Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

          Three national organizations that appealed to my passion for early childhood education are Zero to Three, HighScope, and the Erikson Institute.  These three early childhood organizations appealed to my work as an early childhood educator because of their initiative to improve the quality of life and development of young children.  Each organization also coincides with my capstone challenge.  My challenge is to increase awareness for the importance of quality early childhood care and education.    

I chose to explore the nonprofit organization Zero to Three because its mission, to support the health and development of infants and toddlers, coincides with my capstone challenge.  I am looking for ways to become an advocate in the community for early, high-quality child care and education.  The organization, Zero to Three, supports, informs, and trains, early childhood professionals, policymakers as well as parents on the importance of positive learning experiences at a young age. 

I chose to explore HighScope first as a parent and second as an early childhood educator.  I was interested in learning about HighScope because of all the wonderful qualities I have heard that are encompassed in the HighScope curriculum.  My son also attends a preschool that utilizes HighScope, his progress both socially and academically has been extremely beneficial to his well being.  I was also interested in reading about the research related to HighScope in the interest of both my son’s education and my intrigue as a professional.

The Erikson Institute appealed to my interest as an early childhood educator because of its mission to prepare child development and family service professionals for leadership to improve life for children and their families.  This institute also coincides with my challenge.  The Erikson Institute engages in research that directly responds to young children and the people who serve them.  Their community initiative to partner with schools and social services was also of interest to me.      

The following links are the websites for the four organizations previously discussed:

http://www.zerotothree.org/

http://www.highscope.org/

http://www.erikson.edu/

The job opportunities that exist within these organizations that are of interest to me are as follows:

• Zero to Three Policy Analyst

• The skills and experience needed to competently fulfill this role:
• Knowledge of state early childhood systems, policy issues, and programs.
• Knowledge and experience in one or more of the following areas: early care and

education, family support, infant mental health, or early intervention.

• Strong preference for experience working at the county and state level in a policy position
• Minimum of five years relevant work experience.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple responsibilities

effectively.

• Familiarity with California early childhood issues.
• Ability to be self-directed in accomplishing work responsibilities;
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Ability to travel, including occasional overnight stays.
• Essential Qualities
• Encourages and practices critical thinking
• Is self-reflective and empathic
• Recognizes the influence of workplace relationships on outcomes and results
• Maintains a respectful and accepting approach to others
• Awareness of the influence of the larger context on individual behavior
• Collaboratively and creatively supports the work efforts of colleagues at all levels and in all areas of the organization
• HighScope Project Director
• The skills and experience needed to competently fulfill this role:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree with a major in early childhood education, social work or a related field. Master's degree in a social science, community service, early childhood education, business or public administration preferred.
• Four years of administrative experience in an early childhood setting required.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the Head Start/Early Head Start program model, regulations and standards as well as early child development, teaching strategies and the critical contributing components of a high quality learning environment for pre-school children required.
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations. Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.
• Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.
• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
• To perform this job successfully, an individual should have knowledge of Spreadsheet software and Word Processing software.

• Erikson Institute: Early Childhood Developmental Screener
• The skills and experience needed to competently fulfill this role:
• The Early Childhood Developmental Screener will conduct screenings of young children birth to age three with their foster parents using tools such as the Denver II, Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Socio-Emotional (ASQ:SE). In addition to administering standardized instruments, conducting clinical interviews with caregivers and observing the parent-child interactions will also be critical elements of the process. The responsibilities of the screener will range from doing assessments, making referrals to Early Intervention or other necessary systems, translating documents to Spanish and training and consulting with caseworkers and foster parents on early development and infant mental health issues. The candidate will also be responsible for attending trainings offered by the program, weekly supervision, and bi-monthly case presentations.