Women's Leadership Council:
Moving the Needle in Education
United Way Capital Area’s Success By 6 and Women’s Leadership Council Host Professional Development Series for Early Childhood Education Professionals
On a March morning, the conference room of United Way Capital Area (UWCA) fills with degreed teachers from child care centers all over the Austin area. The room is bursting at the seams with 31 committed, bright professionals enjoying coffee, breakfast tacos, and professional camaraderie. They are eager to soak up knowledge to serve this community’s children and families better. United Way Capital Area’s Success By 6 (SB6) program and the Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) are giving these teachers that opportunity.
The first in a series, the Leadership Seminar presented by UWCA SB6 and WLC, “Advanced Leadership Training: Early Math Concepts”, featured Brian Mowry, Independent Math Education Consultant and Part-Time PreK Instructional Specialist for Austin Independent School District. Brian provided hands-on activities and practical lessons for teachers to take back to the classroom.
The seminar provided professional development for teachers who, without programming like this, wouldn’t have opportunities for ongoing education. The need for formal, continued learning opportunities for early childhood education professionals is clear. Leah Meunier, Ph. D. and Success By 6 program director, says:
“Research has demonstrated a robust relationship between teacher education and child care quality. Teachers with a bachelor’s degree foster children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development in ways that are measurably different than teachers with less education. For example, degreed teachers use broader vocabularies which in turn encourage young children’s language and literacy skills. Unfortunately, we know that only 15% of the lead teachers working in East Austin child care centers have earned a four-year college degree. This number is in stark contrast to West Austin, where 61% of lead teachers have earned at least a four-year degree.”
United Way Capital Area’s Success By 6 program is dedicated to making sure that all Central Texas children are happy, healthy, and smart by the time they enter kindergarten. To achieve this goal, we can not neglect the professionals charged, in large part, with the success of those children. These teachers are responsible for providing our community’s young children with their most basic skills: language, motor skills, play, and social interaction. They are tasked with empowering parents to take charge of their child’s development. They are asked to work long hours for little pay and no benefits. Many times, even a degree in Early Childhood Education only earns qualified professionals slightly above minimum wage. The funding and support for early child care centers, especially those located in vulnerable communities, is not sufficient for the services they provide. Charlene Taylor, Executive Director of Ebenezer Child Care Center, agrees “Salaries are not competitive, therefore, we cannot recruit and/or maintain the personnel with the level of expertise and experience needed to provide the basic skills in language, motor skills, play, social interaction, as well as help our parents to understand how to work with their children." It is these degreed (associates or bachelors) teachers that UWCA’s SB6 program targets for professional development opportunities. It is crucial to the success of the Central Texas community that qualified early childhood education professionals not only stay in the early childhood field but excel at their work.
Feedback provided by participants in this training was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees only had one criticism, they wanted more! More time, more opportunity, and more knowledge to serve their families, their schools, and their neighborhoods more effectively. Wish granted. United Way Capital Area’s Success By 6 program and the Women’s Leadership Council will be hosting another Leadership Seminar session on June 25, 2010 at United Way Capital Area featuring Dr. Barbara Davis the Houston Harte Centennial Professor in the school of Communication Sciences and Disorders. This session will address language development in young children and the multitude of factors influencing a child’s successful language acquisition.
United Way Capital Area, Success By 6, and the Women’s Leadership Council are proud to provide these teachers with opportunities to help all children succeed. And more proud still, of the teachers who dedicate their time to making sure all children are happy, healthy, and smart.
For more information on the UWCA Women’s Leadership Council, click here.
For more information on UWCA’s Community Impact work, click here.
For more information on the UWCA SB6 program, click here.
