Exploring Local and State Level Roles in the ECE Community

This week, my colleagues and I were asked to explore various early childhood local and state level communities and organizations that we are interested of which we are interested in becoming a member. Since I currently live in Ohio and Fairfield County and work in Pickaway County, I am focusing my attention to these regions for exploration. The first organization that I would be interested in becoming a member of is the Pickaway County Educational Service Center. I chose this organization because I know that my Head Start program currently partners with them to provide services to children with disabilities in the county, but I want to know more about the other services that the program offers. According to the Pickaway County ESC's website (http://www.pickawayesc.org), it has been serving the county's educational needs for 100 years. They are dedicated to ensuring that the county's educators are ready to serve the children in the community by offering up-to-date training and mentoring services to continuously improve each educator's professional credentials. One of the employment positions that I would be interested in if an opening became available is the Curriculum Supervisor. Curriculum Supervisors are assigned to a school district (or particular grade level as in Circleville City Schools) to monitor proper curriculum implementation and review the school district's curriculum to ensure that it is meeting the developmental needs of the children. This particular position appeals to me because I believe that curriculum should be developmentally appropriate for all children and be offered in a variety of delivery modes in order to maximize learning opportunities for the children.

Another agency that I would be interested in being a member of is the Ohio Department of Education (http://www.education.ohio.gov). The Ohio Department of Education serves as a service center for all of the state's education programs, providing supportive services such as professional development for educators, monitoring fiscal performance, and reviewing curriculum and assessment. The overall administration of the department is overseen by the Ohio Board of Education. One professional position that I would be interested in pursuing in the future is that of the Director of Early Learning and School Readiness, which oversees the operation and implementation of all early childhood programs in the state of Ohio, including but not limited to publicly funded preschools, birth to kindergarten entry child care programs, and kindergarten readiness programs. This position is appealing to me because I see it as a state level equivalent to my current position in Head Start. I am the Education Coordinator for the Pickaway County Head Start and Early Head Start program and oversee the education-based operations throughout the program. The state-level Director position would allow me to demonstrate my professional knowledge in the early childhood field and encourage me to step up as a leader and advocate to provide quality early childhood programming state-wide.

The third agency that I am interested in is Action for Children (http://www.actionforchildren.org). Action for Children is a non-profit organization that provides free child care and early childhood information and training to families, professional development training opportunities for current educators, and advocacy for quality early childhood programming. A career opportunity that I would be interested in pursuing is an Early Childhood Technical Assistance Specialist, which requires an extensive knowledge of the state's child care licensing requirements, Step Up to Quality rating system requirements, and various curriculum and assessment tools. As previously mentioned, I possess a strong interest in learning about various curricula and assessment tool used with young children. This position would encourage me to expand my knowledge about curricula and assessment used in the state and mentor early childhood programs and individual professionals in implementing quality early childhood programs.

As I continue to explore the early childhood education community and resources available to me, I will add local and state level agencies and professional opportunities that appeal to me.