Promote and provide support, education, and resources to Nevada's child care community thereby increasing the development of high-quality child care environments for providers, families, and children.

GOALS

• Improve and maintain the quality and quantity of early care and education programs and services.
• Increase the skills, education levels, and professionalism of field.
• Increase the compensation, wages, benefits, and working conditions for early childhood professionals through public awareness, policy, and funding efforts.
• Increase parents/guardians knowledge and ability to understand the importance of early care and education, to be involved in their child's learning, and to make informed child care choices.
• Improve the quality of early care and education programs and services, by providing quality intervention services for identified children with special needs.

The State Office of Early Care and Education was established under the State Child Care Administrator's Office to oversee and coordinate the quality improvement funds received through the Federal Child Care Development Funds (CCDF).

It is an umbrella agency for programs funded through the CCDF. Programs funded through this office include: Accreditation Support, Southern Nevada's Child Care Training Program, Child Care Registry, The Apprenticeship Program, Pre-K Standards Development, Child Care Scholarships and Infant/Toddler Quality Improvement Grants.

~COMING SOON~

NevAEYC Conference Scholarships!

A limited number of scholarships will once again be available for the annual NevAEYC Conference to be held in Las Vegas in April 2010.  Scholarships include conference registration and a travel per diem for those in Northern or Rural Nevada.  Scholarships are made possible due to generous contributions from the: Office of Early Care and Education; Children’s Cabinet; UNLV Child Care and Development Program; and Southern Nevada AEYC. Scholarship applications will be available in January 2010.  Applications will be mailed statewide to licensed centers, home providers and NAEYC members.  They will also be available to download here as well as the following websites: 

• Nevada AEYC  ~   http://nevaeyc.org/ 

• The Nevada Registry  ~  http://www.nevadaregistry.org/

Winners will be randomly selected in February.  You must be a current Nevada Registry participant at time of application to be eligible to win.  If you are not currently on The Nevada Registry, visit their website at http://www.nevadaregistry.org/

• The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
• The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC)
• The National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA)
• The National Accreditation Commission (NAC)
• The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI)
• The National After-School Association (NAA)

Tiered Reimbursement
Currently there are 38 accredited child care centers at Tier 4 receiving a 15% increase in subsidy dollars. The implementation of Tier 2 and Tier 3 is in development.

Nevada's Pre-K Standards
Nevada has approved and published a list of descriptions of what most children should know and be able to do before they enter kindergarten. The standards are focused on the following six areas:

These standards have been carefully designed considering the typical development of preschool children ages 3-5. All children develop at their own pace and not meeting these standards does not mean a child will be unsuccessful or ineligible for kindergarten. The standards are simply a tool teachers can use to strengthen their already quality and developmentally appropriate preschool environments. To download the complete Nevada Pre-k Content Standards, please visit the Nevada Department of Education website: http://www.doe.nv.gov/Standards_Pre-Kinder.html

Four sections of the professional development training and corresponding materials have been completed. Teacher and Parent Guidebooks on Language & Literacy, Math, Social Studies, and Music & Movement that describe the standards and offer suggestions for helping prepare preschoolers for kindergarten are now available. A training institute has also been developed to train qualified trainers in Nevada to coordinate their own trainings for teachers and others in the field of Early Childhood Development. These trainings will help empower teachers to further understand and use the standards within preschool environments.

The Nevada Registry
The Nevada Registry is a statewide system of career development and recognition that aims to validate the professional achievement of those working in the field of Early Care and Education. The Registry is a data collection/tracking system designed to track and detail a person's individual training, college credits and/or formal degrees. By connecting early childhood professionals in Nevada to the career ladder, the Registry supports the professional development of all early childhood professionals.

The Nevada Registry is also a training approval system. The approval system is designed to increase and promote high quality training opportunities throughout the state as well as increase the level of consistency within the approval process. As of October 1, 2004, all trainers must submit requests for child care training hours to the Registry regardless of which licensing jurisdiction would have previously been responsible. Trainers will soon be able to submit requests using an easy on-line registration and approval process and child care providers are also able to locate approved training on a statewide basis through The Nevada Registry website as well.

For more information or to download an application:
http://www.nevada-registry.org/

Nevada’s Core Knowledge Areas and Core Competencies for Early Childhood Professionals
Nevada’s ECE Core Knowledge Areas (CKA) are a set of content areas that define what caregivers should know and understand in order to provide quality experiences for children. In July 2006, the CKAs were revised to be more closely aligned with national standards and are reflected in this document, which includes the newly developed Core Competencies. Core Competencies are a set of observable skills that reflect a caregiver’s knowledge and understanding of the Core Knowledge Areas. Core Competencies help to standardize the expectations for ECE professionals and are based on nationally accepted standards and best practice in the field of ECE. Nevada’s competencies were developed by a statewide team of ECE professionals and are part of the larger Nevada ECE Professional Development System.

Download Nevada's Core Knowledge Areas and Core Competencies in pdf format.

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood ^® NEVADA
T.E.A.C.H. is an acronym for Teacher Education And Compensation Helps. The program is designed to address a lack of early childhood education, poor compensation, high turnover, and the need for increased professional recognition for child care providers in Nevada. T.E.A.C.H. provides scholarships to any Family Child Care Provider, Center Teacher, or Center Director working in a licensed facility.

This scholarship is a partnership, sharing the responsibility of Education, Compensation, and Commitment of increased professional development for Nevada's child care workforce. The scholarship provides 80% of tuition, 80% of Books, $50 per semester for travel, and $250-400 bonus in conjunction with a 2% wage increase. Recipients of the scholarship commit to working with the sponsoring center for an additional year, following completion of the scholarship. Scholarship covers three semesters and is renewable each year. 

In the summer of 2005, T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood NEVADA began its pilot run of the scholarship program. Nevada's program began by offering associate level scholarships for those working towards a Teacher's Certificate, Director's Certificate or Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education.

Currently, scholarships are available through all Nevada community colleges, colleges, and universities.

• Child Development Specialist Certificate (Department of Labor Apprenticeship Program)
• Early Childhood AA
• Early Childhood AAS Director Emphasis
• Early Childhood AAS Preschool Emphasis
• Early Childhood AAS Infant Toddler Emphasis
• Early Childhood Education BS

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood ^® NEVADA is funded by the Office of Early Care & Education. The project is administered by the Nevada Association for the Education of Young Children (NevAEYC). If you are interested in learning more about T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood ^® NEVADA or in applying for the scholarship, please contact the T.E.A.C.H. NV office or visit the NevAEYC website at http://www.nevaeyc.org.

Contact Information