Credential Journeys

Winnie Howell

The tremendous support from the CCR&R staff and my PDA motivated me to explore new opportunities. In addition to the Level 1 ECE Credential, I discovered new training opportunities to help me with my child care business, scholarships to pay for classes, and free materials to use in my program. I felt like Alice in Wonderland opening new doors of opportunity.

After working for years as a caregiver for developmentally delayed adults, Winnie sustained a back injury that forced her to make a career change in midlife. Winnie had previously taken early childhood education classes at John A. Logan Community College and had raised her own four children and had enjoyed those experiences. She considered working with young children and contacted the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) in Carterville to explore her options. CCR&R staff told Winnie about the Level 1 ECE Credential classes and helped Winnie get in touch with a Professional Development Advisor (PDA) to develop a professional development plan for starting her family child care program.

Winnie signed up for the Level 1 ECE Credential classes at the suggestion of her PDA, but she confessed to some apprehension about doing so. “I had been around children all of my life. I grew up as one of 11 children and raised my own 4 children. I thought I knew all I needed to know about caring for children but discovered I had a lot to learn about child development.” Winnie found the hands-on method of instruction in the Level 1 ECE Credential classes and the interactions with the other participants meaningful and engaging. “The instructor opened my mind to the field of child care—where it was going in the future, how to deal with caring for young children in all situations, and how to work with families.”

One of the classroom practices that Winnie especially valued was the opening conversations during which participants were encouraged to share current challenges and suggest possible solutions to challenges. “There were 14 participants in our class. Some of us were from family child care settings, some from Head Start, and some worked in small, private child care center programs. Despite our different settings, we learned so much from one another.” Another teaching tool used in the Level 1 ECE Credential class that Winnie found effective was role-play. “Our instructor encouraged us to role-play different parents and administrators in our programs so we could better understand their perspectives. Role-playing also helped us become more comfortable communicating with parents and administrators in our programs, particularly about sensitive issues.”

Next to the knowledge gained in the Level 1 ECE Credential classes, Winnie said the greatest benefit to the credentialing experience was the boost in her confidence and the faith in her ability to proceed with her own professional development. “The tremendous support from the CCR&R staff and my PDA motivated me to explore new opportunities. In addition to the Level 1 ECE Credential, I discovered new trainings to help me with my child care business, scholarships to pay for classes, and free materials to use in my program. I felt like Alice in Wonderland opening new doors of opportunity.”

Since completing the Level 1 ECE Credential, Winnie received her Associate of Arts degree from John A. Logan College and is working on her Early Childhood Development and Family Services degree from Southern Illinois University (SIU). “I never would have imagined that at 48 years of age I would be starting college at SIU and looking forward to it.”

Winnie encourages others to contact their local CCR&R to find out about professional development opportunities available through Gateways to Opportunity. “Take that first step. Contact your local CCR&R. They will open doors that you didn’t even imagine.”

Vicky Foster

“Those who want to pursue early care and education after high school get an automatic bump up on the career lattice when they graduate with a Level 1 ECE Credential in hand. The recently approved provision that allows high school graduates to apply for a Gateways Scholarship is an added bonus.”

In spring 2007, Vicky was invited to offer the Level 1 ECE Credential training to the junior and senior high school class at Charleston High School in Charleston, Illinois. The Level 1 ECE Credential training was recommended by another Illinois Trainers Network (ITN) trainer who had piloted the Level 1 ECE Credential training curriculum the previous year in the high school in Paris, Illinois.

As a member of the Illinois Trainers Network, Vicky was familiar with offering the Level 1 training to community-based child care providers but not to groups of high school students. “The Level 1 ECE Credential training is well suited to high school classes. The curriculum is engaging, includes lots of hands-on activities to reinforce skills, and builds in many opportunities for discussion.” Vicky found the Level 1 training flexible enough to adapt to the format of the high school family and consumer science class in Charleston, where the students work in an on-site preschool setting three mornings a week and attend their high school classes two mornings a week. “It was fascinating to me to hear the fresh perspectives high school students brought to the discussions about child behavior and development.” Of the 14 students in her high school class, Vicky said 10 expressed an interest in pursuing early care and education after high school. They were delighted to find out at the end of the school year that high school graduates who intend to go into the field of early care and education can apply for a Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship to help pay for their education.

Since its introduction into high school curricula in 2005, the Level 1 ECE Credential training has been offered in 10 high schools around Illinois. Vicky will offer the Level 1 ECE Credential training to other high school teachers in June 2010 and expects the interest to grow as word spreads about the Level 1 ECE Credential training. “This training benefits high school graduates in so many ways. If students wish to pursue a position in the field after high school, they get an automatic bump up on the career lattice. If they aren’t interested in pursuing a position in the field, the skills they develop through the Level 1 ECE curriculum can help them understand children better if they offer evening care for families or decide to become parents later on.”

Marie Chandel Spurgeon

"Not only is [the Infant Toddler Credential] an asset to the agencies you work in, it will validate your own knowledge in the field. It also pushes you out of your comfort zone and may expose other talents."

Chandel is a teacher supervisor in the infant toddler room at Christopher House, a program serving low-income children and their families in Uptown Chicago. During her 13 years at Christopher House, Chandel’s work responsibilities have increased as she moved from assistant teacher to lead teacher and, most recently, to the supervisor of the infant toddler room.

Many people encouraged Chandel to get the Infant Toddler Credential (ITC) through Gateways to Opportunity. “My employer encouraged me to get the ITC. I also have a professional mentor, Marsha Hawley, who helped me see the benefit of getting the ITC. Marsha saw my professional growth from assistant teacher to lead teacher to supervisor, and she felt this was a good next step for me to take.”

Chandel was grateful for the encouragement. “The ITC validates what I do as an infant toddler teacher. To me, acquiring my ITC is comparable to the Type 04 certification that early childhood teachers get in Illinois. It allows me to attach a credential to what I consider my passion and to validate my work.” Chandel believes that having a specialized credential to work with infants and toddlers is becoming an expectation. “The ITC is definitely a big ‘buzz’ within the infant toddler community. I can see a shift occurring as more recognize the unique needs of infants and toddlers.”

Some of the requirements of the ITC came easily to Chandel. “I was asked to document what I was already doing in the classroom, to display and articulate my knowledge and skills with infants and toddlers.”

Chandel found other aspects of the ITC process more challenging. “The professional contributions component of the ITC required that I do a training for other teachers, which pushed me out of my comfort zone because I had never presented to others before.” Another new experience came with fulfilling the advocacy component of the ITC. “I did some work for the Week of the Young Child and learned how to explain the importance of paying attention to early care and education.”

Since her first ITC experience as a trainer, Chandel has been invited to do other trainings in the area. “Before the ITC experience, I was mainly in the classroom and hadn’t had the opportunity to explore other avenues such as training and advocacy, areas that I now recognize I can do and enjoy.”

Chandel encourages others to earn their ITC. “If infant toddler care is something you care about, getting your ITC is beneficial to your own professional development. Not only is it an asset to the agencies you work in, it will validate your own knowledge in the field. It also pushes you out of your comfort zone and may expose other talents. It piqued my interest in training others—something I might never have discovered if it weren’t an ITC requirement.”

Neidra Travis

"The ITC experience gives you a better understanding of infants and toddlers and their families. I understand the ITC may become a requirement for more teachers of infants and toddlers in our state. Professionals with the ITC will eventually be in high demand."

Neidra Travis is a lead teacher at the Ounce of Prevention Educare Center, an early childhood program that serves 150 at-risk infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in Chicago. Neidra has been with Educare for four years and works with the older 2-year-old children and their families.

Neidra learned about the Infant Toddler Credential (ITC) offered through Gateways to Opportunity when it became a requirement for her position as a lead teacher with Educare. “Although my initial motivation to get the ITC was to fulfill a work requirement, I soon learned that the ITC helped my self-awareness as a professional. By earning my ITC, I was learning about the actual work I was doing with children and their families.”

Like other Gateways credentials, the ITC requires a combination of education and training and work and practical experience. “The most challenging part of getting the ITC was finding college classes that specialize in infant and toddler care.” said Neidra. “I found the courses I needed at Kendall College, which had the added benefit of being offered online. I was able to fit the ITC courses around my work schedule.”

One of the components of the ITC is to apply knowledge in other professional settings. To meet this requirement, Neidra elected to consult with someone who had a family child care business. “I helped this provider think about how she could enhance her child care environment and her interactions with parents and with the young children in her program. Sharing my expertise in this way helped me better understand my own work with infants and toddlers.”

Some of the courses that Neidra completed for the ITC addressed cultural considerations in working with families and how to interact with families who have children with special needs. “The courses I completed on assessing children with special needs and helping parents go through the IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) and the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) processes were helpful when parents in my program struggled with their child’s diagnosis.”

“I had a parent who came into the classroom who was upset regularly, which often trickled down to the child. These courses helped me to reflect on my approach with parents so they can feel comfortable letting their guard down with me.”

Neidra encourages others who work with infants and toddlers to consider getting the ITC. “The ITC experience gives you a better understanding of infants and toddlers and their families. I understand the ITC may become a requirement for more teachers of infants and toddlers in our state. Professionals with the ITC will eventually be in high demand.”

Neidra completed her ECE Credential 5 and ITC Level 2 in December 2009. She hopes to complete her ITC Level 5 Credential later this year.

Tonnette Williams-Harrison

"[Earning my credentials] helped me set short- and long-term goals for my center program and also gave me the opportunity to reflect on my accomplishments."

Tonnette Williams-Harrison (Toni) is the director/owner of the Children’s Center for Creative Learning, a child care center serving children 6 weeks to 6 years of age in two locations in Chicago. The regular correspondence that Toni received from Gateways to Opportunity encouraged her to consider applying for her ECE Credential. “I knew I met most of the formal education and training requirements to receive the credential. I have always maintained a professional portfolio. Finding the time to update my portfolio and complete the application process was the most difficult challenge for me. I finally made a commitment to myself and took one week to organize my information, to request my transcripts from the universities I had attended, and to make this a reality.”

Once Toni got started on the credential application process, she said the excitement continued to build. “I really enjoyed the process of reviewing the full range of my professional development and program improvement accomplishments. The coursework I have taken, annual events I have hosted, inservices I have presented, the degrees I’ve completed in the field, the letters sent to my state and local officials to advocate for early childhood education, the newsletters I have written to communicate with families in my program, and the grants I submitted for early childhood improvement activities all counted as professional contributions during the credentialing process.”

After reviewing Toni’s transcripts and application materials, Gateways to Opportunity developed a grid that let Toni know her strengths as well as the areas that needed to be strengthened. “Gateways to Opportunity staff suggested great examples of evidence in the various credential content areas I needed to focus on. These examples helped me set short- and long-term goals for my center program and also gave me the opportunity to reflect on my accomplishments.”

Toni’s center is a partner with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office of Early Childhood Community Partnership Program. CPS encourages the directors in their programs to complete their Illinois Director Credential (IDC) and their Infant Toddler Credential (ITC). Toni received her ECE 5, IDC III, and ITC 2 Credentials from Gateways to Opportunity simultaneously. Toni is currently taking additional coursework and attending inservice training events to receive the Level 5 ITC.

Toni offers this advice to others thinking about completing the ECE Credential process through Gateways to Opportunity. “Go for it! Once you start pulling your information together, you’re going to love the process. It’s like adding a stamp of excellence to your resume. The greatest reward for me is intrinsic. Knowing that I have made professional contributions to the field of early childhood education for myself, my staff, and for the children and families I serve is extremely rewarding.”

Patty Miller

"Receiving my ECE Credential is a professional achievement I've wanted to complete as a family child care provider—one that my program families have appreciated as well."

Patty Miller is the owner/operator of a family child care program in Dawson, Illinois, which is located about 10 miles east of Springfield. Patty started her family child care program in 2006 soon after her daughter was born. Patty is an active member of her local day care association. When Patty found out that others in her association were working on the ECE Credential awarded by Gateways to Opportunity, she decided to do the same.

“It was a lot of work for me to complete the credential. It took about 2–3 months to do so, but it helped me to grow professionally by encouraging me to make improvements in my program.”

Staff from Gateways to Opportunity provided technical assistance over the phone to help Patty know what kinds of professional development she needed to complete to obtain the ECE Credential. “I had more points in certain content areas required by the credential and not enough points in others. The most challenging aspect was finding the specific trainings I needed at a time when I could take them.” To help complete her ECE Credential training requirements, Patty was referred to Care Courses, a distance learning program for early childhood professionals. “I liked the format of Care Courses. The books are well written, easy to follow, and include self-checks and quizzes throughout the material to assess your knowledge in a given area.” Patty has continued to take coursework through Care Courses in other areas of interest.

“I was worried at one point that I wouldn’t complete the ECE Credential process, but I didn’t give up. Staff from Gateways helped guide me through the process.” Patty earned her Level 4 ECE Credential, her Level 2 Infant Toddler Credential, and her accreditation from the National Association for Family Child Care at approximately the same time. “Working on all three of these goals wasn’t too difficult since many of the requirements overlap.”