Choosing Partners
Determining Potential
The mentoring team worked together throughout the process of determining the partners for the pilot year. They spent several weeks visiting the sites, being introduced to classroom staff, and observing. A decision had been made to use the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) to observe and score each classroom. This would be the basis for a good part of the decision on which sites would become the pilot partners, and it also served as a tool for creating a center enhancement plan. The mentoring team had, at this point, been in the centers quite a bit. The staff was beginning to feel a little more comfortable with them. In order to further put them at ease, project director, CCP specialist and the Let’s Talk training & mentoring coordinator met as a group with the directors and staff members from each center whose classrooms they would be observing with the ECERS. Each teaching team received a copy of the ECERS. Sample pages were used with the ECERS training video so that everyone could become acquainted with the scoring and ask any questions they had. The TECPI staff felt that this was another important step to establishing a relationship with the center staff built on clear communication and trust.
A score sheet was established that used the 49 possible ECERS points as well as 15 points for the “Mentor’s Assessment of Readiness to Partner.” This piece was an effort to get at director and staff openness to new ideas, and attitudes about partnering with parents and training. Although somewhat subjective, it was important to get a view of not only where the center was at the time of the assessment, but also to get a feel for how open the staff would be to consultation and mentoring. A center, because of budget constraints, might not always have all of the furniture and equipment the ECERS looked for, but be ready for new opportunities.
Other factors were added that did not have points attached but could be a factor in the final decisions if scores were close. These factors included licensing records, ability to offer service to siblings, involvement in local early childhood professional activities and previous Let’s Talk training.
Choosing the Partners
Based on the results using the scoring system established, the mentoring team recommended that four centers be chosen for the TECPI Pilot. After reviewing all of the scoring, the Steering Committee accepted the recommendations. A visit was made to each center that had taken part in the process to review all of the centers scores, thank the director and her staff for taking part and offering some consultation to those centers who would not be in year one of the pilot to use the ECERS to continue to improve the centers operations. The centers were encouraged to be a part of the local early childhood director’s network and to follow up with 4C for additional training. In this way their scores could increase and they might be able to become partners the following year.
All centers also received a formal letter (sample) that either welcomed them into the partnership or verified that they weren’t able to be chosen for the pilot (sample).
PDF Documents for you to use:
The mentoring team worked together throughout the process of determining the partners for the pilot year. They spent several weeks visiting the sites, being introduced to classroom staff, and observing. A decision had been made to use the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) to observe and score each classroom. This would be the basis for a good part of the decision on which sites would become the pilot partners, and it also served as a tool for creating a center enhancement plan. The mentoring team had, at this point, been in the centers quite a bit. The staff was beginning to feel a little more comfortable with them. In order to further put them at ease, project director, CCP specialist and the Let’s Talk training & mentoring coordinator met as a group with the directors and staff members from each center whose classrooms they would be observing with the ECERS. Each teaching team received a copy of the ECERS. Sample pages were used with the ECERS training video so that everyone could become acquainted with the scoring and ask any questions they had. The TECPI staff felt that this was another important step to establishing a relationship with the center staff built on clear communication and trust.
A score sheet was established that used the 49 possible ECERS points as well as 15 points for the “Mentor’s Assessment of Readiness to Partner.” This piece was an effort to get at director and staff openness to new ideas, and attitudes about partnering with parents and training. Although somewhat subjective, it was important to get a view of not only where the center was at the time of the assessment, but also to get a feel for how open the staff would be to consultation and mentoring. A center, because of budget constraints, might not always have all of the furniture and equipment the ECERS looked for, but be ready for new opportunities.
Other factors were added that did not have points attached but could be a factor in the final decisions if scores were close. These factors included licensing records, ability to offer service to siblings, involvement in local early childhood professional activities and previous Let’s Talk training.
Choosing the Partners
Based on the results using the scoring system established, the mentoring team recommended that four centers be chosen for the TECPI Pilot. After reviewing all of the scoring, the Steering Committee accepted the recommendations. A visit was made to each center that had taken part in the process to review all of the centers scores, thank the director and her staff for taking part and offering some consultation to those centers who would not be in year one of the pilot to use the ECERS to continue to improve the centers operations. The centers were encouraged to be a part of the local early childhood director’s network and to follow up with 4C for additional training. In this way their scores could increase and they might be able to become partners the following year.
All centers also received a formal letter (sample) that either welcomed them into the partnership or verified that they weren’t able to be chosen for the pilot (sample).
PDF Documents for you to use:
