Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

A national organization that appeals to me is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) with close to 80,000 members. I like that ground breaking information related to our field can be easily viewed nationwide. Although I would love to work for this organization, they are based in Washington, DC. I live in Los Angeles, California and I would not want to live far from the community I grew up in and the surrounding communities I now currently work in.

A state organization that I would like to be a part of is the California Commission on Teaching Credentialing. I currently assist ECE individuals in obtaining a state permit so that they meet the state and federal requirements. It sometimes takes a long time for them to get a response from the commission. I would like to assist them if possible, to be able to reduce this. I recently attend a workshop where another organization, the Child Development Training Consortium, which partners with them, shared how overwhelmed they are with the overflow of ECE professionals requesting these permits.

A local organization which I would like to work for is the Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP). LAUP is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide access to quality preschool education for children in Los Angeles County. I currently am subcontracted through this organization as an advisor in ECE for a higher education and professional growth program. I would like to be fully hired by them. A current position is that of an early education expert.  They state that by being successful in being a pioneer in early childhood education, they pride themselves in provided great benefits to their employees and their families (LAUP, 2013). I love this position because it requires me to work and collaborate with local and statewide organizations to be able to provide the best overall information across the communities and surrounding communities. This position requires a minimum of a master degree in child development and preferred to have someone that has five years of experience in an ECE setting. Soon, this position can be a reality for me.

References

State of California. (2007). Commission on Teacher Credentialing.  Retrieved on May 17, 2013 from http://www.ctc.ca.gov/

Los Angeles Universal Preschool. (2013). Careers. Retrieved on May 17, 2013 from http://www.laup.net/EmploymentOpportunities.aspx

National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Social Justice Issues...which one to choose

Hello Everyone.

Poverty, family, children, literacy, equality, math, diversity, anti-bias, self empowerment, community, ......the list goes on!

I wish everyone luck in advocating for a specific social justice issue during the two month period of this course. Working directly with children and families in low income communities can bring up various issues and as educators, can face these issues a hand full at a time. I cannot stress the importance of teaching families about advocacy. This term is too broad for this course so I have thought of incorporating advocacy in the importance of family involvement. Due to lack of financial resources, centers sometimes only do the minimum to address this issue. They would rather focus on the child and sacrifice the factor of self empowerment with the home.