The College of Education will join with city and countyorganizations next month in an effort to help local child carecenters earn national accreditation, educate day care operators infurther child development and help some of them earn master'sdegrees.
The kick-off orientation meeting for Ready, Set, Grow!, aquality childcare initiative designed to increase the number ofnationally accredited day care centers in Shelby County, will beheld at The University of Memphis May 26, said Deb Moberly, U of Mprofessor of education.
Ready, Set, Grow!, a two-year pilot program focusing onchildren's development and proper care outside the home, will bemanaged and developed by The U of M College of Education. Theprogram is a partnership between Memphis Tomorrow, Shelby CountyMayor AC Wharton and the Community Institute for Early Childhood,said Blair Taylor, executive director of Memphis Tomorrow.
"About 70 percent of children from 0 to 5 (years old) are in thecare of someone other than their parent 30 or more hours a week,"Taylor said. "It's a good place to focus."
Through Ready, Set, Grow!, 40 Shelby County Head Start and daycare centers will receive accreditation through the NationalAssociation for the Education of Young Children, the country'slargest day care accreditation board. The program will also provideassistance with education, on-site mentoring, community awareness,expansion and retention, said Memphis Tomorrow officials.
Through The U of M, center directors will be awarded a master'sdegree or credits toward an advanced degree, which must be pursuedbetween June 2004 and June 2006. Tuition will be paid for by theFirst Tennessee Scholarship for Excellence in Childcare Leadership,said Memphis Tomorrow officials.
The U of M program instructor coordinators will assist centerdirectors with on-site mentoring and a self-study program, which,when combined with increased education, will increase the qualityof the center's care and standards, Moberly said.
"The self-study process looks at the way the center operateswith regard to the NAEYC standards and center accreditation,"Moberly said, adding that accreditation makes the public aware thatquality centers are available in Shelby County.
Because of NAEYC requirements, accredited centers candemonstrate to parents that outside approval has been met, Taylorsaid.
"In centers that don't have any kind of outside objective stamp,how are parents going to know and really have confidence (thecenter has) met the standards?" she asked. "If children enterkindergarten not ready to learn, they fall behind for the rest oftheir lives."
Center accreditation is the program's first step, but retentionand expansion are the long-range goals, officials said. The plansare to continue the accreditation process for all centers in ShelbyCounty through public and private sources after the pilot programis complete, Memphis Tomorrow officials said.
"There is evidence in early care that when you incorporatecertain standards within that care, it directly correlates withquality outcomes for children," Taylor said.
