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Maria has an Associate Degree in early childhood development and had been teaching preschoolers for six years. She worked
in a typical child care center where the teachers were well trained and most had been in the field of early childhood education
for many years. Maria and her colleagues were some of the highest paid teachers in the area. Nevertheless, Maria makes only
$16,000 per year. Her center, like 73% of other work sites in the field, offers only limited health insurance at best, making it
difficult for teachers to remain in the field. Her site averages an annual staff turnaround of 26%. As a result of the regular loss of
staff, Maria is having to train more and more new teachers at her site, only to see many of them leave just a few years later.
Maria heard of the California Early Childhood Mentor Program from one of her former community college instructors.
She learned how, in this program, her salary would be enhanced through compensation for training, she would receive
recognition as a professional, be provided with additional training and become involved in career development opportunities: all
important incentives to stay in the field. Maria's first step in becoming a mentor was to enroll in The Mentor Teacher Class at
her local community college. From the class Maria refined her supervision skills, learned an objective quality assessment tool to
apply to her classroom and evaluated her role as an advocate for her profession. Based on the assessment tool, Maria was able
to make needed quality improvements both in her classroom and to her center as a whole. Staff responsibilities in Maria's
classroom were reorganized so that parents and children were greeted on arrival and pick up. Maria arranged additional staff
training in supervising children's creative activities which staff throughout her center took advantage of and an adult meeting area
was found for all staff that was separate from the center's office space. Another teacher in Maria's class found that the changes
in quality to her classroom would involve petitioning the board of directors with a revised budget that would include funding for
in-service training as well as a weekly staff meeting to better coordinate the individual needs of the children with classroom
quality improvements.
Maria submitted an application to the local Mentor Selection Committee and was approved for a site review. Her classroom
was visited by two Selection Committee Members, one a center director and the other a college instructor. Using the Early
Childhood Environment Rating Scale revised by Clifford and Harms, each committee member and Maria evaluated her classroom and
center. Maria met with the committee members to review their ratings and present hers. All three parties consolidated their
ratings on one form and submitted it to the full eight member committee for the final decision. Maria was certified as a Mentor in
her classroom for three years!
As a Mentor, Maria now supervises student teachers who are placed in her classroom by the community college and Regional
Occupations Programs. The student teachers coming to train with Maria brought renewed enthusiasm to the center. Students
asked questions which challenged Maria's thinking as a professional and added innovative curriculum activities from the college's
class assignments. The students themselves experienced unique one-on-one supervision tailored to their own individual learning
needs and benefited from the direct application of theory to practice in a high quality work site in the community. In fact, two of
Maria's students spoke Spanish as their first language and seemed to benefit greatly from supervision by another native Spanish
speaker. Maria's co-teacher was able to fulfill practicum requirements under Maria's Mentorship without incurring lost wages
and completed her associate's degree in early childhood. Without the prohibiting effect of lost wages, other staff members were
also planning on finishing their degree by working in Maria's classroom. Staff retention at Maria's center improved. Maria's
director was more aware of quality standards and improvements made in Maria's classroom served as a model for other rooms
at the site.
Maria has been a Mentor for the California Early Childhood Mentor Program for five years. She averages $1,700 a
year in stipends as a Mentor. She has presented her experience as a Mentor at professional conferences, State Department of
Education hearings, community college classes, staff meetings and in-service trainings at other centers. Because of her visibility,
her site has become identified as a high quality program and was featured by a local newscast doing a special segment on child
care working conditions. Parents of the children in Maria's center have told her how impressed they are with Maria's new status
and recognition, and complimented the director on the positive site review. Maria meets in a monthly seminar with the fifteen
Mentors in her local area. The seminar is a support group for the Mentors, continuing education, a means of communicating with
practicum instructors, and an opportunity for organization. The Mentors have been interviewed by a reporter covering a story
on incentives for teachers in the field of early childhood and have collaborated in running a campaign for worthy wages in their
community.
The California Early Childhood Mentor Program has been pivotal to Maria in providing her with the incentives she
needed to stay in the field. The Mentor Program has created opportunities to make significant quality improvements not
just to Maria's classroom, but to her center as a whole. Student teachers at the local community colleges have had the
opportunity for a unique and responsive training experience which better insures degree completion and the community is more
aware of the link between training, compensation and quality.
Maria's story is a composite based on the experiences of participants in the California Early Childhood Mentor
Program.
Working for better child care since 1998
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