Child Care Provider Education

One to three months after the Childcare Givers Workshop, providers have come to the Lea County Extension Service to:
• Borrow equipment, curriculum, or receive additional training on a technique or program that was taught during the 2010 workshop. Some examples include: Glo-Germ Hand Washing Activity, or The Animal Trackers Physical Activity Curriculum.
• The center based providers who have used the Better Kid Care series from Penn State for new employees, has reported that there is a higher retention rate with new hires. The providers seem to be staying in their job because of the initial training they receive with the Penn State series versus no training at all.

Conducted on-site trainings for Childcare providers in Lea County. A total of 14 providers were trained in the following areas: Ages and Stages of Infants & Toddlers, Developing Baby’s Senses.

The 2010 annual workshop provided 12 presentations for Childcare Givers in the area. Speakers were recruited to teach participants about food allergies, financial assistance for child care facilities, healthy snack preparation, discipline techniques, recognizing child abuse and neglect, and working with parents. The participants received training hours in five competency areas. A drop in participation was seen this year with only 65 participants registering for the workshop compared to 2009 with 114 participants. Although there was a lot of center-based providers, the drop in the home-based providers was not as high as in 2009.

A major drop was seen in the Spanish Only participants. Although 10% of the participants were Spanish speaking, alternative arrangements were made for translations, versus a Spanish only track as in previous years.

Evaluation forms were compiled from the participants and the speakers. The evaluations showed that 95% of the participants increased their knowledge of the sessions that they attended.

Laura Pace has signed on to support Child Care Provider Education within San Juan County.

Elena Bowers has signed on to support Child Care Provider Education within McKinley County.

Over the last three years 25% of the child care workshop participants have returned to the Lea County Extension Service for annual training credits toward maintaining their license.

Ten % of the Lea County providers have used the Penn State Better Kid Care training materials to provide additional training throughout the year for their employees.