As I mentioned in my discussion post, I am a member of two PLC's in Northern Kentucky. One is the Early Childhood Community Collaborative and the other is the Trainer's PLC with 4C for Children. The E3C strives to improve the practice of childcare administrators in order to develop early childhood leaders in Northern Kentucky. The Trainer's PLC strives to improve the practices of credentialed trainers that provide early childhood development training hours to licensed childcare staff.
A PLC that I am considering joining is Developing Early Childhood Leaders (DECL) also sponsored by 4C for Children. This PLC is also for administrators but rather than focus on best practice for day-to-day operations, it expands its reach to advocacy and mentoring. As I am no longer a center director in charge of daily operations, this PLC is appealing as it views the field from a larger perspective. A second PLC that interests me is Leadership Northern Kentucky sponsored by the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. This group explores topics related to community economics and inclusive leadership. Unfortunately, it requires a significant monthly commitment of 8 hours per month. The third PLC I would be interested in rejoining is Supporting Latino Families of Northern Kentucky. I was a part of this group in their formative stages and would like to return. This PLC is comprised of professionals from all types of service industries including education, nursing, social work, and public health. They meet monthly to discuss issues related to the Latino population in Northern Kentucky and how they can improve services for Latino families. Our Head Start agency serves a large number of Latino families and I would be interested in learning more about the needs of the Latino population in our area.
Job Positions
I am currently looking into a job position with ICF. They are a consulting firm that employs experts is multiple fields including education. ICF contracts with the Office of Head Start to provide Early Childhood Development Specialists in various regions throughout the United States. These specialists provide guidance and support to assigned Head Start grantees in a given region to ensure compliance with performance standards and the expectations of the office Head Start. This position requires travel and knowledge of performance standards. In order to become a consultant for ICF, I would have to be CLASS reliable and gain a few more years experience in overall program administration in Head Start.
I am also researching positions as quality specialists with 4C for Children. These positions require coaching experience and the ability to guide teachers and administrators in community childcare. The current position is in Cincinnati Ohio and requires knowledge of Ohio standards and regulations. Although I am well-versed in Kentucky regulations, I need experience in Ohio.
References
Kentucky Department of Education. (2018). Professional learning communities. Retrieved from
https://education.ky.gov/school/stratclsgap/Pages/plc.aspx
You included a lot of information about collaborative organizations in your post. That is very helpful. It is really great that you are already involved in two organizations already I am sure that helps in this course. As for me, this is course has been a struggle for me. I feel as I am not understanding some of the information that is in the required readings. Getting back to the blog post assignment for this week I chose two job opportunities with NAEYC which still is in the early childhood field and would allow me to be a part of a community practice.
ReplyDeleteHere in Georgia, we also call communities of practice PLCs. Professional Learning Communities are very helpful because they are there to lead and guide you to be the inspirational professional that we were called to be. I recently secured a teaching position at an nearby elementary school where I will be teaching 3rd grade math. This excites me because I can not wait to build relationships within PLCs in which I can communicate.
ReplyDeleteRebecca,
ReplyDeletePart of my family is from Kentucky so I enjoyed reading about some of the opportunities available to children and families. It sounds like the Early Childhood Development Specialist position within Head Start would be a great way to help in many locations throughout the region. I taught Head Start for a couple of years and even became a CLASS evaluator where I went into Head Start classrooms to evaluate the adults within and the relationships they had with each other and the children. Would you consider making that move to Ohio or would you rather stay in Kentucky and continue to look for opportunities?