MCAEYC BECOMES DCM-MDAEYC

Chapter Meeting Dates:
August 12 - Place to be determined.
For further information, please feel free to contact Lindsey. We hope to see you there!

About the D.C. Metro Chapter of the Maryland Association for the Education of Young Children

The D.C. Metro Chapter of MDAEYC represents more than 500 members in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. Our mission is to promote high quality standards in early childhood education, and improve the professional standing for those who work with young children and their families.

There is an active AEYC student chapter at Prince George’s Community College and Montgomery College, as well as the University of Maryland at College Park. The D.C. Metro Chapter is an active sponsor of Month of the Young Child, the Montgomery County Child Care Celebration, and other events throughout the two counties.

Our public policy committee is the way to learn about issues affecting young children in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, Maryland, and the United States. Sign up for our public policy listserv here.

We are seeking energetic members to help us with a variety of events over the coming year. Our areas of focus include accreditation, public policy, month of the young child, quality, compensation and affordability, and growing our membership to include YOU! Please go to www.naeyc.org to join, email or call Lindsey Allard 301-587-3506 for additional information and to get involved.

Current & Upcoming Events:

 We decided that our goals for the webinar will be to evaluate the connection between play and executive thinking skills and to evaluate the connection between play and impulse control.  Everything that we put together, then, needs to tie to these two points.  So, we are all looking around to find materials related to these goals.  Research articles, an anecdotal story or two, and some video footage of children and teachers demonstrating these connections are all welcome.  If you find anything, please email it to the group.  Also, we are going to be explicit about how state standards are met using play that develops executive thinking skills and impulse control.  Anything that you find that ties together play and standards would be welcome.  Certainly there is plenty out there; we just want to find the most recent and relevant information.
 
We chose our next meeting date as August 12, place yet to be determined.
 
Deanne provided a lovely meal for our meeting and we thank her very much for her gracious hospitality.  It was a wonderful evening and though the turnout was low, I think we all left feeling really good about what we are accomplishing.

On-Going Information and Business: Most of our business will be done by e-mail, by consensus. We now have 881 members, which is almost double our membership of a year ago.  John will continue to represent us on the Montgomery County Early Childhood Congress Steering Committee and the LWV's Network for Children, and he will continue to testify on our behalf (after consultation) to local government authorities in Montgomery County. Flora Gee will do the same in Prince Georges County.

Accreditation Facilitation Project:

Over the past two years, MCAEYC has piloted an accreditation facilitation project for centers undergoing re-accreditation by NAEYC under the new system. We recruited 13 program directors and held monthly workshops on each of the 10 NAEYC Standard Areas lead by experts in the field, both from the MCAEYC Board and the community. Programs selected also received on-site technical assistance from consultants paid by MCAEYC and participated in a Portfolio Night. (Please click here to download and view the Portfolio Night PowerPoint presentation.)

As a result of the project, a number of programs have been re-accredited by NAEYC and Directors have volunteered to support others interested in accreditation support.

Programs in Montgomery and Prince Georges County interested in learning more about the accreditation process, getting a first-hand look at an accredited program or viewing sample portfolios can now be matched with peers from the accreditation facilitation project. For more information, email or call Leslie Slan at 301-774-2090.