Published by CounciLINK on March 28, 2019
Alissa King knows “we need more passionate young people to commit to early childhood education as a career choice.”
She’s met many young people like this in the six years she’s spent teaching at Washington High School and Ivy Tech Community College, both in South Bend, IN. She strives to give them the hands-on experience they need to make informed decisions about their career goals and to see if early childhood education meets their long-term expectations.
King has inspired many of them with stories of the varied experiences she’s had as a Professional Development Specialist™ (PDS) evaluating candidates for the Child Development Associate (CDA®) credential. She’s also seen how fired up her students get when they put their classroom lessons to work while doing internships at local child care settings.
But she does have one complaint. In her program at Washington High, only college-credit eligible students are eligible to earn a CDA.
“Many of my best high school students,” she said, “are not eligible for college credit but deserve a chance to earn their CDAs.”
In fact, as she pointed out, “most of the high school students who remain employed in early childhood didn’t qualify for college credit while participating in my program.”
This misguided effort to professionalize the field makes it hard for many budding educators to earn a useful credential. So King does all she can to connect these promising young people with open positions in early childhood settings. And she’s trying hard to get Washington High to let all students pursue a CDA, whether they’re college-bound or not.
“My goal,” she said, “is to offer the CDA to all students who are committed, responsible and show they have the appropriate level of knowledge of what it means to be a quality educator of young children.”
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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.
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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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