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Child Care Provider Education (Bernalillo County)
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Plan Goal
Plan Goal
Deliver educational workshops which provide continuing education credits and increase the knowledge level for child care providers in collaboration with Carino Early Childhood Training & Technical Assistance Center and Regional Early Care Educa
Situation Statement
Situation Statement
Child care providers in Bernalillo need assistance in acquiring continuing education credits in order to keep their jobs and to insure the likelihood that they can provide quality care. Child care licensing regulations in New Mexico stipulate that family day care providers need 6 hours; Registered family day care providers need 12 hours; and Center based provided need 24 hours of continuing education annually.(New Mexico Kids, 2006)
There are approximately 100 licensed small family child care homes in and approximately 500 licensed child care centers (Family Child Care Center Licensing Bureau, 2006). These numbers do not include the number of unregistered homes that care for young children.
By calculating that each family day care home has at least one provider and that child care centers have 2 or more providers, it is estimated that there are about 1200 child care providers working in Bernalillo County. In addition, staff turnover is high, thus there is a need for continual staff training for new providers. There are a large number of child care providers who need continuing education but too few training opportunities exist. New Mexico’s Early Childhood Training and Technical Assistance Centers as well as Regional Early Care Education Conferences (RECEC) work to provide child care provider training, but they do not have the capacity to address the needs of all the providers in Bernalillo County
Extension I CAN program can help fill this educational gap by providing local educational workshops. County Extension I CAN educators can deliver educational workshops sponsored solely by the County Extension Office and in collaboration with RECEC and Carino's Early Childhood Training & Technical Assistance Centers. In order to meet New Mexico licensing regulations, Bernalillo County Extension I CAN Home Economist has made contact with State and County licensing agency to verify that the workshops are certified to be counted as continuing education and that each workshop session meets one of seven recognized competencies. The I CAN program will provide training in competency number two which is: health, safety, nutrition, and infection control competency.
In order to reach additional providers Bernalillo County Extension I CAN Home Economist recruits I CAN educators to provide training for Bernalillo County and ,occassionally Metro County, to work with RECEC. The Regional Early Care Education Conferences (RECEC) are a collaboration between state agencies and community organizations that provide an educational venue for adult learners to improve child development practices and increase compliance with state and federal program regulations and policies. They strive to improve the quality of care, overall health and safety of the child care environment and to empower communities to educate and support New Mexico’s childcare providers.
Continuing education for child care providers is not only required for continued employment, but it also increases the likelihood that child care workers will provide quality care for young children. Studies show that children in quality care are better adjusted emotionally and have higher level cognitive functioning than children who experience poor quality care. Quality care indicators are: educational and sensitivity level of provider, number of children in group, teacher-child ratio, and quality of the environment (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2002; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2003)
Target Audience and Actions
The target audience is child care providers who will earn continuing education hours and increase their knowledge level by attending educational workshops.
Bernalillo County I CAN Home Economist will coordinate program planning and workshops with Provider organizations. I CAN Educators will be recruited to conduct and present educational workshops in nutrition education, affects of food (too much or lack of ) on child development, and child health and safety State Compentency #2), which have been approved as continuing education credit and meet one of the child care competencies set by the licensing agency. Limited resource providers will be enrolled and graduated from the I CAN program.
Extension Home Economist will also conduct one six hour video/resource information booklet/ and presentor conference each program year. Video conference program is from University of Idaho and Nebraska Extension Services.
Target Audience and Actions
1. Center based and family based child care providers
2. Carino, VIDA, Choices for Families, HELP, and PAN Child care provider participants.
3. Regional Early Childcare and Education Conference participants.
4. Child care participants attending Bernalillo County Extension Achieving High Quality Child Care Program.
Short-Term Objectives
Short-Term Objectives
80% of participants will increase their knowledge level on a variety of subjects which meet child care licensing regulation competencies, in nutrition education, child care and guidance, child health and safety.
80% of participants will acquire necessary continuation of their child care license.
30% will graduate from the I CAN program.
Medium-Term Objectives
Medium-Term Objectives
60% of child care providers will use the information learned four weeks after attending education programs.
60% of child care providers attending the educational program will retain their jobs after completing the necessary credits.
Long-Term Objectives
40% of providers will be using techniques learned with children in their care six months after attending workshops.
80% of child care providers attending the educational program will continue in their child care postions.
Long-Term Objectives
Long-Term Objectives
40% of providers will be using techniques learned with children in their care six months after attending workshops.
80% of child care providers attending the educational program will continue in their child care postions.
Evaluation Plan
Long-Term Objectives
40% of providers will be using techniques learned with children in their care six months after attending workshops.
80% of child care providers attending the educational program will continue in their child care postions.