Page 14 - Gateways for Early Educators

Gateways for Early Educators
2016
Gateways Passport Training
Early childhood educators participate in high quality trainings and are eligible to attain a “Passport” that is stamped at each of the designated trainings. This is a 40-hour educational training program comprised of ten critical curriculum areas where educators learn the skills and knowledge required for working with young children. The ten training areas include: 1) Child Growth and Development, 2) Health, Safety, and Nutrition, 3) Learning Environment and Curriculum, 4) Families and Community, 5) Program Management, 6) Positive Interactions and Guidance, 7) Child Observation and Assessment, 8) Promoting Diversity, 9) Professional Development and Leadership, and 10) Special Needs and Inclusion. The training strands for the passport are based on the California Preschool Learning Foundations; trainings are offered at sites throughout Los Angeles County and in a variety of languages. Leadership from CCALA and the partnering R&R agencies have been working to redevelop the Passport for closer alignment with the California Preschool Learning Foundations and to integrate the Gateways Passport into the California Early Care and Education Workforce Registry.
A variety of methods are used in recruiting for training sessions. Agencies advertise trainings through flyers that can be distributed to the extensive early childhood educator pool in their service area. Each agency has a database with thousands of licensed family child care providers and licensed center-based programs. These databases are kept current with lists from Community Care Licensing (CCL). CCL is funded through the California Department of Social Services and has three main roles and responsibilities: 1) prevention of predictable harm to people in care facilities, 2) ensuring community care facilities operate according to applicable laws and regulations (compliance), and 3) enforcement of corrective action when a licensee fails to protect the health, safety and personal rights of individuals in care. Lists of licensed child care locations from CCL serve to populate the child care referral database at each agency that can be accessed free of charge by any parent in the community looking for child care. Word of mouth through networks of providers also serves to inform the community of training opportunities. Agencies post trainings on their websites and the Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles also hosts a website that lists all of the trainings offered. Staff from the Resource and Referral agencies attends community events and fairs to distribute information about trainings and other services offered through the agency. In addition, they often attend orientations held by CCL, which is where individuals go to begin the process of obtaining their child care license.
Gateways Coaching
What defines coaching? A consistent definition of quality improvement activities (technical assistance, mentoring, coaching, and consultation) is lacking across publications.iv v vi NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) and NACCRRA (National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, now known as Child Care Aware of America) proposed that technical assistance is the
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