Programs Strategic Plan

Programs Strategic Plan

Section 1

Personal core values statement and reflection

The selected program to serve as a final project model is Orphanage Support Services (OSS). It is a  program that supports vulnerable kids and orphans in developing nations. My personal core value statement is to be an effective administrator. I believe in effective leadership because leaders can motivate and inspire employees to realize a common objective. For a leader to succeed, they must show a high level of innovation, creativity, and risk-taking. Pranitasari (2020) affirms that influential leaders are good listeners and effective communicators and possess a strong ability to build relationships. Effective leaders value teamwork and understand global and cultural diversity to create an inclusive working environment where every person’s contributions are valued.

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I dream of being a program administrator because I desire to make programs such as OSS more successful in supporting vulnerable kids and orphans. I desire to help create a world where all kids have the chance to succeed because every kid warrants care, protection, and love. Thus, my ultimate aim as an administrator is to ensure every kid can get a quality childhood education to reach their full potential. I have several vital personal characteristics. First, I believe in constant learning and seeking new opportunities to improve my skills. I have good communication skills, a strong ability to build relationships, and a positive attitude, and I believe in transparency, honesty, and diversity. My weakness is that I am too trusting; I need to work on my confidence and setting boundaries with others.

I also need to improve my management and communication skills. Freeman, Decker & Decker (2017) affirm that a leader must be a good time manager because effective time management results in effective leadership, and good communication skills assist the leaders in defining the mission and goals of the team. The resources I can use to cultivate additional characteristics are prayer, taking communication and speech classes, participating in workshops, reading books, and having a mentor to guide me. Prayer is critical for a leader because it is the key to success (Sloof & von Siemens, 2021).

Evaluation of Program Manuals

The table below shows how program manuals are evaluated.

Staff Manual	Phrase from Handbook	Recommendation	Approval
Job Description	A director is an individual who is typically in charge of the total program. Directors of early childhood education programs in public schools are often supervisors or resource personnel (Freeman, Decker & Decker, 2017).		The description vividly clarifies everything.
Rights and Responsibilities	The responsibilities plus rights of an administrator are: 1. I am in charge of public relations, staff relations, and instructive preparations such as fundraising, networking, and marketing (Rodd, 2020). 2.      Managing and superintending the company. 3.       Procedural duties such as budget making and formulation of policies and regulations. 4.      Mentoring, supporting, and building the community	Organize biweekly meetings to see how to acknowledge and address the most issues that might have arisen.
Professional Expectations	The needed skills are but are not limited to the following: 1.      Directors or administrators to have early childhood professional knowledge. 2.      Administrators should possess culturally correct management and community organization skills (Rodd, 2020). 3.      An administrator should possess financial management and human resource skills.	All leaders who wish to be professionals and prudent early childhood directors should ensure they acquire and meet the necessary requirements.	The professional expectations highlighted are appropriate for administrators or directors. .
Suggested Category		Rational	Citation
	Directors should possess previous work experience in early childhood environment or must have served in a previous role as a director or administrator.

Environment Evaluation

The environment evaluation assignment focused on the Tender Heart Foundation child development center, a preschool class of children between the ages of three to five. The specific class selected for the assignment was a preschool classroom. The class is pale salmon pink, with three colorfully decorated bulletin boards, different pictures, one at the door and two by the window, and reading charts. The lighting of the class is appropriate and effective; it has enough natural light both from the outside and from the pink and blue lights in the class. The Tender Heart Foundation preschool class is divided into various sections organized executively. The class is well-spaced to allow kids to move freely from one point to another within the class. It has different centers like freedom, block, drawing, library or reading, painting, writing, and alphabet centers. White flowery tiles and a warm grey carpet cover the class’s floor. The writing center has toddler-sized shelves, seats, and tables where learners can practice their writing skills. The class also has diverse materials like bears, books, painting supplies, a castle, paper, drawing boards, and playing toys to allow the children to engage in various types of activities.

The few improvements recommended for the class are wall handing or pictures to welcome and motivate learners immediately after they enter the class. Most importantly, the teacher should add learners’ images in various centers with the classroom and funny family photographs to the bulletin boards. These types of images will aid in improving education by engaging students and their families within the learning environment. Such pictures could develop students’ confidence during different events, and the family images can help beginners deal with family separation and anxiety at school. Learners could even learn and comprehend the structure of a family. The tutor should also add more reading diagrams in the class for learners to use for individual practice. Lastly, the class should have one dominant theme: character, book, or favorite season. The most crucial decision for a tutor is to choose a central theme for a class by selecting a theme that not only influences one learner or the teacher but also inspires all students to learn (Tjali, 2018).

According to the categories explained in the environment evaluating segment, the classroom design has several strengths. Most importantly, the class has different learning centers or areas where students can engage in diverse activities and discover new things. Besides, the class is spaced sufficiently and possesses toddler-size furniture. This allows the free movement of learners while also encouraging independence among students. The classroom lighting is also remarkable. The class is appropriately lighted with natural daylight from the sun. Freeman, Decker & Decker (2017) say that maximizing natural light is vital as it ensures the class is more homelike and welcoming. The class also has blue and pink classroom bulbs, and the natural light reflects into the class through the windows. Natural light has benefits for learners. It boosts kids’ and adults’ moods and reduces fatigue and eye strain. Natural light also aids in maintaining the circadian beats of the body, and it is an important source of vitamin D. The windows are correctly positioned. The learner can effectively learn about this by just glancing through the windows.

If implemented, the recommendations and the strengths can help improve the classroom environment into a welcoming and motivating space for learners. Suppose these changes are considered, the class will be safe, refreshing, caring, and welcoming to a place where all students can cognitively and physically grow. These negligible changes will assist the educator in communicating their vision, skills, values, and goals to the parents and children. As a result, learners and parents who get into the class anytime will be left with a permanent impression of a modest learning environment. A classroom atmosphere is a critical aspect that influences student knowledge as it can affect a student’s character and tutor’s work ethic and ultimately inspire students to learn.

Supporting developmentally appropriate practices

My personal core value was effective leadership because effective leadership motivates and inspires others to work towards achieving a common goal. An effective leader, as said before, must be a risk-taker, creative and innovative to be successful. However, the value I gained from the orphanage center constantly showed trustworthiness, transparency, integrity, and diligence. The mission was to provide an affectionate, caring, and secure environment for learners regardless of disability or status, predominantly for abandoned, vulnerable, and orphaned kids. The 10 NAEYC Programs Standards (2017) define the Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) as a routine that supports each kid’s optimal growth and education through strengths and play-founded approaches for happily engaged learning.

The chosen orphanage obeys and adheres to the DAP guidelines as it has created a caring society of students by guaranteeing all students are taught the essence of caring for one another. The tutors working in the orphanage meet the DAP rules as they identify the various resources that early childhood learners bring or donate to the institution as exceptional and vital. Most importantly, the center cares much about the learner’s safety. They ensure learners stay, sleep, and learn in a safe setting. Besides, they build on each child’s strengths, care for them like their own, and ensure they are never harmed in any way, whether physically, socially, or cognitively (Freeman, Decker & Decker, 2017).

The teachers have also implemented design-learning settings to assist all learners in realizing their full capabilities in all developmental areas and content zones. The orphanage also backs and identifies each kid as a valuable member of the education center. The center’s practice is culturally and linguistically appropriate for each learner. Finally, the center assesses learners by giving assessments to students to evaluate their learning progress, and they use various assessment criteria to assess them. The requirements include exams or class tests. The one action to implement DAP is knowing the individual kid and their developmental principles. There are three strategies necessary for implementing DAP. First, understand what the child does or says. Secondly, encourage persistence and determination rather than just praising and evaluating what the learners have completed. Lastly, give feedback to students instead of general remarks (Kinner, 2022). The table below shows how different guidelines are communicated within an institution.

Guidelines	Example	How to communicate
Teaching staff have training in pediatric first aid	Request tutors to seek pediatric first aid program training.	Staff meeting or formal letter
Infants are placed on their backs to sleep.	Ask the nurse to refer to a book on the best placement positions for babies.	Departmental  meeting
The program has policies regarding regular hand washing and routinely cleans and sanitizes all surfaces in the facility.	The director of the center to remind every employee or staff plus student during assembly to adhere to proper hygiene rules.	Assembly gathering
There is a clear plan for responding to illness, including deciding whether a child needs to go home and how families will be notified.	Remind the teachers and the nurse concerned to refer to the center’s health guidelines on handling and making decisions in case of learner’s illnesses.	Staff meeting
Snacks and meals are nutritious, and food is prepared and stored safely.	Remind the cooks and teachers to mind the way they store meals and food.	Hold a general staff meeting.

Commitment to Professionalism

As an early childhood education leader, my passion is to commit myself to effective leadership as it aids in fostering a positive, motivating culture in workers and high-quality experiences for learners. Berkovich & Eyal (2020) show that effective governance is a controversial issue as institutional management is currently an education guideline priority globally. The advocacy’s primary focus is to propose why effective governance in an institution can help learners and teachers. The concern I desire to speak about is that poor leadership hinders students from getting the necessary funding and assistance at various institutions. According to Freeman, Decker & Decker (2018), every advocacy determination must be customed to satisfy the desire of the specific audience for information on the recognized subject and the part they could perform to help realize the projected resolutions.

Freeman Decker & Decker (2017) say creating an alliance with individuals or groups to offer help and resources is a good part of advocacy. Therefore, the one group I can contact for help is the California Department of Education. The reason for selecting this group is its mission states, “the California Department of Education sets general rules and guidelines for public school systems across the state, which entails effective leadership and management, teacher pay and qualification, and teaching requirements” (California Department of Education. (n.d). The entity is more conversant with the issue of effective leadership and its effect on the success of instructions and learners. The individual advocacy strategies I will use are writing an article or using magazines for local California newspapers. I will pen factual and persuasive journals that inspire educators and parents to support effective leadership in schools. I will also mobilize community members to support my proposal by educating and engaging them face-to-face concerning the issue.

Collective advocacy is when professionals work together on behalf of a group of individuals (Freeman, Decker & Decker, 2018). Therefore, to support my advocacy, I will use collective advocacy. I will use social media to gain collective advocacy. Platforms such as Facebook will allow me to join teacher groups like the California Association of Teachers, where teachers and people convey vital issues about education. I could also use the Twitter hashtag “effective leadership in our school,” which would help me gain help quickly. The two talking points about this advocacy are that effective leadership is vital to schools, as it will ensure that learning experiences are accommodative and smooth for all learners. In addition, effective leadership promotes teachers’ and learners’ emotional well-being and fosters good behavior among learners. Consequently, learners from all levels in the school will work collaboratively with them to contribute to learners’ success and improved performance.

I will advocate on people’s behalf by narrating my early childhood education story and posting it on Salisbury for Publication. This will help in spreading my advocacy. I will also seek collective help from California State Board of Education officials by communicating my offer for them to counsel accordingly. In addition, I will support the development of coming leaders and experts in the teaching field by attaining community support through parents and families. This will help convey my issues to the public so prospective instructors can see what I am fighting to accomplish. I will also offer resources, especially publications or articles, to families, parents, educators, and people. Such publications will have everything that is needed to be an effective leader. Finally, I will also inspire educators to join the California Association of Teachers. The group will help them find the support needed to become stronger advocators.

As the field changes towards increased proficiency, program managers and front-runners must be active in organizations that back their efforts to continue being informed and engaged experts. Therefore, such determinations will assist the learning sector in shifting far from unskilled workers toward model professionals by setting higher expectations and principles for leaders and educators. This will guarantee quality education as leaders will also set high expectations and standards for workers, who will similarly set high standards for students, ultimately promoting improved performances and general success.

Section 2

As the program director of the Tender Heart education center, the core values might have originated from life experiences, social conditioning, consumption of events, opinions, contents, and familial patterns. Just as Chan et al. (2018) affirm, the beliefs that sustain our core values are always the unquestioned opinions we admit as facts based on our present cognition. Therefore, these sources primarily should be experienced familial patterns and the life experiences of an individual. Therefore, the newly updated core values statements will be “Tender Heart Educational Center aims to meet the mental, spiritual, emotional and physical needs of destitute and orphaned kids. Giving them care, guidance, love and nourishment and the highest level of education through effective leadership so they can grow to be important community members with a memorable past and promising future.”

Section 3

The two goals I will use to support the strategic plan are effective leadership and improved results. Effective leadership means executing the firm’s vision (refining or redefining it sometimes) and setting the values and tone for that precise organization. This objective will support the development of quality for the program by ensuring everything in the company is appropriately planned and executed in line with the set objectives. The benefits of reaching this goal are that it will ensure the well-being of both parents and learners and ensure improved performance of the institution and individual learners. Chan et al. (2018) state that one can measure if a goal is reached by weighing the advantages and the disadvantages. The goals will be measured by weighing the advantages and risks that the goal has imposed on the organization. The goal is achievable by employing qualified and experienced leaders and committed employees who can motivate employees to work towards a common objective. The goal is vital to the program’s excellence and core values statement, for it re-emphasizes the core values declaration that effective leadership will help drive everything about an institution or learning center. Meeting this goal would take about six to 12 months. The persons who should be prepared for the action to meet the goal are the employees. The potential hindrance to realizing this goal is the likelihood that the selected or hired leader is an effective learner. The solution to this is choosing leaders on merit and based on the observable achievements that can be confirmed. The same ideas will be applied for improved results. The only exception will be in measuring whether the goal is achieved. The goals will be measured by supervising the progress of both the employees and the learners.

Section 4

My definition of leadership is that leadership entails risk-taking and challenging the status quo as leaders inspire others to accomplish something better and newer. About my core values, I believe in “effective leadership, which can motivate and inspire others to accomplish a common goal.” Therefore, my core values shape my prospects of personal programs and my thinking for upholding quality by believing that better and more effective leadership is the only medicine that can transform learning institutions, especially orphanages. It is because everything in an organization begins with effective leadership. With poor leadership, everything will also fall. Through effective leadership advocacy, you believe that we can promote quality education by appointing and hiring qualified, competent, and effective leaders who will propel institutions forward. Finally, my overall leadership approach has been shaped by my core values, and leadership does not just entail guiding your followers. It involves all leadership qualities but, most importantly, challenging the status quo and taking risks. My core values shape effective early education by reminding me that the effective leadership I advocate for and desire starts with me. It can effectively be implemented throughout all levels of education if it is first implemented and succeeds in the early childhood education level.

References

Berkovich, I., & Eyal, O. (2020). A model of emotional leadership in schools: Effective leadership to support teachers’ emotional wellness. Routledge.

California Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2022, from https://www.cde.ca.gov/

Chan, K. M., Gould, R. K., & Pascual, U. (2018). Editorial overview: relational values: what are they, and what’s the fuss about? Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 35, A1-A7.

Freeman, N. K., Decker, C. A., & Decker, J. R. (2017). Planning and administering early childhood programs (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Freeman, N. K., Decker, C. A., & Decker, J. R. (2018). Planning and administering early childhood programs (11th ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Kinner, K. (2020). DAP in Action in an Infant-Toddler Setting. YC Young Children, 77(1), 90-93.

NAEYC. (2017, February 01). What can you do to support and advocate for children, families, and educators? Retrieved October 26, 2020, from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/blog/support-and-advocate.

Pranitasari, D. (2020). The influence of effective leadership and organizational trust to teachers’ work motivation and organizational commitment. Media Ekonomi dan Manajemen, 35(1), 75-91.

Rodd, J. (2020). Leadership in Early Childhood: The Pathway to Professionalism. Routledge.

Sloof, R., & von Siemens, F. A. (2021). Effective leadership and the allocation and exercise of power in organizations. The Leadership Quarterly, 32(4), 101277.

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The summative assignment for ECE671 will be comprised of the five weekly assignments of this course as well as the early childhood program you selected in Week 1 to support the development of a program’s strategic plan. You will use the past weekly assignments to create one final report using the guidelines below.

Section 1: In this section, you will include all five of the following weekly assignments. You should review and revise each assignment based on instructor comments (in your returned graded documents) as well as the knowledge and information you have gained and synthesized over the last five weeks. All previous submissions should be combined into one document prior to submission. Here are all the components that must be included in this section:
Personal Core Values Statement and Reflection (Week 1, one double-spaced page, two resources)
Evaluation of Program Manuals (Week 2, one to two double-spaced pages, two resources)
Environment Evaluation (Week 3, one to two double-spaced pages, one resource)
Supporting Developmentally Appropriate Practices (Week 4, two double-spaced pages, two resources)
Part 1 of Commitment to Professionalism (Week 5, two double-spaced pages, two resources)
Section 2: From the text, we know that a center’s core values grow from the personal core values of its program director, who plays a key role in the culture and practices of a program. Imagine that you are in a position of leadership at the organization that you have chosen to work with for this course. Reflect on what you believe the sources of the program’s core values are or what you think those sources should be, and draft a new or updated Core Values Statement for the entire program that you would hypothetically use as a foundation if you were the program director. You may need to refer to Chapter 2 of the text and/or the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct(2011).
Section 3: Using the hypothetical Core Values Statement and referring to your weekly assignments (Evaluation of Program Manuals, Environment Evaluation, Supporting Developmentally Appropriate Practices, and/or Part 1 Commitment to Professionalism Assignment), create two goals that you would be able to use to support a strategic plan. State each goal and then explain the following:
How will this goal support the growth of quality for the program?
What are the benefits of reaching the goal?
How will you measure if you have reached the goal?
How is this goal achievable? Have you got the resources to achieve this goal? If not, how will you acquire them?
Why is this goal significant to the quality of the program and its core values statement?
How long would it (hypothetically) take to meet this goal?
Who are the people you might need to organize for action to meet this goal?
What is one potential obstacle to reaching this goal, and what are two potential solutions to this obstacle?
Section 4: Create a definition of leadership for yourself as the last step of this course. This definition should be able to serve as a basis for your work as a leader. This definition can be simple and may evolve over the course of graduate school and then your career. Referring to your Core Values Statement, define how your core values shape the expectations you have of personnel and programs, your philosophy for promoting quality and effective early education, as well as your overall leadership approach.
The Final Summative Assignment

It must be seven to nine double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing CenterLinks to an external site.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least nine scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible SourcesLinks to an external site. The table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.