Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

 I came upon my first community of practice because I received an e-mail announcing an open position.  The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Early Learning is currently accepting applications for an Education Program Specialist.  The Office of Early Learning is a new office “that seeks to align and strengthen programs and policies across the Department for children birth through third grade, and works closely with the Department of Health and Human Services”  (USAJobs, 2012, para. 2).  The Office of Early Learning is responsible for managing the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Program, Even Start Family Literacy and Early Reading First.  This position sounds exciting as the Education Program Specialist has a responsibility for assisting with the development of federal policies that impact children and families.  The person in this position uses his or her knowledge of early childhood to support the work of the Race to the Top grantees and is a liaison between the department and advocacy groups, other federal offices and national associations.  The appropriate candidate must have a degree but only needs 9 semester hours of education courses or has four years experience in a related field.  There are extensive benefits for the person holding this position including vacation and sick time, health and life insurance and the Federal Employees Retirement System.  The position is well paid with a range of $105,211 to $136,771 per year (USAJobs, 2012).  If I was in a position to relocate, I would apply for this position without thinking twice!

A web search of national early childhood positions provided me with over 10,000 open positions in our field across the country.  It seems that many higher education institutions are hiring faculty.  As I reviewed some of the listings, I came across an opportunity at Johns Hopkins University in their Center for Technology in Education program.  The posting is for an Early Childhood QRIS Project Manager.  The state of Maryland is a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Grant recipient and is investing a large portion of the grant funding to develop and implement a QRIS system.  The Project Manager’s primary responsibility will be “to lead and support the successful implementation of a comprehensive model of Program Coordination for the Maryland EXCELS QRIS” (Johns Hopkins University, 2012, para. 1).  Primary responsibilities include supervising program coordinators, developing and implementing training for the program coordinators and managing the team responsible for coordinating the QRIS program.  Maryland expects to have more than 4,000 early childhood programs involved in their QRIS system and the Project Manager will be responsible for guiding the work the establishes this program.  Qualifications include a Master’s degree in early childhood or a related field, a minimum of five years working in early childhood programs, one year of leadership experience and experience working with or participating in a QRIS system.  This position interested me because the person hired for this position has a genuine ability to shape a system that would be used statewide by countless professionals, parents and children.

The NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Education has a position open for an Accreditation Coordinator to “support the work of our Accreditation System by assisting program staff, NAEYC assessors and other stakeholders in understanding and interpreting the standards, the criteria and the system as a whole” (NAEYC, 2012).  Responsibilities of this position include supporting program directors working on the Accreditation self-study, working directly with assessors and responding to decision makers within the Accreditation process.  This individual monitors assessor performance for consistency and reliability to the Accreditation model.  The Accreditation Coordinator must have a BA in early childhood education or child development and 3-5 years experience in the field.  Experience in high quality programs and the NAEYC Accreditation process is preferred.  This position appeals to me because of my passion for high quality in our field.  The opportunity to work for an organization as highly respected as NAEYC would be a privilege.

 Johns Hopkins University. (2012). Program Manager. Retrieved from Johns Hopkins University: https://hrnt.jhu.edu/jhujobs/job_view.cfm?view_req_id=53967&view=sch

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2012). NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from National Association for the Education of Young Children: http://www.naeyc.org/about/jobs

USAJobs. (2012). Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Retrieved from USAJobs: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/326405400