.

·         CoP: PMI Learning Education and Development (Lead) Community of Practice
I was interested in this Community of Practice because of what the PMI is focused on. The focus of the PMI LEAD CoP is to establish a dynamic and collaborative environment where project managers, educators and researchers can share ideas, best practices, feedback and information on the following topics, as well as connect with one another to build their personal and professional networks:

• A basic understanding of the role of project management in learning, education, development and research
• An understanding of the role of learning, education and development in the practice of project, program and portfolio management
• Established processes, tools and methodologies specific to or employed by the training and development industry
• Relationship between learning/development and project management within other industries, knowledge areas and/or interest areas
• International perspectives on the learning/development/research of project management
• Information on cutting edge teaching/instructional practices, techniques, technologies in project management
• Focus on how to manage competence development and training projects, as well as training sections of the change management and roll-out phases of projects
• Provide guidance on opportunities to apply the project management methodology to educational settings, how it may be different from other environments; collaborative projects for writing about project management in educational settings
• Professional development for all members
• How to make project management training more effective
• Sharing knowledge on how project management is used in Human Resources/Learning & Development

LEAD CoP Vision - The PMI Learning Education and Development CoP inspires its members and leaders to share their knowledge and experiences as project management practitioners and educators in a continually evolving and collaborative learning environment. The LEAD CoP is the center of excellence in educational project management and the leading source of creative and innovative techniques for teaching and communicating the value of professional project management.

LEAD CoP Mission - The PMI LEAD CoP provides services to our members and people interested in project management through networking, partnering, learning, and other activities towards the advancement of the education and training project management community.

I could not find a section of job opportunities but I did why where you can sign up and become a part of CoP PMI Learning Education and Development. They do have a Career Headquarters for Practicioners which is a place to help improve you improve your resume by cultivating your strengths and talents. They also have a career coaching services available to all memembers.

References:

https://www.nea.org

www.ed.gov

 http://lead.vc.pmi.org/Public/Home.aspx

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Three organizations that have appealed to me for many years and some job opportunities that interests me…

Ø  The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the world’s largest organization working on behalf of young children birth to eight years of age. They are also the voice of high-quality early childhood education for young children. I love the NAEYC because it is a place I can go and get up-to-date information on publications and professional development trainings. I also really enjoy the NAEYC for families’ sites that give families up-to-date information on children’s learning and development. Even though the main office is in Washington, DC there is an off branch for Kentucky which is Kentucky Association for Early Childhood Education

The Kentucky Association for Early Childhood Education has a position called WAYS AND MEANS which oversee KAECE fund raising activities, order Board approved items to sell, maintain KAECE display boards, set up KAECE displays at early care and education functions, oversee the Conference Silent Auction and secure members to be stationed at the Silent Auction and KAECE exhibit, maintain and update a current inventory of revenue generating materials, and attend Annual KAECE Conference and assist as needed. This position is not available but I am interested because I love creating and set up displays. I have also worked for a college professor in an early childhood department and I was responsible to oversee and maintain inventory resource materials.

Ø  First Steps is a statewide early intervention system that provides services to children with developmental disabilities from birth to age 3 and their families. First Steps is Kentucky's response to the federal Infant-Toddler Program. First Steps offers comprehensive services through a variety of community agencies and service disciplines and is administered by the Department for Public Health in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. I choice this organization because I currently work with First Steps and I see a need to promote First Steps to the community.

First Steps are always in need for service providers like Developmental Interventionist, Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist, and Psychical Therapist. For a Developmental Interventionist our skills and experience require are a Bachelor degree along with teacher certification and a background working with young children. I provide activities for families to do with their child on a daily routine to improve their child’s developmental progress.

Ø   Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services: Division of Child Care is a division that provides leadership in building high quality, community based access to child care and early learning that enhances health, safety, permanency, well-being and self-sufficiency for Kentucky’s children and families. Division of Child Care works towards increasing quality child care that is developmentally appropriate, affordable, healthy, and safe for all children and families. Their vision is engaging families and community partners in collaborative decision making for early care and education.

At this time there are no positions available but I would be interested in Child Care Licensing Specialist. The site did not list any employment opportunity so I contacted the Director of the Division of child care and she sent me an email on what they look for when there are position available. This site was also very hard to navigate to find employment. Skills and experiences the director emailed me back includes knowledge of the child care regulations and a minimal 2 years working in a child care setting or a BA in early childhood or MA in Education or Social Services. I have always wanted to be a part of those who put children and families first to provide a healthy safe environment for children to learn and play.
 

References:

First Steps: http://chfs.ky.gov/dph/firstSteps/default.htm

Kentucky Association for Early Childhood Education: http://www.kaece.org/

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services: http://chfs.ky.gov

Our final Class!

Hello classmates to EDUC 6990-Practical Application in the Early Childhood Field.

It’s great to see familiar faces as well as a few new faces and getting to know each and everyone.  I can’t believe this is our last class together and our final class before we all receive our MA.

I just wanted to say to everyone GOOD LUCK in our final stretch of completion!!!!