Published by CounciLINK on February 28, 2019
Alabama’s successful approach to early childhood education is drawing rave reviews from the Council for Professional Recognition.
Council staffers and its Board of Directors spent several days in Birmingham for their annual meeting (Feb. 12-15) at the Tutwiler Hampton Inn. Valora Washington, the Council’s CEO, said she and the Board chose to hold their meeting in Alabama because of the state’s commitment to funding and innovative teaching for its youngest citizens.
Case in point: According to a 2017 State of Preschool Report from Rutgers University and the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), First Class Pre-K – Alabama’s voluntary pre-kindergarten program – is available in all 67 counties. And, as of the 2017 school year, the program serves more than 14,000 4-year-olds. That’s up from 750 children in 2000, the program’s first year.
“Alabama, in general, and Birmingham really have a big early childhood agenda so we want to congratulate them,” Washington said. “We’re really here so we can see it on the ground.”
Part of the kinship with Alabama is tied to the popularity there of the Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential™, which, of course, is administered by the Council. Currently, Alabama has nearly 6,000 ECE workers who hold CDAs.
Washington said that more innovative means of teaching, equitable wages for early childhood educators and deep public investment in the field of ECE will be needed to satisfy the diverse educational needs of Generation Alpha – the group of children who are now babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
She lauded Alabama’s efforts on the state level, while pointing out that it also had gotten two competitive federal Preschool Development Grants: $17.5 million in 2014 and $10.6 million in 2018.
“We’re encouraged to see that Alabama is really investing in the workforce and helping the staffs to get the credentials and the professional recognition they need to support young children,” she said.
Council Board member and Alabama native Calvin Moore, previously the state’s Child Care administrator, said that public-private partnerships have helped pave the way for the state’s success with ECE.
“None of this could even happen without leadership buy-in,” Moore said. “We have political leaders, state leaders in corporations and nonprofit entities all working on the same page. It’s taken a while … but I think in the last decade we’ve made some really good strides in supporting early education because there is an actual return on investment.”
Moore added: “The numbers of people who have their CDA and are working on their CDA in the state and receiving state support for getting their CDA, that’s a vibrant number to look at.”
While in Alabama, the Council and its Board met with state ECE Secretary Jeana Ross and others, such as Joy Winchester, director of the Office of Early Childhood Development and Professional Support. They also visited faculty, students and former students a Jefferson State Community College.
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Chief Operations Officer
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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