Welcome
Welcome to the Quality Circle website! Our purpose is to provide information and support for the professionals who work to improve early care and education for all children. This site provides information about quality and technical assistance & current policy news, an archive space, and resources for TA professionals. If you have a training for mentors, coaches, specialists or other folk who do our work, let us know and we will post it on our calendar.
If you are interested in hearing from other TA professionals, we encourage you to join us where you can contribute your ideas, concerns and information.
Together, we can help ensure that children's experiences every day are full of learning, play and community!
Learn more about Quality Circle and Technical Assistance professionals under About Us.
We Are Blogging!
Quality Circle now has a blog for online discussions and a place to say your piece! Right now, we have used this as a place to re-energize and re-commit to the organization, and to post notes from our conference calls. Please feel free to ask questions or share an opinion!
Currently there is a new excellent article on Technical Assistance - check it out!
News
A Matter of Degrees: Preparing Teachers for the Pre-K Classroom
Pre-K Now has published a report about what is necessary for the preparation of teachers that are successful at supporting children's development. It can be accessed online at http://www.preknow.org/documents/teacherquality_march2010.pdf.
Consolidation of Early Childhood Education and Care
NC early childhood leaders submitted their proposal to the Legislative Task Force on Consolidation! It was very well received and looks to have a good shot at being formalized. Funds saved by more closely collaborating are hopefully being folded back into ECE needs, so stay tuned!
The full proposal is available here:
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/DocumentSites/browseDocSite.asp?nID=62&sFolderName=\Meetings\2010_03_10.
New leadership at the NC-AEYC
Lorie Barnes has assumed the Executive Director role at our state's lead professional association and we couldn't have a more supportive colleague in our field! Lorie was one of our terrific trainers at our 2009 Quality Circle event and has been part of the world of teacher education for many years, wearing many hats. She will be a fantastic advocate for our state! Click to visit NC-AEYC's website at www.ncaeyc.org.
TA is now considered part of the Professional Development
It is a continuing education strategy!
National conversations are happening about the "I" in QRIS Systems! Here is a powerpoint from Sharon Lynn Kagan from the Smart Start webconference last month. You will see she describes us as professional development specialists, and credentialed.
The TA system is being discussed in the QRIS Advisory Committee to the Division of Child Development and at the NC Institute for Child Development Professionals in the Continuing Education WorkGroup. These are places where our futures will be decided! As well as, whether trainings will be require to meet CEU requirements, and who will be allowed to give them?
Another forum where TA is quite evident--as mentoring, technical assistance or consultation--is in the NC Early Childhood Professional Development Regional Planning Teams. These will determine 5-year plans for each region and all together will help inform the state's Professional Development Plan. It is important to find out who your team is and contribute your thinking about what is working and what is not! Your Region's lead agency CCR&R is hosting the team, so call them. Or contact Kate at kathegen@gmail.com