Community of Practice - State & National levels

Parents every day trust educators with their most precious commodities, their children and as educators it is our responsibility to be adequately prepared to work and educate the children and families that come through our doors.  The face of early childhood education has changed and teachers have also had to change and evolve to continue doing the important work of education, what has not changed however is compensation.  I believe teachers need to have an increase in their wages, but even more importantly, I feel early childhood education teachers need to pursue higher education.  Sadly there isn’t a national standard in terms of education when it comes to early childhood educators.  From state to state and from program to program there is great discrepancy.  For this reason, I have chosen some of the following organizations as I feel they provide a voice for teachers.

Center for the Child Care Workforce (http://www.ccw.org)

I was attracted to this organization because of the focus on educators as the facilitators who prepare children as “the next generation of citizens” (Centers for the Child Care Workforce).  The organization’s focus is to create and promote policy for better wages for teaching professionals, and higher education and professional development.  In am extremely passionate about this.  For the last few years I have been working within my organization advocating for higher education and increased wages.  Many of our teachers earn sub-par wages often times wages that are below the poverty line—these professionals are entrusted with the education of our children yet they too struggle to survive.  I am happy to say that all my teaching teams have made the commitment to higher college education. 

There were no job postings but many avenues to exercise a voice on important issues that effect child care professionals and create opportunities for building relationships and networks with peers in the field.    One needs passion and commitment to fit the bill for advocating for teachers and children. 

National Education Association (http://www.nea.org/) has its focus on public education for students and that through that public education students can attain tremendous opportunities in their life as well as contribute to positive change in society.  The NEA also believes in partnerships between families and the education system, which then lead to successful student outcomes.   As a director of a pre-school program, I understand the importance of family partnerships.  It is important to build those relationships. 

One position that I found interesting is, Associate Director of Human and Civil rights.  According to the job description the position advocates for social justice, equity, and equal access for public school employees and students in order to achieve the goal of a great public school for every student.  The individual would be a member of NEA’s Center for Advocacy management team, participates in the development and administration of the Association’s strategic plan/initiatives/core services and budget; provide leadership in developing the social and economic justice agenda for the NEA (National Education Association).

With this job and some of the others listed, the NEA requires not only higher education; masters, but the job requires one to have at least 7 years experience in human and civil rights experience at the state level, as well as public policy advocacy work.  I was attracted to this position because the job would allow me to work towards develop9ng leadership roles for women.  Although I am not qualified in the sense of policy work, I do feel I have a better understanding of what route to take to gain experience in public policy and that would be working perhaps within the public school system in my area representing other teachers and administrators. 

The final agency I chose to examine is the Urban Institute (http://www.urbaninstitute.org).    The institute is an independent, non-partisan research organization that has influenced numerous policy decisions.  The institute has an Education Policy Center that focuses on education reform and federal funding.  The Education Policy Center also focuses on children’s well being, neighborhood revitalization programs, affordable housing, crime and readiness to work. 

One job opening of interest to me was the Center Director in Education position.  The director would address and evaluate evidence-based strategies for effective teaching and learning, the persistence of achievement gaps and strategies for narrowing them, measurement of school performance and quality.  Through the position, the Center Director will research and explore policy challenges as it relates to school finance equity, barriers to school readiness and, residential, segregation and poverty concentration, housing affordability and instability. 

Although I am not qualified for either of the above position, it is good to know what is available as I feel through this kind of research one can begin to think about the future and think about what it is exactly one can do or how one can contribute.  The process is also a bit intimidating because I question whether I will ever have enough experience or where I will be able to apply the experience and education I currently have.