Leadership Component: (for Directors, Family Workers and Administrators)

Leadership Development and Capacity Building
The Leadership Development component provides childcare directors, family workers, supervisors, program specialists, and executive directors training on developing leaders and building capacity within their centers. Through hands-on simulations, case studies and assessments, participants learn about themselves as educators, and gain insight into their leadership styles. Training seminars include:

Understanding the Urban Learner
Coping with Change
Managerial and Strategic Leadership
Instructional Leadership
Human Resources
External Development
Micro-Political Leadership.
Instructional and Curriculum training

Teachers Component: Literacy Instruction and Training
The teacher component of the literacy initiative provides teachers and instructional staff with intense literacy instruction, and proven strategies that infuse literacy throughout the classroom environment. The training ensures that all staff working directly with children are fully engaged in effective exemplary literacy instruction. Specifically, the program is designed to allow instructional staff to:

Develop competency in teaching literacy and leading in the urban school environment.

Understand the urban learner, their own strengths and developmental needs.

Develop a plan to use a variety of methods of communication with parents.

Understand center management and create literacy lessons for use in learning centers.

Understand how to integrate classroom book collections and home lending libraries throughout all the pre-school classrooms. The home lending libraries help bridge the home-school connection and actively engage parents and families in the reading process.

Work with literacy coaches to refine early literacy instruction.

During the training program the teachers participate in the Profilor 360 assessment and develop professional improvement plans that allow them to receive feedback from supervisors, peers and parents. Teachers gain critical information about themselves and are able to reflect on their own professional growth.


Parent's Component
The Early Childhood Literacy Initiative includes an intense Parental Component to develop the parenting skills necessary to promote school success and literacy awareness. The program is specifically designed to:

Increase parental engagement within the Camden City
Abbott Early Childhood Program
Educate parents about effective literacy practices
Increase parental civic activity.
Empower parents to become advocates for their children's education.

The program consists of six training sessions on literacy and skill development for parents of young children:

Reading and Writing Stages
Values and Needs
Literacy Learning at Home
Portfolios for Parents
Communication
Advocacy
Parents as Leaders within the Community

In addition to the hands-on workshops and take home learning activities, parents are also given high quality children's books in English and Spanish provided through Children's Literacy Initiative to read aloud to their child.