Job Roles in the ECE Community

One National Association that I really liked was the Administration for Children and Families. The reason this organization appeals to me is because they administer the Head Start programs. I am passionate about Head Start and its mission for children and families in poverty. The current job opening they have that I was interested in was Child Care Program Specialist. It seemed like it would be fun but it is too far from me because it is in Philadelphia. The qualifications were At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal Service performing the following duties: 1) assisting in the development of regulations, program instructions, and/or guidelines governing child care programs; 2) assisting senior staff with reviewing grantee State plans; 3) aiding in the evaluation and assessment of child care programs performance; and 4) preparing a variety of documents (e.g. position papers, briefing documents, and data fact sheets); or have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; or a combination of the required experience and education for this grade level. The second organization I liked was National Association for Educating Young Children (NAEYC). I like this organization because it is related to my field. I like their position on the educating young children. The job opening they have is Managing Editor, Books and Related Resources. The requirements are: The successful candidate will have at minimum a BA degree, and a minimum of 5 years of editorial experience and publishing production experience in a management role with demonstrated supervisory, budget, scheduling, and quality control experience. Must have excellent editing and writing skills and experience with desktop publishing processes and knowledge of digital publishing trends and practices. The third organization is the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. I like this organization because they too are a part of Head Start which is where a large piece of my heart resides. The job opportunity they had open was Program Director. I was interested in this position until again I found it was too far to travel because it is in North Carolina. The requirements are Bachelor’s degree with 5 + years of professional experience in upper‐level management is required; an advanced degree is preferred. 5 years’ experience in the Head Start preferred; direct experience in managing government funded programs is highly desirable. I enjoyed this assignment because it gave me knowledge on where to look when I start full fledged job searching.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community-State and Local

Three organizations that peaked my interest were: 1.Virginia Head Start Organization Their mission is: As a professional organization, the Virginia Head Start Association is dedicated to advocacy, training and providing support which enhances and fosters growth of our individual members, member agencies, partners and others who impact the lives of children and families. This organization appealed to me because Head Start is one of my favorite programs! A job they had open that seemed interesting was: Head Start State Collaboration Office Director The description said The incumbent will direct the Head Start State Collaboration Office with the goal of improving the quality of child care in Virginia, while fostering collaborative working relationships between Head Start programs and state agencies, which includes the VA Department of Social Services. I love working with Social Service Departments in our area, so I am sure I would love to do this job. 2. Virginia Department of Education- This appealed to me because i would like to be part of the organization that makes most decisions for our schools. A job they had open that looked interesting was Assessment Specialist/Education Coordinator. The job was only part time 30 hours per week. The pay was pretty good though. $19.91-40.00 per hour! That definitely caught my eye. The job description listed several different aspects of developing testing materials as the main duty of the position. 3.VAECE is the last organization I chose. This was appealing to me because I have attended many of their conferences and I share their purpose. The Purpose of this organization is to serve and act on behalf of the needs and rights of all young children and to work with all groups serving the interest and well being of young children in Virginia. They currently did not have any jobs available. However, they mentioned a volunteer board of directors and presidents of local chapters. I feel like I could do one of those jobs. I could do that in addition to my regular job. I plan to look more into the local chapter part of this because we do not have a local Chapter in our area. Maybe I will be the beginning of getting one started in our area.