2018 ECEP News

ECEP has exciting news and also somewhat sad news.

Our exciting news is ECEP will soon be welcoming another new baby! Michelle (Crain) Weise is on maternity leave as she and her husband have welcomed a new baby girl, Evelynn Grace. Mom and baby are doing great! We are all excited to see our ECEP family growing.

We are also excited that Dr. Sara Miller is now focusing full time on the new coaching project, Creating a Culture of Coaching in Early Child Care. This is an 18-month long research project to explore how coaching affects the culture in child care centers. Dr. Miller will no longer be acting as a training advisor. Jenny Dura and Jennifer Bowman will be the contact for trainers teaching The Growing Brain, Pre-K Social-Emotional Learning, and Young Athletes Curriculum.

The sad news is Cindy Hendricks has retired and is no longer with us. Her expertise in training and knowledge of the child care industry will be missed. We wish her well in all her future endeavors!

Look for updates in the ECEP News for new training advisors being added to the staff.

(07/19/2018)

The University of Arkansas Early Care and Education Projects is excited to announce some internal restructuring! The leadership and training advisors of UA ECEP have considered the needs of potential trainers, current trainers, and the early care and education professionals which we serve. After discovering and distinguishing personal and professional strengths, UA ECEP is pleased to announce the following newly assigned tasks and responsibilities as they relate to the UA ECEP Training Advisors.

Cindy Hendricks will now focus on UA ECEP's community outreach by actively training the courses in much needed areas of Arkansas and will assist college instructors with embedding UA ECEP courses.

Jennifer Bowman, Jenny Dura, and Dr. Sara Miller will continue to oversee ECEP courses, provide Train-the-Trainers, communicate with potential and current trainers regarding individual courses, and provide assistance as needed to both trainers and practitioners. They will oversee all aspects of the following courses:

Jennifer Bowman	Jenny Dura	Dr. Sara Miller
Child Care Orientation Training (CCOT)	Critical Competencies of Infant Toddler Educators – Area 1, 2, and 3 (CCIT)	The Growing Brain from Birth to Five Years (TGB)
Child Development: Birth to Three (B3)	Infant Toddler Making the Most of Classroom Interactions (ITMMCI)	Pre-K Social Emotional Learning (PKSEL)
Child Development: Three to Five (35)	Infant Toddler Standards: Arkansas CDELS (ITS)	Young Athletes Curriculum (YAC)
Child Development: Five to Eight (58)	Observation and Assessment (OA)	COACH (In Process)
Cradling Literacy (CL)	Pre-K Early Literacy Learning in Arkansas (PKELLA)
Creative Activities (CA)	Pre-K Making the Most of Classroom Interactions (PMMCI)
Guidance and Behavior Management (GBM)	Pre-K Math and Science (PKMS)
Health, Safety, and Nutrition (HSN)	Pre-K Standards: Arkansas CDELS (PKS)
Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect – Units 1, 2, and 3 (PCAN)	Strengthening Families (SF)

Dr. Sara Miller is also in the process of developing an exciting coaching project. The overall goal of this project is to create a coaching culture in early childhood. After coaches are identified and receive training, a pilot is scheduled for the early childhood profession.

All UA ECEP Training Advisors contact information remains unchanged and is available here.

The Department of Human Services, Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education will conduct a public hearings on the proposed Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) State Plan for FY 2019-2021 on June 1, 2018 10 am - 12 pm. The hearings will be held at the following address:

DHS-Donaghey Plaza South
700 Main Street
Little Rock, AR 72203
Conference Room A/B

The draft State Plan is available here. Comments and questions about the Plan will be accepted until June 15, 2018 and can be submitted electronically at Ivory.Daniels@dhs.arkansas.gov. If you have any questions about the public hearings, please feel free to call 501-682-8947.

Robin Jones has announced that she is leaving ECEP. She will be working full-time with her husband, artist Jason Jones.  Robin came to ECEP in 2012 and quickly proved herself invaluable to the project. She has been a great training advisor, assistant to the director and friend. While we will miss her, her keen wit and steady influence, we sincerely wish her the best in her future endeavors.