DIALOGUE AND LEARNING
Valuing Dialogue and Shared Learning
- An overview of the Initiative
- Project Goals and Objectives
- Action Plans and Implications
- Creating a Community of Growth and Development
- Valuing Dialogue and Shared Learning
- Measurements of Success
1. Community Fellows: Educating Practitioners on Public Policy
As part of the McCormick Tribune Foundation (MTF) Professional Development Initiative a ‘Child Care Policy and Standards’ team was created in 2005.
The purpose of this team was to keep the participating agencies updated on changes in child care policies and standards at the local, state, and national levels.
These MTF/CURL Community Fellows were chosen to lead this team as they have extensive experience in addressing community-based childcare issues; possess knowledge invaluable to understanding those issues; and experience developing innovative solutions to problems facing urban communities.
2. Program Leaders Working Group
It became increasingly clear to CURL staff and the leaders of the nine agencies that the role of site directors had grown in importance in creating and maintaining quality programs and implementing professional development protocols.
In turn, this has translated into a growing need for more support for this segment of the agency. For that reason, Loyola CURL staff created a working group comprised of the middle level managers and one other key member of their staff. In most cases, this includes into a site director and an individual such as a master teacher or education coordinator.
The purpose of these monthly meetings is to address issues of relevance to this group.
3. New York City Conference
This conference sought to have our agencies engage in a dialogue with experts from a successful community based organization (Harlem Children’s Zone) about best practices and challenges in the area of early childhood education.
To continue the broad participation we have had in this initiative, we gathered teachers, site directors, and administrators from all nine agencies.
We had time and opportunity to dialogue about commonalities and differences in the effort to provide high-quality early childhood education within the context of a local community-based organization.
4. Additional Shared Learning Community meetings
Loyola CURL staff convened “Shared Learning Community” meetings, in which staff from all participating organizations had the opportunity to discuss best practices, lessons learned, and strategies for increasing professional development within their respective organizations.