DePaul University prepares students to work with diverse populations of children and families enrolled in our early childhood and elementary school classrooms.
In September 2009, early childhood education students at DePaul University began to be prepared in greater depth to more effectively teach all children, including linguistically, culturally, and ability-diverse populations. The revised Early Childhood Education Program leading to a B.S. in the School of Education meets all of the requirements for the Type 04 certificate for teaching children from birth through age 8. The degree program also meets the requirements for approval in early childhood special education for those working in programs with children ages 3 to 6 years old.
The development of the proposal for the new degree program was led by Gayle Mindes, Professor of Education at DePaul University. Over the course of a year, Gayle and a small group of other education faculty met and shared drafts to develop the details for the new degree program, along with the rationale for the degree change. According to Gayle, the rationale for the new program is congruent with DePaul’s social justice mission: “The School of Education has long worked toward providing opportunities and access for underserved populations. The degree program’s emphasis on working with culturally and linguistically diverse populations is consistent with our philosophy of social justice.”
Now, DePaul students are taking their first education classes in the new degree program. “The new program will provide greater depth of preparation and will provide teacher candidates with more tools to work with diverse populations,” says Gayle. “Some of the course content is new, and other courses build on existing curriculum and the social-cultural foundations of our program.” The new degree program also includes a third practicum teaching experience, which must be in a program serving children who are culturally and linguistically diverse in infant, preschool, or primary settings. DePaul’s location in the center of Chicago offers many practicum placement opportunities for working with diverse populations.
Student responses to the new program have been favorable. “The freshmen students I advise, particularly those who are bilingual, are very excited about the new program,” says Gayle. “I have also had notes from elementary education majors asking if they could enroll in the program as well.”
DePaul is the first university in Illinois to offer this new Type 04 program that includes the ESL/Bilingual Endorsement. “We were able to put the new program in place and make changes to our education curriculum because of the flexibility we have in our degree requirements.” Gayle hopes that the experience at DePaul will encourage other institutions of higher education in Illinois to consider new degree options to better prepare education students to work with the diverse populations of children and families who attend our early childhood and elementary school programs in Illinois.
Contact Gayle by email if you are interested in the proposal materials and rationale that they used at DePaul University to justify the degree change.
Gayle Mindes, Ed.D. Professor of Education DePaul University 2320 N Kenmore Chicago, IL 60614 Telephone: (773) 325-7769 E-mail:
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Gayle recommends the following resources for preparing teachers to work with all children.
A number of strategies are in place to recruit, support, and retain students through graduation in Morton College's Early Childhood Education Department, where over 70% of the student body is Spanish speaking.
Morton College is located in Cicero, Illinois, where nearly 84% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race. Four years ago, Morton College received a Title V federal grant, which is awarded to institutions of higher education to expand and enhance their capacity to serve Hispanic and low-income students. Cheryl Bulat, an Early Childhood Education Coordinator and full-time faculty member at Morton College, describes several successful strategies used to recruit, support, and retain through graduation Spanish-speaking students in Morton’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) Department.
Two years ago, Morton College and two community high schools developed a dual-credit program. Faculty aligned their early childhood coursework so that their learning objectives and course requirements were complementary. When high school students have completed four semesters of early childhood courses and have met a grade point requirement, they receive credit for the introductory early childhood course at Morton College.
Because the majority of students at Morton are the first in their families to attend college, workshops are held for parents of the high school students entering Morton to help them know what the college experience will be like.
Recruiting students to the early childhood program at Morton is only half of the challenge. Students must also receive adequate support to complete their degree program. Morton College has a variety of practices in place to make its program successful and welcoming to Spanish-speaking students, in general, and to its ECE Spanish-speaking students, in particular.
Most of the college’s resources (e.g., catalogues, academic information, and resource staff) are available in Spanish. A large percentage of the staff and faculty at Morton are bilingual. The Early Childhood Conference held at Morton each year offers half of its presentations in Spanish and half in English. The conference also includes a bilingual keynote address. Early childhood student teaching placements are in settings with Spanish-speaking populations, which are widely available in Cicero.
Morton recently added the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree in Early Childhood Education option, which creates a pathway between two- and four-year institutions of higher education for students who wish to complete their bachelor’s degree.
One year remains on the federal Title V grant, and Morton intends to continue to look for additional grant programs. “We have seen real progress in the number of students enrolled in ECE at Morton as well as the number of students graduating from ECE programs,” says Cheryl. “Enrollment rates have risen each year. The number of duplicated students in the ECE Department four years ago was 269. The number enrolling this fall is 400, a 30% increase in enrollment from the previous year. Informal surveys suggest that a variety of factors have contributed to the dramatic rise in ECE enrollment this year, including new career options for those recently laid off due to the economic crisis.”
The number of students graduating from Morton’s ECE program has risen from two in 2005 to fourteen this past year. “Graduation rates lag enrollment rates but are impressive when you consider that many students at Morton work full time and are on the three- and four-year graduation plan,” Cheryl points out.
Cheryl has been on the faculty of Morton College since 2003. When asked for some of her recommended resources for preparing teachers to work with all children, Cheryl said that her best new ideas come from other teachers at professional development conferences and through ACCESS—the organization of ECE associate degree faculty, of which she is an active member. Cheryl also recommends the resources available on the Illinois Early Learning Web site, which provides Tip Sheets (in English , Spanish, and Polish), activities to implement the Illinois Early Learning Standards, and Ask an Expert resources.
Johnna Darragh
A curriculum that blends early childhood education and early childhood special education standards and access to a fully inclusive lab school prepares students at Heartland Community College to teach a diverse population of learners.
The early childhood program at Heartland Community College (HCC) in Normal, Illinois, uses a variety of approaches to prepare teachers to work with all children. Johanna Darragh is a full-time faculty member at HCC and is responsible for program development and oversight. HCC currently offers the Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree in early childhood education (ECE) and is in the process of developing the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree.
Heartland’s early childhood program uses a curriculum that blends early childhood education (ECE) standards, early childhood special education (ECSE) standards, and standards supporting populations of children who are culturally and linguistically diverse. To blend the different standards, a team was coordinated by the Illinois component of the National Professional Development Center on Inclusion, which included two- and four-year faculty from around the state. This team identified the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for students to acquire at the community college level to support populations of children who are culturally, linguistically, and ability diverse. The result was fully blended standards and competencies reflecting standards articulated by the Division of Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children. In addition, standards supporting cultural and linguistic diversity were established through statewide review. Now, instead of offering courses on children who are developing typically and separate courses on children who are developing atypically, HCC interweaves the needs of all children in the early childhood curriculum.
“One example that exemplifies the shift in our instructional approach regarding supporting children’s diverse abilities is the emphasis on developmental red flags as opposed to developmental milestones,” says Johnna. “This approach helps teachers better understand the full range of diverse development and learning patterns and helps practitioners identify when they need to be concerned about children’s development. In terms of supporting children and families who are culturally and linguistically diverse, one of the first things that we strongly emphasize is the importance of understanding our own culture, as well as the culture of the field, and its impact/intersections with the culture of children and families. ”
Heartland’s Child Development Laboratory serves children birth to age 5 and is a placement site for practicum students and an observation site for all ECE students at HCC. The HCC Lab School has been an inclusive early childhood setting since it opened nine years ago. Approximately 20% of the children in the Lab’s program have developmental delays and diagnosed disabilities. The HCC Lab setting provides a rich environment for observation of inclusive principles in action. Students who attend classes at HCC can observe inclusive teaching practices directly at the Lab School or can view one of the many video segments of the Lab School that are part of HCC courses. The video segments were developed to demonstrate inclusive teaching strategies and are especially valuable for students enrolled in online courses who cannot easily access the Lab School.
National Professional Development Center on Inclusion NPDCI works with states to help early childhood teachers care for young children with disabilities in natural environments. community.fpg.unc.edu/npdci
Rob has observed a number of changes in the early intervention system in Illinois in recent years.
Rob Derry is the project manager for the Early Intervention (EI) Credentialing Office, Provider Connections. The office is located at the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood Education at Western Illinois University (WIU) and is responsible for credentialing all EI providers statewide. EI providers include speech, physical, occupational, and developmental therapists; social workers; counselors; and psychologists. The EI Credential is an Illinois-specific credential that enables EI providers to bill the state for their EI services. The EI Credentialing Office has a number of resources available to those interested in becoming an EI provider.
The EI Credentialing Office works closely with the EI Clearinghouse, which is a resource library for EI providers and families, and the EI Training Program, which provides training required by the state's EI system. The EI Credentialing Office, the EI Clearinghouse, and the EI Training Program are funded separately by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). (The EI Clearinghouse and the EI Training Program are discussed elsewhere in this issue.)
Rob began his professional career as a specialized foster care caseworker and as a child and adolescent mental health counselor. In those roles, Rob became familiar with EI state resources and with the challenges facing caseworkers in EI. The opportunity to work on the system side of EI became available when the Provider Connections program came to WIU 12 years ago. "The EI system in Illinois has changed dramatically in recent years," Rob says. "The emphasis on the social-emotional development of children birth to age 3 has had an enormous and positive impact on the EI system in Illinois. Other changes that have had a significant impact on the EI system are the development and implementation of EI Rule 500 and the requirement of fingerprint background checks and child abuse background checks for all EI providers in the system."
Ted Burke
Ted’s focus on the family perspective in EI professional development makes the Illinois Early Intervention Training Program different from other states.
Ted Burke is the director of the Illinois Early Intervention Training Program.The Illinois Early Intervention Training Program receives funds from the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) to offer training and technical assistance to all providers who work in the Illinois EI system. The EI system includes the programs that operate under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) serving children birth to age 3. The Illinois EI Training Program provides training statewide. The program’s main office is in Tinley Park and is part of the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Chicago, which acts as the program’s fiscal agent.
When Ted became director in 2001, he knew that most EI providers received their preservice training in a child-focused, medically based therapy model and that the EI Training Program would need to offer training that emphasized a family-focused child development model. “I knew it is important to think about what will benefit the family once the therapists finish providing their services.” To facilitate that shift, Ted changed the makeup of the team of EI trainers to include more parents. “Over half of our trainers in a given year are individuals who have children of their own with disabilities. Embedding that direct parent perspective in all of our training opportunities makes the Illinois EI Training Program unique from other states.” Ted concedes that from an administrator’s point of view it would be simpler to have a smaller team of trainers who were responsible for all statewide professional development. He believes, however, that the quality and effectiveness of the training would suffer with such a model.
Ted’s emphasis on the parent component in EI training evolved from his own experience as child of a parent with a disability. “My mother had multiple sclerosis. I grew up with a mom in a wheelchair and from an early age was aware of what services and accommodations were—and and were not—available to those with disabilities.”
Ted did not begin his career in special education. He went to college to study political science and worked as a legislative aide for the state assembly in New York, where he was living at the time. Ted worked for the head of the education committee. His first exposure to the special education field was from a public policy viewpoint. Ted then became a community organizer for a settlement house in Rochester, New York. “I don't have a master's degree, but I always say that my settlement house experience was my master's degree in the social service field. Anyone who ever worked at a settlement house or knows the history of the settlement house movement in this country will know what I mean.” When funding was eliminated for the settlement house in 1991, Ted moved to Rockford, Illinois, where he became the assistant director of the Head Start program. “Head Start’s involvement with local interagency councils and community access points of entry gave me my first experience working in EI.”
Ted entered the state’s EI system just as STARNET—the system that provides training and support for families who have children birth to age 8 with special needs—was working with local areas to plan for system points of entry to EI for Illinois families. These would later come to be known as the 25 Child and Family Connections Offices that provide service coordination for families receiving EI services in Illinois. Ted became an EI resource specialist, providing consultation and training for the STARNET system. “I lucked out in my early years with STARNET. I worked with professionals who were well known within and outside Illinois. Jeannette McCollum, Tweety Yates, and Anne Shannon were among the folks who helped broaden my perspective about the field of EI. They taught me about best practice and research in EI as well as the importance of the family perspective.”
Ted believes that the field of EI is at a crossroads nationwide, partly driven by the current economic crisis and the emphasis on connecting outcomes to dollars. “Change does not occur without some tension. We have an opportunity to take a look at our EI system and make it better. If Illinois were the only state experiencing serious budget problems, I would be more worried. Many states I travel to are experiencing similar economic problems. As policy makers consider the fiscal impact of EI, we have an opportunity to take a step back and look at the quality of services we are providing as well. If we can provide better services for families for less money, that would be a good thing.”
Susan Fowler
Early intervention and special education services for children with disabilities and their families have been the focus of Susan’s professional career.
Susan Fowler is a professor of special education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and beginning in August 2009 the new director of the Illinois Early Intervention (EI) Clearinghouse. The Illinois Public Health Association operated the Clearinghouse for many years; in August 2009 the EI Clearinghouse will move to the University of Illinois Early Childhood and Parenting (ECAP) Collaborative. ECAP will work to minimize interruptions of service during the transition, and the EI Clearinghouse is expected to be fully operational at ECAP by October 1, 2009. The EI Clearinghouse will continue to identify, collect, and disseminate research-based and best-practice materials and information on EI for parents, practitioners, and EI professionals in Illinois in the coming years. For more information on the transition, please visit eic.crc.uiuc.edu.
At the University, Susan works with students who are preparing for careers in EI and early childhood special education, and she works with graduate students who do research in the area of EI and preschool services. Susan also provides professional development at national and state conferences related to the topic of transition from EI services into preschool and from preschool into kindergarten. She just completed a term as president of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the largest international organization for special education professionals.
Susan began her career as an early childhood teacher in 1974, working with young children with autism and significant language delays. “My experience as a teacher of preschool children with disabilities confirmed that the sooner services started for children and their families, the better the outcomes.” After completing her Ph.D. in developmental and child psychology at the University of Kansas, Susan directed a federally funded demonstration preschool program for children with significant language impairments from 1980 to 1988. During this time, Susan also directed several federal grants through the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), which enabled her and her colleagues to develop procedures for coordinating service delivery for families when they brought their infants home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and entered community EI programs, and then as they moved from EI services to preschool and from early childhood special education to kindergarten.
In 1988, after the passage of PL 99-457, which authorized EI and guaranteed free and appropriate public education for all 3- to 5-year-olds with disabilities, Susan was invited to work at OSEP on a short-term appointment to direct the Early Childhood Branch. The Early Childhood Branch was in the midst of the first year of distributing funding to states for Part H (now Part C) early intervention programs, expanding the preschool (Part B of 619) program in all states, and providing research, demonstration, and technical assistance funds to support the development of the preschool and EI service system. When she left her position at the federal level, Susan moved to the University of Illinois to become head of the Department of Special Education.
During this time, Susan’s personal life experiences converged with her professional life experiences. In 1993, she became the mother of a premature baby who spent 61 days in the NICU. Susan struggled to obtain necessary EI services for her son following his discharge from the NICU. He continued to receive occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech therapy (ST) well into early grade school. “My personal and professional perspectives on special education clearly informed one another from this point forward.”
“A theme throughout my professional career has been to insure that families and children receiving early intervention services continue to receive services after children turn 3 years of age. I am excited about our new affiliation with the Illinois EI Clearinghouse, which will allow us to provide research-based and best-practice early intervention (EI) information for parents, practitioners, and EI professionals in Illinois. The goals we have for the EI Clearinghouse complement the information and services we provide through the Illinois Early Learning and the Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map projects.”
Susan points out that the new location for the EI Clearinghouse in the Children’s Research Center houses other initiatives directed by well-known Illinois EI professionals, including Jeanette McCollum and Tweety Yates, who are both affiliated with the EI Clearinghouse. The location is easily accessible from I-57, I-72, and I-74, and ample parking is available. Of course, parents and professionals who use the EI Clearinghouse materials through their local libraries, by phone, or on the Web will continue to be able to do so. The transition of the EI Clearinghouse and its materials to ECAP on the University of Illinois campus will be complete by October 1, 2009. The current Web site for the EI Clearinghouse is located at www.eiclearinghouse.org, and materials will continue to be available from the EI Clearinghouse in Springfield until the materials are moved to ECAP on the University of Illinois campus sometime in August. An interim page containing frequently updated information on the transition of the EI Clearinghouse from IPHA in Springfield to ECAP in Champaign is available at eic.crc.uiuc.edu.
Mike Heathfield
Mike’s recognition that “people don’t stop developing at 13 years of age” forms the basis of his long and accomplished career in school-age and youth work programs.
Mike Heathfield is a full-time professor and coordinator of Social Work and Youth Work Programs at Harold Washington College in Chicago. Mike designed and helped to fund and implement the Youth Development Practitioner Certification Program for the City of Chicago. Mike is currently the national co-chair of the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition, along with Ellen Gannett of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST). Mike is also co-chair of the Core Knowledge Committee for the Illinois School-Age and Youth (I-SAY) Credential.
Mike began his career with school-age and youth as a high school teacher years ago in Braintree, Essex, England. On the same school campus was a youth center. “During my years teaching high school, I discovered that I preferred the same youth in my interactions with them in the youth center during the evening hours than I did as a teacher in the more formal high school classroom setting during the day hours.” After teaching high school, Mike worked in several other communities in England across the United Kingdom, including a theater arts program in Scotland. “I was an adult learner whose interest in learning was reignited later in life.” After going back to college in his mid-30s, Mike completed a master’s degree in social work and in philosophy and a doctorate in education.
Mike’s interest in pursuing his education was motivated in part by a college teacher who gained his respect as a youth worker and as an academic. “If we want to draw adult learners to college, it is extremely important that we have professors with practical expertise that connects with youth workers, professors who are viewed as credible about their subject area.”
Mike is hopeful about the future for school-age and youth programs. "I just returned from the National AfterSchool Association Convention in New Orleans. There appears to be a growing investment in after-school and youth work nationally. As a nation, we are beginning to recognize that people don't stop developing at 13 years of age. The journey to successful adulthood begins in early childhood and continues well beyond the teenage years. Good youth workers are really skilled at connecting the disconnected...those young people who are excluded or judged to be failing."
Mike is encouraged by the shift in Gateways to Opportunity to encompass professional development for those who work with young children and youth from birth to age 21. "The quality of programs for school-age and youth is directly related to the quality of those who work in those programs. There are a surprising number of parallels between professional development for those working with young children and those working with school-age and youth. We have a great deal to learn from one another."
Stacie Haley
Stacie believes that professionalizing the field of school-age and youth development will help reduce staff turnover and increase program quality.
Stacie Haley is the director of the Tazewell Out of School Time program for the Tazwell County Health Department. In her role, Stacie administers before- and after-school programs in 19 schools throughout Tazewell County. The programs that Stacie oversees serve 1,800 youth between the ages of 3 and 15 years. Some of the programs receive Teen Reach funds, and some are supported entirely by parent fees. Stacie is responsible for overseeing programming in all 19 schools, as well as hiring and providing professional development for 54 staff who work in those programs. "We try to align our after-school curriculum with the academics provided during the school day by offering a lot of recreational and cultural enrichment activities, as well as lessons in life skills, mentoring, and service learning."
A significant part of Stacie's job is acting as a liaison to district partners and agencies in the communities where their programs are located. These include the school principals and superintendents, as well as any community agency that has programs that benefit school-age and youth, such as the park districts and the YWCA programs.
Stacie received her bachelor's degree in family services from Eastern Illinois University. "I always knew I wanted to work with youth in a school setting, but not in a formal teaching role." The position with the Tazewell County Health Department after-school program became available in August 2002. Stacie started as a program coordinator and moved into the administrator's position in December 2005.
One of the greatest challenges of Stacie's position is staff retention. "As we professionalize the field under Gateways to Opportunity, I hope it will help to reduce staff turnover. I know the Gateways professional development system will also help to increase the quality of care provided to children and youth, which is our ultimate goal."
Stacie is co-chair of the Illinois School-Age and Youth (I-SAY) Development Quality Assurance Committee. Stacie also services on the Board of Directors for the Illinois AfterSchool Network (IAN).
Tim Walker
By providing training and technical assistance on integrating technology into program management, Tim has helped to professionalize the field of early care and education and school-age and youth development.
As the director of technology at the McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership, Tim Walker has a broad and long-range view of the role that technology has played in the administration and management of child care and youth programs in Illinois. In 2000 with funding from the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), the McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership (the “Center”) initiated training programs and technical assistance to center directors on integrating technology into their program management. The training topics, formats, and locations have changed over the past nine years to reflect the needs and practices of programs and practitioners. The Directors’ Technology Surveys conducted by the Center illustrate the changes in technology use in recent years.
Responses to the survey conducted in 2000 indicated that 47% of the 150 directors surveyed from Illinois said that they used email on a daily basis, while 30% never used email or used it monthly. One-third of the directors surveyed in 2000 said that they logged onto the Internet on a daily basis. Thirty-three percent indicated that they never logged onto the Internet or did so only on a monthly basis. One-quarter of the directors surveyed in 2000 indicated that they felt competent in their use of the Internet.
The survey conducted four years later in 2004 included a wider range of responses—364 responses from center directors in 18 different states, including Illinois. By 2004, 85% of the center directors surveyed indicated that they used the Internet and email on a daily or weekly basis. The remaining 15% indicated that they never used email or the Internet or did so only on a monthly basis.
While directors’ use of email and the Internet increased substantially over the four years covered by the surveys, the directors indicated that their skill in using software applications other than for word processing was limited and that additional training and support were needed.
The next survey of early childhood administrators’ use of technology is expected in the summer of 2009. Tim expects that those survey results will confirm what he sees in his contact with center and family child care administrators around Illinois. Most, if not all, center and family child care programs have Internet access today—although not all have high-speed Internet access. Most administrators use some combination of computer software applications to decrease the time they spend on common administrative tasks such as processing payroll; preparing newsletters, flyers, and marketing presentations; forecasting enrollment; and automating data management systems. An increasing number of early childhood administrators today use the many Web 2.0 tools that are freely available—setting up a Facebook or MySpace page to promote their program, creating a Delicious or LeapTag page to share and exchange links to early care and education resources, establishing a Skype account to make free calls over the Internet, and developing a wiki with Wikispaces or Wetpaint to create a collaborative Web site.
The availability of free Web 2.0 tools is an area of enormous and rapid change in the field of technology. “There is no longer a huge fear of the unknown when it comes to technology,” says Tim. “This is in part due to the increased availability of training and technical assistance on integrating technology into program management, as well as an influx of younger staff working in these programs. Hiring ‘Gen Yers’ who are more familiar and comfortable with using technology has motivated directors to get up to speed.”
An area that remains an obstacle to integrating technology into early childhood and school-age and youth program management is funding. Finding the economic means to purchase the latest computer equipment and software remains a serious challenge for center, family child care, and school-age program administrators.
Penny Williams Wolford
Computer technology has improved Penny’s communication and outreach with families, solved her fiscal management dilemmas, professionalized her business practices, augmented her Food Program cash flow, and enhanced her child care children’s project work experiences.
In 2008, Penny participated in the Taking Charge of Change leadership training offered by the McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership. That experience, along with completing her master’s degree, provided Penny with the time and resources to explore the ways in which technology could be used to enhance her family child care business operations. “I hadn’t had the time to embrace something new before I enrolled in my master’s program and Taking Charge of Change. The assignments given in the classes built in the time and the challenge to ‘solve a real business problem’ that allowed me to research the way technology can improve my program.”
The improvements that Penny has made to her program as a result of technology cover a range of areas: Penny uses software program tools to publish a monthly newsletter for parents, to track waiting lists and child immunizations in a more systematic way, to send important memos home to parents in a more timely manner, to utilize digital photography to document project work that she does with her child care children, and to submit her monthly menus to her Food Program agency, which has improved her business cash flow. Most importantly, technology solved her fiscal management challenges, as evidenced by the Business Administration Scale (BAS), an assessment tool for family child care administrators.
"In addition to providing the time and the stimulus to research various uses of technology in my family child care business, Taking Charge of Change provided funding to implement a program improvement plan.” Penny says that lack of funding and lack of focused time are the two main obstacles to implementing new technologies in child care businesses. “If more training opportunities and dedicated conferences on the uses of technology in child care business were offered around the state, providers would soon learn how technology can move their programs further and improve the lives of children in their care.”
Candace Lewis
An unlikely mentor helped Candace Lewis realize her dream of starting her own child care center in Marion, Illinois.
Candace Lewis is the owner and executive director of Yellow Brick Road Learning Adventures, a private child care center in Marion, Illinois. The program is licensed for 79 children between 6 weeks and 12 years of age and became NAEYC accredited in 1996, the first private program south of Springfield to do so. “We received our accreditation before many understood what accreditation meant. It was a very good step for us to take. Not only did it affirm that our center philosophy was consistent with best practice, but the accreditation experience served as a kind of catalyst for us. It allowed me to assume a leadership role in our area and provided me with a platform to work with other child care programs to help raise the quality overall in our region of the state.”
Since she started her child care center program 28 years ago, Candace’s work in early care and development has broadened to include a host of related professional involvements. In addition to her position as executive director of Yellow Brick Road, Candace is also the co-chair of the Professional Development Advisory Council (PDAC) for Gateways to Opportunity, and she is a mentor for the Illinois Statewide Accreditation Mentoring (SAM) project . Candace serves on PDAC’s Quality Assurance Committee, on the Illinois AfterSchool Network Board, and on the Child Care Advisory Committee for John A. Logan College. She is also the accreditation chair for the Southern Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children (SIAEYC). “I am able to serve in these professional development capacities because I have a wonderful staff who have been with me for many years. My involvement on various early care and education committees and boards allows me to shape policy while finding out about new developments in the field. This knowledge benefits my own child care center as well as other programs in my region.”
Candace credits her husband, John, for her career path in early care and education. “John knew about my early desire to work with young children and my dream of having a child care center in Marion. He knew that child care was the path I was meant to take. John said that if I was willing to go back to school to get my early childhood degree he would build me my school.” John worked as a firefighter but did carpentry work on his days off. With the help of a few friends, he completed the child care center in about six months—a genuine labor of love.
It took longer than six months for Candace to complete her college degree program. Candace worked full time during the day as an assistant in her new child care center, hiring someone else to be the director, and attended college classes in the evening hours. After four years of attending evening classes, Candace was director qualified. John passed away 18 years ago—10 years after Candace realized her dream of directing her child care center and becoming firmly rooted in the early care and education professional landscape in Illinois.
Sue Moustakas
A father’s lessons in “Tough Training” instilled the work ethic needed to be a successful child care center administrator.
Sue Moustakas is starting her 40th year as one of the founders and administrators of the Sandbox Schools of Early Care and Education.The first Sandbox School was started in 1968 in Palos Heights as a half-day preschool for 18 children 3-4 years of age. The demand for all-day care and early education services grew right along with the reputation of Sandbox School. Additional schools were opened in nearby communities to meet the need. Today there are seven Sandbox Schools of Early Care and Education in southwest Cook and Will counties, serving children 6 weeks to 12 years of age.
Sue credits her own upbringing in a large family and her father's motivational teachings for her successful career path in early care and education. Sue was the eldest of eight children. Her father, a championship football coach at Notre Dame University, taught Sue the value of what her father called "Tough Training"—if you practice doing something very tough every day, you strengthen your potential for hard work.
Sue had early ambitions to open her own school. During high school, Sue combined the need to care for her siblings with her interest in starting a school. Living near Lake Michigan, Sue and her sister started "Beach School"—a program where neighborhood children learned to swim, exercise, play games and sports in the sand and water, and socialize.
The early experiences of Beach School and her father's "Tough Training" served Sue well in her adult years when she and her partner, Beverly Avery, started Sandbox Schools. Sue had the discipline and the training to work 12- to 14-hour days—often needed to administer and grow the new child care centers. Her father’s “Tough Training” also provided Sue with the courage to return to school at age 49 with some of her own five children still in college and complete her master's degree from National-Louis University at age 52.
At age 70, Sue thinks about “semi-retiring” from Sandbox Schools. She is grateful to have a strong, capable, and loyal staff. Many of her teachers have been with Sandbox Schools for 15, 20, and 25 years—remarkable in a profession not known for employee retention. Sue is also grateful for the number of Sandbox School alumni who return to teach at the schools and who enroll their own children in Sandbox programs, what Sue calls “The Great Return Rate.” “I don’t regret not taking a different path in my life, one that might have been more financially rewarding. I found my niche and was able to combine motherhood, grandmotherhood, and early childhood education. My own children came to Sandbox with me, and seven of my ten grandchildren have also attended. That is a true success story.”
Elva DeLuna
Elva DeLuna is employed by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) as the Education Manager for the Migrant Head Start Program in Illinois, a position she has held for the past 10 years. Migrant Head Start differs from Head Start in significant ways. In order for families to participate in Migrant Head Start, they must receive at least 51% of their income from agricultural work. To meet the needs of seasonal farmworkers, Migrant Head Start offers full-day programs during the summer months, occasionally serving children during evening and weekend hours. Programs have always been open to infants and toddlers. Migrant Head Start provides the same level of services as regular Head Start, but within a much shorter time frame. Migrant Head Start programs can be as short as 6 weeks or as long as 5 months, depending on the kind of farmwork in a particular community.
Elva oversees Migrant Head Start education services for 470 children and their families who are served in the eight Migrant Head Start programs in the state. The number of children and families served by Migrant Head Start changes each year as the population shifts. Elva says that the number served in Illinois has been reduced in recent years because farm machinery has replaced some of the need for farmworkers.
Elva understands the needs of migrant families from personal experience. Elva grew up as a migrant child. Her family spent the winter months in her home town, Del Rio, Texas. Between April and October, Elva, her parents, and four siblings traveled to North Carolina to pick tobacco; to Illinois to pick asparagus, corn, and green beans; and to Iowa to pick tomatoes. Like other migrant children, Elva worked in the fields with her parents and siblings. Elva’s two younger brothers had the benefit of attending a Head Start program. Elva remembers the enormous impact the Head Start experience had on her brothers, her parents, and her community.
Elva’s parents wanted a different future for their children and strongly supported their children’s education. Elva completed high school attending evening sessions that were offered to migrant families so children could work in the fields during the day. After high school, Elva attended college, but she continued to migrate between Texas and Illinois to earn enough money to pay for school. Juggling migrant work between states made college completion a challenge. Elva eventually accumulated the coursework required for a bachelor's degree from several colleges and universities, including Western Illinois University and Texas A&M University.
During her first year of college, Elva volunteered in a child care program in Princeville, Illinois, which had a Migrant Head Start program. “My first class was with toddlers, and I simply got hooked on working with young children.” Elva’s college major was data processing when she started to volunteer, but it wasn’t long before she switched to early childhood education and got a Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential.
Elva was hired as a teacher and then became the Education Coordinator for the program in Princeville. Molly Joseph, the Education Manager for Migrant Head Start in Illinois at that time (the position Elva currently holds), recognized Elva’s interest and potential in the field of early childhood. Molly nurtured Elva’s abilities and provided regular high-quality, in-depth professional development opportunities for Elva, which allowed her to hone her skills as an early childhood teacher. After working in the Princeville program for 17 years, Elva accepted a position as a Home Visitor with Migrant Education Even Start in Illinois. Elva developed a different perspective as a Home Visitor while she worked with some of the same families she served in the Princeville child care program. “This new position helped me to appreciate the value of working with the whole family. As a teacher, I was primarily focused on the education and care of children in my program. As a Home Visitor, I learned that you cannot separate the child from the family—what happens to the child impacts the family and vice versa.”
Elva had been working as a Home Visitor for 2 years when the Education Manager position she currently holds became available. Although her main focus as Education Manager is to write and monitor policies and procedures for education services in Migrant Head Start programs in Illinois, Elva tries to remember what it feels like to be a teacher in the classroom. “I always ask myself, ‘Is this policy or procedure realistic or not?’ and I encourage Migrant Head Start staff to let me know how various policies and procedures work for them.”
Elva regularly travels to the eight center programs that she monitors in the state. She tries to help staff address the unique challenges faced by Migrant Head Start programs. Major challenges include the time limitations of migrant parents, many of whom work 10-12 hours a day earning very little pay. A minor change in the weather can affect parents’ work prospects, so the main objective of migrants is to work as much as possible when they can. As a result, Migrant Head Start staff must be creative in finding ways to include parents in their programs. Staff retention is a struggle throughout the field of early childhood, but retaining staff in Migrant Head Start is especially difficult because the program operates only part of the year. Some staff members do return each year, and just as Elva did, many Migrant Head Start students pursue early childhood education as a career because of the program’s enormous impact on them and their families.
George Davis
George Davis is the Executive Director of the Human Services Department for the City of Rockford, the department that administers Head Start services for Winnebago County and is the designated Community Action Agency for Winnebago and Boone counties in northern Illinois. As George looks back on his career path leading up to his current position as Executive Director (he recently commemorated his fifth anniversary in the position), George observes, “It’s a career path that found me more than one that I planned.”
George graduated from college in the early 1970s. Like many new graduates, George wasn’t certain what he wanted to do after college. He did know, however, that he wanted to help people. George credits his parents, and his mother in particular, for instilling in him a passion for helping others. “I developed my interest in human services by watching the difference my mother made to members of our extended family because of her willingness to help out. My mother taught us to help others by her word and by her example.”
George accepted a position as an intake worker with the Mental Health Center in Paducah, Kentucky. “That first position opened up my understanding of the world of human services because I worked with the elderly, with those who have disabilities, and with Head Start.” One of George’s responsibilities at the Mental Health Center was to serve as a community representative to a Head Start Policy Council in the area. “I had no idea what Head Start was, even though I grew up in the City of Chicago in Public Housing. By all accounts, we were a working poor family eligible for Head Start services, but I had never heard of Head Start before my position in Paducah.”
George moved from the position of intake worker into case management, and through a series of twists and turns, he ended up back in Rockford, Illinois. In addition to counseling and child protection, George worked with developmentally disabled adults and families. George’s first management position was with the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) in Rockford, a position he held for 7 years between 1985 and 1992.
With management experience under his belt, George applied for a Project Coordinator position for a Head Start Family Services Demonstration Project with the City of Rockford. George was hired for that position. When the position ended after 2½ years, George was hired by the City of Rockford as a Family Resource Coordinator, then as an Administrative Coordinator, and then as the Head Start Director. “I realized that all my jobs were with people who were in crisis and in desperate circumstances, but often at the end of their road. I lost that initial passion I experienced helping people at a stage in their lives when I felt I could really make a difference. I was the Head Start Director for 5 years. It was the first time I felt I was making a substantial and long-term difference for families by working with parents, staff, and members of the community toward a common goal.”
George became more involved in Head Start and with partner agencies at the local, state, and national levels. He became active with and joined the board of the Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies (IACCA). IACCA is a network of not-for-profit corporations and units of government in Illinois that focuses on improving the health, education, and economic standards of the low-income population. George also got involved with the Illinois Head Start Association and currently serves as its president. In 2004, George was appointed and still serves as a member of the Illinois Early Learning Council. In June of 2008, he received the designation of Certified Community Action Professional (CCAP). from the National Community Action Partnership—America’s poverty-fighting network.
“What led me back to working in Head Start years after my original exposure to Head Start on the Policy Council in Paducah, Kentucky, was my desire to make a difference.” George has held various positions in the human services sector. Nothing has been more satisfying for him than working in Head Start. “I know firsthand what many Head Start families go through. Our family lived in public housing. We were homeless for a time. We moved four times in one year before my parents were able to purchase a home on contract, which offered our family some stability.”
Despite George’s family’s economic circumstances, they never sought any form of public assistance. As George grew older, he realized that not every family had the capacity or resilience to handle all the challenges of being poor that his family possessed. A second life lesson George learned from his parents was the critical role of family. “My mother taught us that you shouldn’t rely totally on a program for assistance unless that program pulls in the family. I learned as a young child that family involvement is central to one’s quality of life.” The principle that parents and family come first in a child’s life is consistent with Head Start’s emphasis on parent support and family involvement. George acknowledges that high-quality early care and education can make a huge difference. “This is especially true,” he says, “for low-income families and children.”
George’s commitment to Head Start is as strong today as it was 36 years ago when George had his first contact with the Head Start Policy Council in Paducah, Kentucky. “Once you work in Head Start, you never leave it and it never leaves you. You feel that you are having a real impact and making a real difference by putting into action sound principles that represent the best of who we are as people.”
Joyce Weiner
Joyce Weiner is a Policy Associate for the Ounce of Prevention Fundin Chicago. Her formal education prepared her for a career in public policy. Joyce’s undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas was in social work with a focus on child welfare issues, and her graduate degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration emphasized public policy. But Joyce’s interest in child and family policy systems can also be traced to an elementary school experience.
On a school field trip to a historical fort in her home state of Minnesota, Joyce “buddied-up” with a friend who was an Ojibwa Native American. The docent who guided the class praised a renowned general who had fought against the native people as the land was being settled by Europeans and who had also served as an early leader and politician in Minnesota. Following the docent’s remarks about the general, Joyce’s friend said that her family told very different stories about the general based on atrocities committed against the Native Americans in the state. This experience helped Joyce recognize that there are varied perspectives and multiple truths in our society and history. That realization piqued her interest in hearing people’s stories and set Joyce on her current path of wanting to create public systems that can meet the needs of children and families.
Years later, while working for the Evanston 4-Cs (Community Coordinated Child Care)—known today as the Evanston Child Care Network—Joyce developed a deeply rooted appreciation for the impact of the early years on children’s future social-emotional and cognitive success. It was there that she first had the opportunity to observe high-quality birth-to-3 and preschool programs and become aware of the value of supporting nurturing parent-child interactions, professional development, and staff mentoring. Joyce’s experiences at the Evanston 4-Cs influenced the rest of her career path and eventually led her back to early education and systems-building work with the Ounce of Prevention after many years in child abuse prevention.
After her children were born, Joyce spent much of her career in the field of child abuse prevention. She worked as a trainer for Parental Stress Services with area schools, community-based and governmental organizations, hospitals, and the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. She also investigated DCFS child abuse hotline calls for Catholic Charities and served as an evening and weekend social worker in the Children’s Memorial Hospital emergency room. Joyce’s experience in child abuse prevention provided a good overview of how various organizational systems and policies affect children and their families. However, she recognized that very often even productive interventions provide only temporary solutions to real crises in children’s and families’ lives. After nearly 20 years in child abuse prevention, Joyce became interested in refocusing on the early childhood years and in helping to build systems that could enhance those critical years.
In the summer of 2005, Joyce joined the public policy and advocacy division of the Ounce of Prevention’s Kids PEPP (Public Education and Policy Project). In this position, she works with others on developing policies and programs that can give children in Illinois access to high-quality early care and learning opportunities. Joyce works on a variety of projects. She staffs the Workforce Development Committee of the Early Learning Council (ELC) as well as two related joint work groups: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity/Workforce Development and Infant & Toddler/Workforce Development. Joyce supervises the Kids PEPP student intern program, through which she is able to influence the professional direction of others who share her commitment to improving the lives of families in Illinois through public policy grounded in what is best for children. She also sits on the Professional Development Advisory Council (PDAC) Steering Committee and serves with Peggy Patten as co-chair of the PDAC Access & Outreach Committee.
Renee Deberry
Renee Deberry is the Director of Provider Resources at Illinois Action for Children in Chicago. Renee works with a staff of 16 to administer services that fall within the core programming for the Cook County Child Care Resource and Referral Agency, which is part of Illinois Action for Children.
Renee’s interest in the field of early care and education can be traced to her college years, when she wanted to be a preschool teacher. Renee decided to study child development at Malcolm X College in Chicago because they had a child care program through which students could get practical experience working with children. However, during her college years, Renee developed other interests and graduated with a BA degree in marketing communications. Upon graduation, Renee worked on public relations, marketing, and fund-raising for Junior Achievement, a nonprofit organization that helps to prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. That position reawakened Renee’s interest in working more directly with children and youth. She went back to school and received a master’s degree in elementary education with teaching certification from Loyola University Chicago. While completing her graduate study, Renee worked part time at the Boys and Girls Club, an after-school program in Chicago. When she completed her graduate program, Renee became the director of an after-school faith-based program located at the Ebenezer Lutheran Church called After Three Connections. That position put Renee in touch with the MOST (Making the Most of Out of School Time) initiative at Illinois Action for Children.
In the 11 years since she has been at Illinois Action for Children, Renee has held a number of positions and worked on various initiatives. “I work on the program side, aligning our work with public policy,” says Renee. “I see myself as an advocate, but not promoting a particular legislative agenda. I try to instill in my staff the public policy agenda related to our work, because it affects our ability to provide more enhanced services to the providers, youth, and families we serve.”
Renee acknowledges the value in educating providers about the policy issues that affect their work and lives. “We make sure we are abreast of what is happening on the policy side so we can give providers current information, the language to use, and a comprehensive vision of what quality means so they can become effective advocates.”
Keeping track of the “big picture” in early care and education in Illinois is part of Renee’s day-to-day work. Occasionally she travels to national conferences to learn more about national issues affecting early care and education and to share Illinois experiences. Renee had an opportunity to do just that when she held a workshop on the state’s new Quality Rating System (QRS) at the recent NACCRRA (National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies) Conference in Washington, DC. “My workshop was packed with participants even though there had been other sessions on QRS and despite the lateness of the hour—we were the last session on a Friday. Everyone wanted to know what Illinois was doing in this area. There was an amazing energy level.”
Renee finds that meeting with others around the country helps to put our work in Illinois in a new light. “I’m very positive about our work in school-age and youth programming, the development of the Illinois School-Age Youth Credential (I-SAY), and the related work around professional development for staff who work with youth. Services transitioning youth from school-age to youth programs have traditionally been lacking for youth 12, 13, or 14 years of age, a critical time for youth development,” says Renee. “We are fortunate in Illinois to have the Gateways system around which to build school-age and youth professional development work. That is not the case elsewhere.”
Renee also sits on the Professional Development Advisory Council (PDAC) and serves with Kathy Kloppenburg as co-chair of the I-SAY Qualifications & Credentials Committee.
Holly Knicker
Successful college preparation, experience, and effective supervision matter. These are among the lessons Holly Knicker has learned over the course of her professional career in early care and education. Holly is currently the Child Care Quality Manager for the Bureau of Child Care and Development at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). In that role, Holly manages the federal funds that support child care quality in Illinois. She and her staff provide oversight of IDHS-funded activities conducted by the Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs), as well as additional services related to quality. When she accepted her position at IDHS in 1999, Holly knew firsthand how a CCR&R can influence child care quality at the community level through its work with parents, child care providers, and employers. Holly was the director of the CCR&R agency in McHenry County for 9 years before coming to IDHS.
Holly graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1981 with a bachelor s degree in psychology with a concentration in day care administration. Her degree has helped her secure every professional position she has held, including her current position at IDHS. After working in a child care center as a teacher of 2-year-olds, Holly accepted a director position at a full-time child care program in the St. Louis area. When Holly s family later moved back to northern Illinois, she accepted a second director position at a full-time child care program in McHenry County.
During a family leave to care for their third child at home, Holly contacted a local community college to see if they had openings for a part-time instructor. She taught early care and education courses at McHenry County Community College for the next 8 years. During that time, her supervisor at the college recommended Holly for the director position of the newly developed McHenry County CCR&R. As the director and initially the only employee, Holly learned all the programmatic and fiscal aspects of a CCR&R agency. With leadership from Holly and her supervisors, the McHenry County CCR&R grew over the next 9 years. That experience helped prepare her for the Child Care Quality Manager position when it became available at IDHS in 1999.
The opportunities at IDHS enabled Holly to move into a position that provided professional challenges and allowed for input on statewide child care program development, policies, and procedures. Holly experienced a learning curve when she made the shift from being the director of a state-contracted CCR&R program to working in the agency that did the contracting, IDHS. Holly had to learn how to work within a large state government agency, how processes take place, and how decisions get made within the infrastructure of IDHS.
Over the years, Holly has been fortunate to work with many staff and supervisors who are dedicated to improving the lives of children and families. Some management skills stand out as being particularly effective, including those of her current supervisor at IDHS. Holly has found that the most effective supervisors communicate clearly, take time to explain the hows and whys of areas of responsibility, grant autonomy in those areas where a staff member has strengths, and work with staff in those areas where support is needed. Holly tries to emulate these same qualities for the staff she supervises at IDHS.
Anne Wharff
Teacher, education coordinator, director, licensing representative, day care coordinator, school age specialist, child care subsidy specialist, professional development coordinator over her professional career of nearly 35 years, Anne Wharff has held a wide variety of positions in the early care and education field. How did Anne s career path evolve? What helps her maintain her focus, her calm, and her good humor after so many years?
Anne Wharff is currently the Professional Development Coordinator in the Bureau of Child Care and Development at the Illinois Department of Human Services. In that capacity, Anne oversees and provides leadership to the early care and education professional development initiatives of various statewide groups (e.g., INCCRRA, CCR&Rs, Gateways to Opportunity).
Anne received a bachelor s degree in child development from Iowa State University in 1974. As part of her undergraduate education, Anne completed a practicum experience in Peoria at a preschool center where children had special needs. This eye-opening experience ultimately led her to accept a position upon graduation in a child care center in Peoria run by the Salvation Army. Anne worked as a teacher and as the Education Coordinator at that center from 1974 until 1977, when she became the center s director. In 1980, Anne took a position as a licensing representative for DCFS in the Peoria region, and after 8 years she became the Regional Day Care Coordinator for DCFS, monitoring DCFS site-administered contracts and region-administered child care programs. As Regional Day Care Coordinator, Anne was invited to serve on numerous United Way committees to support quality improvements in community-based child care programs in the region. Through that work, Anne gained experience in helping diverse groups come together to support high-quality child care programs.
In 1991, Anne was invited to apply for the School-Age Coordinator position within the Office of Child Development in Springfield to administer the school-age grants that were part of the federal Dependent Care Grant. That position taught Anne a great deal about school-age child care services around the state. In 1992, Anne became the manager of the Dependent Care Grant, which was expanded to include quality improvement activities for the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies.
Under the purview of the newly formed Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), Anne s position evolved to include policy and technical assistance in the child care subsidy program in 1997. Anne was interested in the statewide trends in the child care assistance program, but she missed using her child development expertise. In 2002, Anne took the opportunity to move from child care subsidy work to her current position as Professional Development Coordinator within IDHS. Since that time, Anne has helped to grow and monitor a variety of statewide programs that address child care quality, particularly those involving professional development. A central aspect of Anne s position is to ensure that the major statewide early care and education sectors (e.g., IDHS, ISBE, and Head Start) are at the professional development table and collaborating on a common goal of improved care and education for young children and their families.
Working in early care and education for over three decades can be draining, and Anne concedes there are challenges working in state government. Focusing on both the big picture in the early care and education landscape and the smallest picture of the child as well as taking time to pursue personal interests and to travel helps Anne remain upbeat about her work and hopeful for the future.
Cass Wolfe
Cass Wolfe, the new co-chair of PDAC and a Professional Development Advisor (PDA) for Gateways, works at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning (CRCL) in Chicago as the Director of Curriculum and Staff Development for a staff of 200. During her nine years at CRCL, Cass has implemented a CDA training program, maintained a database of staff credentials and training, and advised, encouraged, and supported staff going back to college to earn degrees and credentials.
For as long as she can remember, Cass wanted to work in early childhood. As a young teenager, she worked in a summer camp, advancing to the position of assistant director by the time she went to college. Cass received undergraduate and graduate degrees in Child Development from Iowa State University. In graduate school, she worked on a Head Start training grant, participating in performance review visits and piloting the ECERS (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale). Cass worked as a classroom teacher for a relatively short time and then served as director for two different centers. The two director experiences were quite different from each other. The first position was at a struggling nonprofit center on the north side of Chicago, where Cass was a newcomer with few colleagues or mentors available to provide support: “I was the struggling director fighting to survive.” The second position was at a more financially stable corporate-supported program in Boston, where Cass had access to mentors and colleagues to turn to for advice and support.
In the mid-1980s, Cass moved back to Chicago and took a position at the Day Care Action Council of Illinois (DCAC) to lead the organization’s newly formed Resource and Referral Program. The state’s CCR&R system was just developing, and through her role at DCAC, Cass helped give shape to a structure that would ultimately become the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (INCCRRA). “To help us figure out how to develop the Illinois system, we had access to leadership development and technical assistance from many smart women who headed up CCR&Rs elsewhere in the country. These were very exciting times.” While at DCAC, Cass also worked on professional development for center and family child care providers and helped to write the Foundations of Family Child Care Curriculum, a curriculum still widely used in Illinois.
“Then, in 1995, I discovered my passion for early childhood professional development when I moved to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to be the Statewide Coordinator of Child Care Professional Development.” There Cass worked on professional development initiatives, many of which are still in place today. Cass remained in that role until she came to her current position with the Carole Robertson Center.
Cass attributes her 30-year career in early care and education to her lifelong interest in working with young children and families, along with a combination of serendipity—being in the right place at the right time—and access to good mentors and leaders in the field. “Co chairing the state’s Professional Development Advisory Council (PDAC) seems a natural fit right now.”
Jeanne Anderson
Jeanne Anderson, co-chair of PDAC and also a Professional Development Advisor (PDA) for Gateways, is Director of YWCA Child Care Solutions, the resource and referral agency that covers Winnebago, Boone, Stephenson, and Jo Daviess Counties in northern Illinois. Jeanne also is an instructor at Rock Valley College and serves on several advisory boards for early childhood groups, including the Rock River Association of Education for Young Children and the Rockford Early Learning Council.
Jeanne began her career in early care and education with a bachelor's degree in child development from Rockford College in Rockford, Illinois, with the intention of teaching kindergarten in a public school. Because a permanent kindergarten teaching position was not available at that time, Jeanne accepted a position as director of a local child care program that was, to Jeanne’s dismay, out of compliance in many areas of state licensing regulation. With the help of a dedicated and knowledgeable licensing representative, Jeanne was able to correct all areas of noncompliance and increase the center’s enrollment within a 6-month period. Jeanne left the center when a kindergarten teaching position became available. When Jeanne had her first child, she found a position in the infant program in a nearby child care program so she could be with her baby. Jeanne held teaching positions in each of the center’s classrooms, working with infants, toddlers, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, and school-age children. She eventually became program director and remained in that position for 10 years.
During that time, Jeanne participated in a series of training events sponsored by the Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University, which solidified her commitment to early childhood and to advocating for high-quality professional development in Illinois. In 1995, Jeanne began teaching workshops at conferences and facilitating a series of short training events for directors and family child care providers.
In 1995, Jeanne joined the board of the local Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC) affiliate and attended many statewide professional development meetings. “The more I learned, the more I wanted to provide support for others in the field to reach their professional goals,” said Jeanne, who went on to help with the development of a Child Development Associate (CDA) module series. Then, in 1999, she joined the local CCR&R as a training specialist. “I quickly moved from Training Specialist to Training Coordinator, and then on to Professional Development Coordinator at the CCR&R, which allowed me to assist and mentor others to reach their professional development goals—something that had been a top priority for me as a center Director.”
Jeanne then enrolled in National Louis University’s Early Childhood Administration master's program to sharpen her skills and stay on top of current best practices in the field. In 2005, Jeanne started teaching courses at Rock Valley College in child development, math, and music for the young child.
Jeanne spent one year working for INCCRRA and Gateways to Opportunity as the Infant Toddler Credential Coordinator when that credential was in its early stage of development. “This experience taught me a great deal about the professional development system in Illinois.” Jeanne heard about an online training opportunity through a national listserv for educators. In 2006, she completed a program to become an online course design specialist, which will help her design coursework for use in many adult education settings.
“All of these opportunities—as a teacher and administrator, a college instructor, a member of advisory boards and councils, working in the CCR&R system, and as a course design specialist—have led me to the position of co-chair of the Gateways Professional Development Advisory Council.”
DePaul University prepares students to work with diverse populations of children and families enrolled in our early childhood and elementary school classrooms.
A number of strategies are in place to recruit, support, and retain students through graduation in Morton College's Early Childhood Education Department, where over 70% of the student body is Spanish speaking.
Rob has observed a number of changes in the early intervention system in Illinois in recent years.
Ted’s focus on the family perspective in EI professional development makes the Illinois Early Intervention Training Program different from other states.
Early intervention and special education services for children with disabilities and their families have been the focus of Susan’s professional career.
Mike’s recognition that “people don’t stop developing at 13 years of age” forms the basis of his long and accomplished career in school-age and youth work programs.
Stacie believes that professionalizing the field of school-age and youth development will help reduce staff turnover and increase program quality.
By providing training and technical assistance on integrating technology into program management, Tim has helped to professionalize the field of early care and education and school-age and youth development.
Computer technology has improved Penny’s communication and outreach with families, solved her fiscal management dilemmas, professionalized her business practices, augmented her Food Program cash flow, and enhanced her child care children’s project work experiences.
An unlikely mentor helped Candace Lewis realize her dream of starting her own child care center in Marion, Illinois.
A father’s lessons in “Tough Training” instilled the work ethic needed to be a successful child care center administrator.
Elva DeLuna is employed by the 
George Davis is the Executive Director of the 
Joyce Weiner is a Policy Associate for the 
Renee Deberry is the Director of Provider Resources at 
Successful college preparation, experience, and effective supervision matter. These are among the lessons Holly Knicker has learned over the course of her professional career in early care and education. Holly is currently the Child Care Quality Manager for the Bureau of Child Care and Development at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). In that role, Holly manages the federal funds that support child care quality in Illinois. She and her staff provide oversight of IDHS-funded activities conducted by the Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs), as well as additional services related to quality. When she accepted her position at IDHS in 1999, Holly knew firsthand how a CCR&R can influence child care quality at the community level through its work with parents, child care providers, and employers. Holly was the director of the CCR&R agency in McHenry County for 9 years before coming to IDHS.
Teacher, education coordinator, director, licensing representative, day care coordinator, school age specialist, child care subsidy specialist, professional development coordinator over her professional career of nearly 35 years, Anne Wharff has held a wide variety of positions in the early care and education field. How did Anne s career path evolve? What helps her maintain her focus, her calm, and her good humor after so many years?
Cass Wolfe, the new co-chair of PDAC and a Professional Development Advisor (PDA) for Gateways, works at the 
Jeanne Anderson, co-chair of PDAC and also a Professional Development Advisor (PDA) for Gateways, is Director of 
