How to Use this Guide
Acknowledgments
Working with children is an opportunity to shape lives and to help ensure the future of our community, nation, and world. The field of early childhood education (working with children birth to age 8) and school-age programs (working with children 6-12 years of age) offers numerous opportunities for careers that are both satisfying and rewarding. These career opportunities range from working directly with children; to providing supports to parents and other care givers; to supervising staff; training, and educating adults so that they develop the knowledge and skills needed to provide high quality services.
This resource guide has been developed for three main purposes:
- To provide people considering a career in early childhood and school-age programs basic information about the field, the many career opportunities available, and how to prepare for particular positions.
- To assist people already working in the field evaluate their current status and develop plans for their ongoing professional development.
- To assist program administrators and supervisors help their employees develop professional development plans.
To meet these purposes, this resource guide was developed as a
comprehensive source of information about the programs that provide
early childhood education and school-age services, the types of
positions that are available in these programs, and the qualifications
needed to work in those positions. Information is also provided
about the education and training programs that have been developed
to help people obtain these qualifications and to develop and strengthen
their skills as early childhood and school-age educators.
Much of the information contained in this guide is general and can
assist someone planning a career in early childhood and school-age
programs anywhere. However, some of the information is specific
to New York State. For example, teacher certification in this guide
refers specifically to the processes and programs leading to teacher
certification in New York State. In addition, the training opportunities
listed in the Training Resource Database and the programs and options
listed in the College and University Database are exclusively resources
and programs available in New York State.
As part of the guide, a number of tools have been created to help
students and working professionals develop and implement career
development plans. These include:
- a data base that can be searched to find appropriate New York State college and university course work and degree programs;
- information on financial aid for college studies and web links for additional information;
- a data base of New York State organizations that have training resources that address a variety of early childhood, school-age, and related topics to meet the needs of individuals and groups
- tools that guide individuals in assessing their current status in regards to competencies needed to provide quality services and to develop plans to address needs for additional education and training;
- step-by-step instructions for developing a professional portfolio;
- information on how to develop a resume including several sample resumes; and
- Information on ways individuals can round out their careers and use their expertise to help move the field forward and to support people just beginning their careers.
Getting the Specific Information You Need
Accessing Additional Information
This web-based tool provides the user which
a comprehensive array of information that can be obtained
in a variety of ways. Among the advantages
of the guide being web-based are the following:
Getting the Specific Information You Need
This tool as been designed to allow you to skip from section
to section based on your specific interests or need for information.
In this way, you are essentially able to modify the tool
to supply only the information that you want or need. For
example, say you are interested in becoming a director of
a child care center. In Section II you would read about child
care centers, learning about how these programs are regulated
and the types of staff positions they typically employ. That,
of course would include directors or administrators. After
looking over the list of potential child care center staff
positions, you would click on the reference that follows
child care director/administrator and you would automatically
come to the place in Section III that describes that position
and the educational preparation that you would need to qualify
for this position. After reading about what education the
position requires you are then able to click on a link that
would take you to Section V where you find information on
how you get the necessary education.
You can also get to the specific information that you want
by using the multiple layers of the table of contents. By
clicking on each of the section headings of the table of
contents, you will learn what sub-sections are contained
in that section. Then by clicking on the sub-section all
the headings of the areas covered in that sub-section appear.
Clicking on any of these headings will bring
you to that location in the guide.
Accessing Additional Information
A significant benefit of making this being a web-based tool
is that it is easy to provide access to relevant information
that is available on other websites. Throughout the tool,
you will have access to this information by simply clicking
on the links that have been included. For example, in Section
V there is a database of colleges and universities in New
York State that offer educational programs relevant to people
interested in a career in early childhood and/or school-age
programs. For each college, information is available on how
to contact the college, the degrees and certificates offered,
and the various majors or programs that the college or university
provides that would be of interest to people in early childhood
and school-age programs. To get specific information about
these programs, admission requirements, or other information
you simply click on the link and you
are brought directly to the college website.
There are a number of people who played a significant role in the
development of this resource guide. For nearly ten years, people
representing every major early childhood and school-age organization
in New York State have met and worked together under a variety of
circumstances as part of the NYS Career Development Initiative.
It is through the hard work, planning, and many conversations that
this group had over the years that led to the development of the
Resource Guide and website. These people cannot be thanked enough.
The concept of the Resource Guide and website were developed by
Judy Sikora and Bob Frawley of the NYS Council on Children and Families,
but it never would have reached completion if it were not for the
work of several other people. Christine Allgeier in her role as
Director of the Career Development Initiative developed an initial
version of this tool and created an earlier edition of the college
and university database. Kristi Lekies from Cornell University volunteered
to recruit students to update the information. Kristi and her students,
Michelle Gottlieb, Parijat Sharma and administrative assistant Joshua Eckenrode made a significant
contribution to the field through their tireless efforts to uncover
relevant information about all the various educational programs
for individuals interested in early childhood and school-age programs
in New York State. Christine Bain, from the Council on Children
and Families, spent countless hours developing a database to contain
the information and inputting the information so that it could be
easily accessed.
Maureen McCarthy ( a former employee of the Council on Children
and Families) conducted an exhaustive review of training
resources in New York State that led to the development of
the Training Resource Directory. Susan Gibbons of the New
York State Head Start Association updated this information
and provided the crosswalk of selected program standards
that is included in Section IV. The final version of the
Resource Guide was developed by Pat Amanna and Barbara Nilsen
whose devotion to the field, expertise, hard work, and leadership
made this tool, as well as, the Children’s Program
Administrator Credential, the Infant Toddler Credential,
and the Core Body of Knowledge possible. Where would early
childhood services in New York State be without them.
In addition to Bob and Judy, a cadre of regionally-based early childhood
professors and staff of local child care coordinating councils reviewed
the College and University Database and the Resource Guide for accuracy.
Jacqui Berger, Gretchen Kinnell, Marcia Scheer, Patty Skinner, and
Rachel Theilheimer helped to gather accurate information on college
and university educational programs in each region of the state.
Emily Kudela, Nancy Maldonaldo, Cindi Swernofsky, and Ginni Albertelli
helped make the Resource Guide both accurate and as useful as possible
to wide range of potential users.
Without the support of Karen Chavis, Mariea Young, Pat Wood, and
Robin Miller and the guidance of Debbie Benson, Pam Reylea, and
Alana Sweeny this Resource Guide and anything else produced at the
Council on Children and Families would not be possible.