Georgia Association on Young Children: Operational Plan July 1, 2014-June 30, 2015; updated June 2014
GAYC Vision
Our vision is a world in which all young children have the learning opportunities they need for healthy development, supported by early childhood educators who have education, financial support, and the recognition of their community.
GAYC Mission
The mission of the Georgia Association on Young Children is to encourage and support healthy development in young children by working with others (1) to increase public awareness of the importance of early childhood education, and (2) to improve the quality of programs for young children through learning opportunities for early childhood educators.
GAYC Statement of Values
The Georgia Association on Young Children (GAYC) uses the following fundamental values to guide the planning and decision-making of our organization.
- Available, accessible, high -quality, comprehensive, and inclusive early care and education experiences for all children birth through age eight and families.
- High-qualified and supported early childhood professionals.
- Informed decisions based on developmentally appropriate practices, current early childhood research theory, issues, and trends and the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct.
- Collaborative partnerships with families, organizations, communities, decision-makers, individuals, and other entities that support the early care and education field.
- Diversity in all aspects of our work.
- Continual improvement as a high performing inclusive organization.
Statement of Values adopted July 29, 2006, revised June 27-28, 2014; Reviewed Annually
GAYC 2012-2017 Goals
GAYC has four major goals that support the work of our organization. These goals are:
(1)To promote quality early care and education experiences for children and families. (Education Goal)
(2)To promote professional development within the field of early care and education. (Professional Development Goal)
(3)To strengthen community linkages to impact quality life experiences for children and families. (Networking and Linkages Goal)
(4)To maintain our status as a high performing, inclusive organization. (High Performance Inclusive Organization Goal)
By 2017, GAYC will realize the following…
- Ensure that NAEYC accreditation remains prominent and relevant in the state of Georgia as a sign of quality childcare programming
- Embed the Strengthening Families framework in 75% of our GAYC trainings and conferences.
- Promote successful transition to school in 25% of our activities.
- Provision of a minimum of 50 professional learning events for early care and education providers in Georgia including the GAYC annual fall conference.
- Continually improve our status as the premier early childhood education membership organization in the state of Georgia through retention and growth of membership and assessing membership needs and perception.
- Continually improve our status as a model organization working with other child and family advocacy organizations, policymakers, and legislators.
- Ensure sustainability of the organization fiscally and programmatically through the support of the board of directors.
- Diversify our board of directors to represent uniqueness in occupation, education, gender, community served, and personal demographics.
Reviewed and updated June 27, 2014
Critical Issues
Approved June 27-28, 2014
The following critical issues, which may be either positive or negative, were identified by the GAYC Board of Directors of which the most salient are addressed in our Strategic Plan. These issues are divided into two categories: Issues in the Early Childhood Field (state/national concerns) and Issues Internal to GAYC.
Issues in the Early Childhood Field
Fewer early childhood programs are working toward obtaining NAEYC accreditation than previous years. Further, early childhood programs need support to maintain accreditation once it is achieved. Quality Rated should be used as a stepping stone to NAEYC accreditation.
Our field needs support:
- to connect Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP), transition to school, and school readiness. In addition, we need to foster the relevance and understanding of DAP amongst primary grade teachers and school administrators.
- in embracing the diversity of the children we educate (e.g., children with exceptionalities, children whose first language is not English, children who have been displaced, increases in the number of children and families living in poverty) and the families we support to become their child’s first and most important teachers.
- in connecting the benefits of ongoing professional development with their capacities as early childhood educators and their influence on the development of young children and families. Given increasing mandates requiring enhanced teacher credentials, we need to support the field in moving from a mindset of a minimum number of hours of training to recognizing that the quality of the training that the providers/teachers are receiving is as important as the number of hours completed. Further, in the area of professional development our field must recognize:
- the need to increase awareness of and access to quality professional development;
- that there is a need to focus on attrition in the workforce and strategies to retain high-quality providers;
- that there is available financial assistance for continuing education;
- that our status as professionals is enhanced when we utilize the Professional Development Registry System. That the public’s opinion is enhanced the more that our field is elevated by its professionalism and rigor of professional learning;
- that advancing one’s professional development and education should be tied to competitive compensation packages for early care and learning professionals; and
- that professional development needs to be of high quality, and is tied to those individuals, groups, and organizations that provide such training and that the role of mentoring and coaching will enhance the impact of professional development.
- that early childhood educators require specialized professional development in the following areas: infant –toddler, children with disabilities, dual language learners, and children living in poverty.
- connecting early childhood (i.e., Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards) and elementary standards (i.e., Common Core).
With reduced financial support and resources for quality for early childhood programs and professionals, our field needs enhanced support for our most vulnerable citizens, those from birth through age three. Recent state-sponsored studies have documented the need for enhancing health, safety, and quality in programs for infants and toddlers as well as for children enrolled in family child care programs. The Georgia QRIS offers quality improvement opportunities. As parents are choosing these environments to meet the needs of the families, our field needs to support these providers in their efforts to provide quality care for young children.
Recent changes to the lottery-funded Georgia Pre-K program have happened rapidly and not always with best practices and sustainability as a focus. Our field needs to enhance the understanding of legislators that the Georgia Pre-K program is accessible to all and responsive to the early care and education needs of young children and families, that the state has made a major investment in the training of the Pre-K teachers and that reduction in the salaries is resulting in loss of high-quality teachers with longevity to the primary grades of the public school system resulting in increased costs associated with professional development, and that research needs to be conducted on the economic investment of the Georgia Pre-K program to provide data on the costs and benefits to the state.
Our field should focus on enhancing collaboration and connectivity among advocacy groups, supporting each other’s efforts, and reducing duplication to present our field as advocating with “one voice” to policymakers and government bodies. Each organization should be recognized for their value and the expertise that they bring to the advocacy efforts for children and families. Our efforts should be focused on providing accurate information to Georgia legislators so that they can make informed decisions about state rules associated with children and families. If these efforts are realized, GAYC will be better able to define their niche in the early childhood advocacy community.
As the diversity of our children and families increases in early care and learning settings, there is a need for additional males in the early childhood field, those who can support children whose first language is not English, and those who understand the unique needs of children and families who live in poverty. Further, our field needs to reach out to those providers who may be isolated in parts of the state with less access to formal education, technology to connect to professional learning opportunities, and other educational opportunities that would increase their abilities as early care and learning providers (e.g., those working on a Child Development Associate credential).
Issues Internal to GAYC
With a downturn in the economy, our general membership numbers have been greatly reduced as early care and education providers are faced with choices about belonging to a professional organization and meeting their personal family needs.
There is increased competition for providing trainings which are low-or no-cost, either online or in-person, and this affects GAYC financially.
Our organizational capacity is limited by our monetary resources, GAYC needs to identify and seek more diverse sources of funding to build such capacity in areas such as additional staff and the use of technology to enhance our connectivity to the field (e.g., website, blogs). GAYC should continue to seek a balanced funding streams including passive revenue stream , fee for service, and grants and private funding.
It is the responsibility of the GAYC board to support and provide guidance to the new Executive Director.
Our board is active at general board meetings, but we need to do a better job connecting our board members with their work on committees and engaging our general membership in committee participation. In addition, while our board represents a diverse group of individuals who are employed in a variety of early childhood settings, our board needs to connect with others who represent other aspects of diversity (e.g., males, family child care providers, corporate and foundational personnel).
We are missing expansion opportunities to engage with our potential student membership in institutions of higher education such as technical colleges and universities through local student chapters.
In order to increase conference attendance, GAYC should make a intentional efforts to market to ECE professionals around the state.
GAYC board and staff need to come together in developing a cohesive understanding in the community of who GAYC is and what we provide. Once this is achieved efforts to re-brand our organization should be made.
With the loss in funding from DECAL for NAEYC accreditation services, GAYC must seek funding sources to replace so that accreditation facilitation through GAYC can continue. Make a concerted effort to continue NAEYC at the forefront of quality in the state of Georgia.
EDUCATION
Education Goal / To promote quality early care and education experiences for children and families.Objective / Increase the number of centers that are National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accredited in Georgia
Strategy
Action Steps for FY 2014-2015 / Who is responsible / Measurement / Status as of 6/20/14
- Discuss future marketing plan and advertising of NAEYC Accreditation services
- Explore options for continued visibility and focus on NAEYC in the Georgia ECE landscape via corporate connections and other projects
- Continued collaboration with NAEYC to stay current on trends and issues affecting the viability of NAEYC accreditation in Georgia
- Continue efforts to educate stakeholders and the larger community on the importance of NAEYC accreditation
Resource Development Committee
Accreditation Committee
Accreditation Committee w/ Public PolicyCommittee /
- Number of centers achieving NAEYC Accreditation
- Consultant Evaluations
- Copies of newsletters and other publicity endeavors
- Participation in accreditation calls
- Accreditation Scores have been excellent. The project is full with 22 centers and all action steps have been met
- Discussing future marketing plan and advertising of NAEYC Accreditation services.
- Participating in monthly NAEYC accreditation calls.
- Accreditation has a dedicated track at the conference and had an article in the newsletter.
- Centers that achieve NAEYC will be recognized at the Sept 25-27, 2014 conference.
- Holding monthly AFP conference calls with the TA’s
- Social media pages are now accessible via staff. Twitter, Facebook, Web Page and now Instagram is used regularly to promote GAYC and accreditation.
- Christina has been asked to be a part of the strategic business discussion on the National Dialogue to provide rebranding and turn around insight.
- AFP contract has been extended until December 2014
Education Goal / To promote quality early care and education experiences for children and families.
Objective / Establish a leadership role for GAYC as the expert organization in embedding NAEYC and other standards into programs serving young children and their families
Strategy /
- Participate on critical committees and advisory councils to promote quality and NAEYC accreditation
- Influence the inclusion and expansion of Strengthening Families Framework
Action Steps for FY 2014-2015 / Who is responsible / Measurement / Status as of 6/20/14
- Participation on advisory committees to promote NAEYC Accreditation and quality
- Continue to be the grantee and leader of SFG initiative
- Accreditation Chair and Committee
- Board and staff
- Number of technical assistance requests
- Evaluations of support group activities
- List of committee meetings attended and minutes or reports shared
- SFG Action Plans and results
- New website and more traffic through social media
- Accreditation booth at the conference
- GAYC takes the lead in accreditation and Strengthening Families in Georgia.
- Social media traffic has increased dramatically. Latest FB stats—Page likes up 16% (1012 likes), total reach up 1,783%, Post reach up 3,064%, people engaged up 2,133%
Education Goal / To promote quality early care and education experiences for children and families.
Objective / Promote the connection between Quality Rated System and NAEYC accreditation
Strategy /
- Research best practice techniques from other states that have integrated the two systems
- Train the board as spokespersons and advocates on the issue
- Connect with state and local agencies as well and centers to discuss the process of QRIS as it relates to NAEYC
Action Steps for FY 2014-2015 / Who is responsible / Measurement / Status as of 6/20/14
- Develop crosswalk for NAEYC accreditation and QRIS standards and publicize.
- SECA Representative
- Accreditation Committee
- Board and Staff
- Conference committee
- Summary report of research review presented to the board.
- Created talking points/position paper
- Board training documents
- Attendees at conference and conference evaluation
- Track at conference dedicated to Accreditation and one of those sessions will be QR and NAEYC
- Create talking points/position paper about why it is necessary to continue with NAEYC Accreditation during the era of Quality Rated in Georgia
Education Goal / To promote quality early care and education experiences for children and families.
Objective / Support statewide efforts to enhance transition to kindergarten activities
Strategy /
- Identify opportunities to share leadership, resources and training to ensure smooth transitions to Kindergarten
Action Steps for FY 2014-2015 / Who is responsible / Measurement / Status as of 6/20/14
- Finalize the 1-page transition talking points that were drafted by VP for Policy.
- Promote best practices for transition to Kindergarten through the public policy agenda.
- GAYC Board Members
- Conference Committee
- Board and Staff
- MOYC Committee
- Technology Committee
- List of people/agencies brochures distributed to
- Completed policy position paper
- Documented participation on committees, seminars, training regarding transition
- MOYC fliers, calendars, brochures
- Conference brochure
- Website and newsletter utilized
- Christina active on committees
- MOYC fliers, calendars, brochures and press releases completed
- Conference highlighting school readiness
- Finalize the 1-page transition talking points that were drafted by VP for Policy. (drafted)
- Continue to use website and newsletter to promote strategies for Transition to Kindergarten
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Professional Development Goal / Professional Development Goal: (1) To promote professional development within the field of early care and education.(2) Provide high-quality professional learning and development opportunities for early care and education providers.
Objective / Annually a minimum of 10 professional learning eventsfor early care and education providers and make GAYC a recognized leader in intermediate and advanced training.
Strategy /
- Engage with providers to determine their training needs
- Ascertain changes in state and federal regulations for teacher credentials to determine training needs
- Examine our existing efforts to judge their effectiveness and continued need
- Reach a broader audience with our trainings through activities such as the research symposium at the annual conference
- Increase attendance at our existing trainings including participants from underrepresented areas of the state (e.g., rural areas, distant locations)
- Provide leadership in training of trainers
- Increase number of trainers to provide advanced training
Action Steps for FY 2013-2014 / Who is responsible / Measurement / Status as of 6/20/14
•GAYC will create a quarterly training calendar and coordinate with the CCR&Rs
•Have daily posts and updates on Facebook/Twitter pages.
•Evaluate the conference program for balance.
•Create a list of approved trainers that can conduct intermediate and advanced trainings.
•Create a list of needed/requested intermediate and advanced level trainings that GAYC can conduct throughout the year.
•Collaborate with Cooperative Extension to offer intermediate and advanced trainings /
- Professional Development Committee
- Publicity Committee
- Conference Committee
- Professional Development Committee
- Professional Development Committee
- Professional Development Committee
- Conference and training evaluation forms
- Attendance records
- Conference program
- Number of trainers completing GAYC training who are registered with BFTS
- Facebook and Twitter hits/fans
- Number of trainings booked and conducted in conjunction with Cooperate Extension
- Conference and training evaluations have been reviewed and the conference tracks have been influenced by this feedback
- Facebook fans—1012 total
- Currently building out a training calendar through the end of April 2015 that focuses mainly on “Intermediate/Advanced Super Saturdays” and “Leadership Symposiums”. Working in collaboration with the Extension Service for locations and cross marketing.
- Social marketing plan has been developed for social media postings
- Started a “Facilitator Consortium” as a part of the Intermediate and Advanced Statewide Training Initiatives to help identify and develop approved trainers that can conduct intermediate and advanced level trainings.Many of the steps are on going.
Professional Development Goal / Professional Development Goal: (1) To promote professional development within the field of early care and education.
(2) Provide high-quality professional learning and development opportunities for early care and education providers.
Objective / Promote Strengthening Families framework in our GAYC conferences and publications and events. Integrate more opportunities to promote Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) training to providers across the state. Update the GAYC Board
Strategy /
- Engage with early childhood providers, legislators, and advocates about the Strengthening Families framework
- Include Strengthening Families whenever possible in our professional learning activities
- Include DAP whenever possible in our professional learning activities
- Develop a face to face and an online training
Action Steps for FY 2013-2014 / Who is responsible / Measurement / Status as of 6/20/14
- Offer Strengthening Families Training of Trainers
- Board should review the DAP summary of updates created by NAEYC
- Contractor for SFG
- Conference proposals and other training that include SF framework
- Attendance records for consultants participating in sessions on SF training
- Training Evaluations
- Position statement distributed at conference, on website, etc.
- New ED oriented
- SF TOT is scheduled for July 2014
NETWORKING AND LINKAGES