Friday, March 25, 2016

Jobs/Roles in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Community: National/Federal Level

These are my dream jobs in Washington, DC where national policy is created, implemented, and disseminated throughout the country.

I believe in the mission of providing a head start to all who want to place their children in early childhood programs. Head Start supports the mental, social, and emotional development. Many of the programs are not affordable to many American families who need childcare. Instead of putting them in care where the caretakers may not be necessarily trained or qualified, Head Start provides them with a true head start. I appreciate that there is a federal program that enables families to receive needed services. I checked their employment opportunities. Although California has 25 job openings, none of them are in San Diego. Nor are there opportunities for me to become a researcher or an advocate within the federal agency.

U.S. Congress:
House of Representatives Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education: http://edworkforce.house.gov/committee/ecese.htm
I do not know what my chances of employment are, but they would be dream jobs because I get to influence national policy on early childhood education. There are two Representatives from California. The Chair of the subcommittee is from Indiana, where I was born.

U.S. Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA): http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/index.html
English Language acquisition is one of my main areas of interest along with American Sign Language Acquisition. They are focused on preserving heritage languages and biliteracy – or even multiliteracy – skills. Maybe their National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA: http://ncela.ed.gov/) has the right type of employment opportunities for my public policy interest.

Visual Language & Visual Learning: http://vl2.gallaudet.edu/about/
VL2, a National Science Foundation funded program at Gallaudet University, looks like an interesting and transformative place to work in. They advocate for visual language with the possibility of a spoken language for those children who might be able to acquire it. They sponsor research and conduct meta studies of research supporting a specific topic such as bilingualism.


4 comments:

  1. Dear Marla,
    I also chose Head Start. I worked for this program for four years and it is a great program that is so beneficial to children and families. If you want to work in a capacity to research and advocate at a federal level I would look at the agencies that actually run the program. Head Start is part of the Administration for Children and Families. Looking at careers through them you may find more what you are looking for.

    Jennie Ingram

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marla, I enjoyed reading your post. Head Start is a great program and I like the fact that they are concerned with making sure that every child gets the educational start needed to be successful in school and beyond. VL2 seems like a good program. Are you fluent in sign language? I have always been drawn to sign language and one day plan to become fluent in it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marla,

    I enjoyed reading your post. Your job selections were good and informative. Head start offers many jobs at both the State and National level. If I was in the DC area, I would love to apply for either of the three jobs you selected, especially The House of Representatives Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education: http://edworkforce.house.gov/committee/ecese.htm, since I have a BA in Criminal Justice with emphasis in Political Science. I wish you much success and hope that you are going to apply for one if you are in the DC area.

    Neketha

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Marla,
    I heard about Head Start ever since I studied the Early Childhood Program. Some of the colleagues from study mentioned about their work relative with the program. I am interested to know how do Head Start access and hire those who would like to work for the center, and how do they appraise they work. Besides, U.S. Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition is likely helpful to immigrant students for learning English as the other language. I notice there is “Student Loans” session, I would like to know what kind of students can be able to apply for the loans, and how do they pay off. Visual Language & Visual Learning looks interesting, it would be useful for teacher to apply some methods to teaching young children new vocabulary and develop their imagination. Thanks for the sharing!

    References
    Head Start: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs
    U.S. Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). Retrieved from: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/index.html
    Visual Language & Visual Learning (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://vl2.gallaudet.edu/about/

    ReplyDelete