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

Here are my three National, Non-federal Organizations Serving the ECE Community:
(1). National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)
(2). National Head Start Association (NHSA)
(3). Nemours

I chose the first organizations because poverty is a big issue world-wide and especially in the early childhood field. It is my hope and desire that poverty would decreased dramatically because I don't believe that it will ever end due to the fact that we take advantage of things such as clothes, food, shelter, water, and etc. My second choice was chosen because I am going to change my age group and focus on Head Start children for my Capstone Project because those years are very important and critical when it comes to play and hands on learning. The last organization was chosen because I had never heard of it before and it deals with "a children's health system devoted to treating and preventing illnesses from birth through adolescence while focusing on policy and practice changes that improve the environments where children live, learn and play" (http://www.eceobesityprevention.org/getting-started/national-organizations/).

I did not find no job opportunities on the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) websites, but I was interested in the Making Work Supports Work project because the "“Work support” benefits—such as earned income tax credits, child care subsidies, health insurance, and food stamps—can help families close the gap between low earnings and basic expenses, but work supports are means-tested, so families lose eligibility as they work and earn more and small increases in earnings can trigger sharp reductions in benefits, leaving families no better off—or even worse off—than before. In short, working more doesn't always pay" (http://nccp.org/topics/worksupports.html).

There were no job opportunities currently available, but there were NHSA Conferences and Training Opportunities that interest me such as the 2014 Fall Leadership Institute and the 31st Parent Conferences and Family Engagement Institutes. The Ongoing Training for the Spring 2014 Director's Webinar Series on Early Childhood Education interest me and it included many  on-demand webinars and our Innovations for Better Outcomes series. Also, the Ongoing Training for Basic Family Services and Basic Health Services Credentials Program in which "The National Head Start Association understands the importance of enlisting skilled family and health service professionals in providing comprehensive, high quality services to children and their families; therefore, NHSA offers two credentials that are specifically focused on these critical support services to families and The Basic Family Services and Basic Health Services Credentials Program is designed for Head Start family and health services providers to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities in 12 competency areas and the Head Start Program Performance Standards" (http://www.nhsa.org/professional_development/credentials_program).

I could search jobs on the Nemours website, but the careers interest me such as the Therapy & Rehabilitation because I wanted to go to college for Sports Medicine and "they have access to a newly opened world-class Sports Medicine Center, offering expansive rehabilitative equipment and resources" (http://www.nemours.org/careers/locations/delaware/therapy.html).

References:
National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). (2014). Work support. Retrieved from http://nccp.org/topics/worksupports.html

National Head Start Association (NHSA). (2014). NHSA conferences and training opportunities. Retrieved from http://www.nhsa.org/professional_development

Nemours. (2014). Therapy & Rehabilitation. Retrieved from http://www.nemours.org/careers/locations/delaware/therapy.html

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

The National AfterSchool Association (NAA), The National Center for Fair & Open Testing, and The STAND for children are organizations that are at the local and state level, but they are associated with communities of practice. I chose these three organizations based on my Capstone Project. because later on I know that it will be useful when it comes to the final project. Also, I wanted to find organizations that I have never heard of so that I could learn new information to share with my colleagues so that we can instill this knowledge into our children minds in hopes of them wanting to learn.

The NAA had three job opportunities currently available that interest me like Leadership at the Movies-Part 1 & 2, Talk Tuesday, and Ten Tips for Hiring. The National Center for Fair & Open Testing website did have a numerous of job opportunities which are currently available, but I just looked through a couple of pages and decided that the New Research, Good Reads interest me. The STAND for children website did have job opportunities that are currently available, but it did not interest me.

The Leadership at the Movies-Part 1 & 2 offers the first five leadership principles which can earn you "two thumbs up" from your colleagues and funders as well as the youth and families you serve and the last five principles are the next steps to completing that transformation. The Talk Tuesday helps our young people develop the skills and talents to find gainful employment and to attract businesses to our cities. The Ten Tips for Hiring provides you with ten steps to getting the right people in the door that will put you on track to strengthening your team. (National AfterSchool Association-NAA) http://naaweb.org/professional-development/item/132-leadership-at-the-movies-part-1 and http://naaweb.org/professional-development/item/135-leadership-at-the-movies-part-2 

The New Research, Good Reads was a study that found a significant increase in incarceration rates for students who fail high-stakes exit exams. The Effect of High School Exit Exams on Graduation, Employment, Wages and Incarceration shows that students who fail these exams were more than 12 percent more likely to face incarceration than students who pass and these states also had lower graduation rates than states without these exams (National Center for Fair & Open Testing)http://www.fairtest.org/new-research-good-reads 

I think that if you are apart of these organizations, then they will help you with the skills and experiences that you would need to competently fulfill each of these roles.

References:

National AfterSchool Association (NAA). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://naaweb.org/?searchword=employment&searchphrase=any&limit=20&ordering=newest&view=search&option=com_search

National Center for Fair & Open Testing. (2013, Nov 9). New research, Good reads. Retrieved from http://www.fairtest.org/new-research-good-reads

STAND for children. (n.d.). Employment opportunities. Retrieved from https://careers-stand.icims.com/jobs/search?ss=1&searchKeyword=louisiana&searchCategory