EC Team Members Present at ECEPTS National Conference
Introduction
Earlier this month, two members of our team—Karen Yarbrough (Director of Policy and Strategy for Early Childhood Education) and Emily Demsetz (Early Childhood Research Specialist)—co-presented with our program’s external evaluator, Carol Fendt (Director - PRAIRIE Group) and one of our Smart Start IL Early Childhood Apprenticeship mentors, Angela Anderson (Mentor Coach - SAL Community Services), at the ECEPTS National Conference in San Diego, CA.
Our session, Evaluation as a Tool for Co-Design and Improving Job Quality, focused on ways that the Illinois Early Childhood Apprenticeship Program uses evaluation to design program that responds to the needs of the incumbent ECE workforce, and to improve job quality in the ECE field more broadly. We highlighted ways in which we are aligning our data collection instruments to the goals and outcomes outlined in our logic model, and introduced an upcoming project that will focus on supporting early childhood centers as they create high-quality workplace environments that enable ongoing professional learning and development, using the Model Work Standards as a foundation.
We look forward to continuing to socialize our evaluation efforts and apprenticeship outcomes with other programs, advocates, and early childhood-focused organizations nationwide. You can check out our presentation materials here: