Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

This assignment was very helpful since I am new to this community. It has opened my eyes to the early childhood community, now to get involved.

Palm Beach County Early Childhood Registry: This registry is of professional nature and certifies trainers based on education and background. When becoming a member of this registry it opens the door for a quality training called Train the Trainer that provides a certification to teach /train in my county. Training in this type of environment will prepare me and give me experience in teaching adults. I believe this is an excellent next step to network and become known to the leaders of adult early childhood education.  They do have job postings on their sites, but all are novice positions that I have held in the past, I am looking for advancement and a professional challenge.” You will be a member of a respected cadre of Registry approved training professionals delivering quality assured, outcomes driven training to the early childhood workforce. As a Registry approved trainer, you may be eligible to offer training to practitioners who can access SEEK scholarships to attend your training events.” (Palm Beach County Early Childhood Registry, 2015) There is also a calendar of trainings that I can utilize to meet my training requirements each year.

Institute of Excellence in Early Care & Education:  I would like to work for, the institute, which is supported by the local state college.  A college instructor I observed and interviewed last class told me she started out with the institute and then got a job offer from Palm Beach State College. She recommended I aim to work for the institute and train at local NAEYC conferences to get my feet wet.  They have a continuous job announcement, but I believe that I am not getting a call because I have not taken the train the trainer classes. “The mission of the Institute of Excellence in Early Care and Education is to provide the child care workforce of Palm Beach County with a comprehensive approach to career development in the field of early childhood education” (Palm Beach State College, 2015)

The Early Learning Coalition is the organization that supports the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten  program that children aged four by September 1 can participate in for three hours a day for the entire school year prior to a child’s Kindergarten year. They set the standards and regulate programs that are having received the VPK certification.  This organization supports the quality of preschool education.  Their mission is “Building community-wide commitment for comprehensive, high-quality early learning environments that benefits the children and families of Palm Beach County” ( Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach Count, 2015). The coalition is important in early childhood in my county and the more I know about it the better. They have a monthly newsletter that will be very informative to what is going on in my community. The coalition has job opportunities however, it is more clerical type work that I am not interested in.

The community of supporters of the coalition are:

“We are proud to work with our government, education and nonprofit partners in ensuring Palm Beach County’s children have access to high-quality early learning and educational services. These are our community partners”:

-The Florida Office of Early Learning

-The Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County

-The Children’s Forum

-Palm Beach State College

-Seek Scholarships:

-Professional Development System:

-Family Central Inc.

-Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County

-Florida Department of Children and Families

-Lutheran Services

 All of these partners work together and are committed to bettering early childhood in my community; therefore I will research  all of them and sign up for their newsletter to say abreast of early childhood actions, events, and more in my surrounding areas. I believe that after graduating I will have more time to volunteer and get my feet wet in the early childhood community of West Palm Beach.

References

Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach Count. (2015, March 12). Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County. Retrieved from About Us: http://www.elcpalmbeach.org/about

Palm Beach County Early Childhood Registry. (2015, March 11). Palm Beach County Early Childhood Registry. Retrieved from Palm Beach County Early Childhood Registry: https://www.pbcregistry.org/index.php/trainers/benefits-of-being-a-member

Palm Beach State College. (2015, March 12). Institute of Excellence in Early Care & Education. Retrieved from Palm Beach State College: https://www.palmbeachstate.edu/ieece/