DECAL Download

From Dalton to Valdosta, and even Truist Park with the Atlanta Braves, we have been celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of Quality Rated.  This week we take a look back at all the festivities with Dr. Bentley Ponder, Deputy Commissioner for Quality Innovations and Partnerships.  

The year is winding down, the holidays will be here soon, and it seemed like a good time for us to sit down and Chat with the Commissioner.  This is an episode where we take questions from our DECAL team and the general public through our social media and discuss a wide variety of topics with Commissioner Jacobs.  

This year, Quality Rated is celebrating its tenth anniversary…a Decade of Stars…by naming 126 child care providers to the exclusive Quality Rated Class of 2012 in recognition of their unique status as early adopters that have consistently delivered high-quality, star-rated care and education to Georgia’s youngest learners. We’re also recognizing leaders who have been influential in making Quality Rated a success across Georgia. On this episode we take our listeners to the event held November 18 at Georgia Piedmont Technical College where former Governor Nathan Deal was honored.

While many private-sector jobs have fully rebounded from problems presented by COVID-19, this has not been the case for the early childhood workforce in America which has actually shrunk by close to ten-percent from what it was in February, 2020.  To better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the early childhood workforce, our partners at GEEARS…Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students…have been conducting focus groups all this year with child care learning centers, family child care learning homes, Head Start programs, and Georgia’s Pre-K Program.  Joining us to talk about supporting the early childhood workforce is Callan Wells, Senior Health Policy Manager at GEEARS; Donnis Pace is President of the Georgia Head Start Association and Director of Tallatoona Community Action Partnership….operating a Head Start and Georgia’s Pre-K Program in Cartersville and surrounding areas, and Allison Setterlind is Georgia’s Head Start Collaboration Director here at DECAL.

Full report available here:   https://geears.org/research/publications/ 

The Head Start Heals Campaign helps programs apply a trauma-informed approach that builds the protective factors necessary for resiliency and healing. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/mental-health/article/head-start-heals-campaign

The Georgia Head Start Association (GHSA) is a statewide non-profit organization with the mission to provide education, leadership and advocacy to support the agencies providing Head Start services, and the communities they serve. https://georgiaheadstart.org/ 

Two of our websites used for lesson planning are coming together for a new website starting in January.  The PEACH (Planning Educational Activities for Children) site is being combined with the GELDS (Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards) site. Joining us to talk about the new GELDS site is Barb McWethy, Workforce Supports Manager here at DECAL, and Shenae Holms, Workforce Development Specialist. 

It all started with 750 four year olds in 1992 under then Governor Zell Miller.  Now, 30 years later, it serves over 70,000 students across the state under Governor Brian Kemp.  It’s Georgia’s Pre-K Program, celebrating a milestone birthday this year and laying a solid foundation for academic excellence and future success in the lives of nearly 2-million children.  Joining us to talk about Georgia’s Pre-K Program and the 30th birthday is Marla Reisman, Pre-K project director at North Fulton Child Development Center in Roswell, and Stephanie Thompson, Pre-K project director with the Glynn County Schools, part of their Family and Children’s Education Services (FACES).

Last month, DECAL named our Georgia’s Pre-K Teachers of the Year for the 2022-2023 school year just in time for the annual Georgia’s Pre-K Week October 3-7. The public school winner is Shannon Gibson from Baldwin Elementary School in Baldwin, and the private child care center winner is Alaina Jones from Akers Academy in Cumming.  Joining us this week to talk about their experience of being selected Georgia’s Pre-K Teachers of the Year are Shannon and Alaina, along with Meghan McNail, our Summer Transition Program and Outreach Manager, who oversees the Teacher of the Year recognition each year.

October is Farm to School and Farm to Early Care and Education Month…an innovative way to build children’s relationship with food and the local food system through hands-on food education and gardening experiences, interactive and adventurous taste testing, and inclusion of local items into CACFP meals and snacks.  Joining us to talk about Farm to School and Farm to Early Care and Education Month is Diana Myers, Nutrition and Physical Activity Supervisor here at DECAL, and Akia Lewis with Georgia Family Connection Partnership and Get Georgia Reading.  

Today we are on location at Scott Elementary School, one of the Atlanta Public Schools, as we celebrate Georgia’s Pre-K Week, with a very special guest who just happened to write the new book we are giving to all Georgia Pre-K students and their classrooms called “Hey Georgia.”  We’re talking about former New England Patriots and University of Georgia football wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell. 

It’s a year of major milestones here at the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning…Quality Rated celebrates a Decade of Stars now marking ten years as Georgia’s Quality Rating and Improvement System…and this school year Georgia’s Pre-K Program celebrates 30 years of high quality early childhood education for the state’s four and five year olds.  But sandwiched in between all that is the 18th birthday of our agency as a whole.  Prior to 2004, the idea of a state department strictly for children under the age of five was unheard of…and yet it happened officially on October 1, 2004 with Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.  Joining us to talk about DECAL’s 18th birthday is Ben Scafidi, a former education policy advisor to Governor Sonny Perdue. Today Ben is a professor of economics and director of the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University.  

This year DECAL and Voices for Georgia’s Children are celebrating the 12th Annual Georgia’s Pre-K Week, October 3-7…our thirtieth year offering Pre-K to students and families here in Georgia. Joining us to talk about Georgia Pre-K Week is State Representative Sharon Cooper, representing District 43 and the East Cobb County area, a frequent guest reader in Georgia’s Pre-K Program classrooms through the years; Polly McKinney, with Voices for Georgia’s Children and Susan Adams, Deputy Commissioner for Georgia’s Pre-K Program and Instructional Supports.  

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia received over $2-billion in federal money to help stabilize the child care industry, increase access to high quality child care for all families of young children, and support the state’s early childhood education workforce.  The money comes from the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and from the American Rescue Plan Act.  Now we are announcing how we will spend the remaining $400-million in a list of projects supporting child care providers, the ECE workforce, families, and other groups. In this episode, Deputy Commissioner of Georgia's Pre-K Program and Instructional Supports Susan Adams discusses projects supporting the ECE workforce. 

Our very first DECAL Download podcast was September 24, 2018, and we began with a simple Chat with Commissioner Jacobs.  Over the past four years, these episodes have proven to be among our most popular so we always try to take some time for your questions gathered from our DECAL team and on our social media channels.  In this episode, Commissioner Jacobs discusses everything from the $2.1 billion DECAL received in COVID relief funding to the tenth anniversary of Quality Rated in Georgia, and how she celebrated by throwing the ceremonial first pitch for the Braves on September 4, 2022. 

For the second year in a row, DECAL and the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning are seeking applications for the 2022-2023 Georgia’s Early Childhood Educators of the Year Program, recognizing  the teachers of our very youngest learners…infants, toddlers, and preschool. Joining us to talk about our Early Childhood Educators of the Year is Laura Wagner, Interim Executive Director for the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning; Thea Stevens, DECAL’s Infant Toddler Manager; and Rebecca Ellis, Director of Practice and Support Services.  

Over the past few months, we’ve been taking a tour of DECAL’s six regions by talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region. Joining us to talk about the North East Region are Clayton Adams, Lead Community Partnership Coordinator for the North East; Dr. Victoria Long-Coleman, an Early Care and Education Specialist from Quality Care for Children; Elainne Aguilara, a Family Child Care Learning Home provider; Amy Kay, Director of the Child Development Lab at the McPhaul Center; and Janna Rookis, Peer Support Network Ambassador in Gwinnett County. 

You have probably heard something about Quality Rated, Georgia’s child care rating and improvement system. But did you know that this year marks the 10th anniversary of Quality Rated here in Georgia…and were you aware that we are kicking off the celebration with the National Champion Atlanta Braves?  Joining us to talk about Quality Rated and the Decade of Stars Celebration is Sonja Steptoe, Communications and Outreach Manager for Quality Innovations and Partnerships; Denise Jenson is Quality Rated Director of Operations; and Dr. Bentley Ponder is Deputy Commissioner for Quality Innovations and Partnerships here at DECAL.  

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia received over $2-billion in federal money to help stabilize the child care industry, increase access to high quality child care for all families of young children, and support the state’s early childhood education workforce.  The money comes from the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and from the American Rescue Plan Act.  We are now announcing how we will spend the remaining $400-million in a list of projects supporting child care providers, the ECE workforce, families, and other groups. Joining us to discuss our plans for supporting child care providers is Pam Stevens, Deputy Commissioner of Child Care Services, and Dr. Bentley Ponder, Deputy Commissioner of Quality Innovations and Partnerships.  

Last month, Commissioner Amy M. Jacobs announced a new Interim Executive Director for the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning to replace outgoing director Carrie Ashbee who recently moved with her husband and daughter to Mobile, Alabama. Laura Wagner is no stranger to DECAL.  She comes to the new role from Quality Initiatives and Partnerships where she served Quality Rated and Partnerships Director. On this episode, we get to know Laura better.

This week we return to our tour of DECAL’s six regions talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region. Today, we’re talking about the Central West Region that includes Cobb and Paulding Counties to the North with Clayton and Fayette County furthest East. Furthest West we have Carroll, Heard, Troup, and Harris reaching the Alabama border. Joining us to talk about the Central West Region are Bridgette Washington-Collier, Early Education Community Partnership Coordinator; Taylor Reid, a Team Lead for Central West Early Childhood Education Specialists, Quality Care for Children; Camilla Mason, a Family Child Care Learning Home provider; Noni Walton, the Executive Director of Oak Leaf School; and Dr. Kiki Singletary- Williams, a Peer Support Network Ambassador in Clayton County and also a Family Child Care provider.  

There’s no doubt about it…we are all living in a digital world and, since the start of the pandemic, more and more of what we do is virtual and online. With so much emphasis on smartphones and computers, cyber criminals are also at work trying to take advantage of businesses and individuals alike. Joining us to talk about cybersecurity is Dennis Brice, Chief Information Officer here at DECAL, and Radha Datla, Chief Information Security Officer and Chief Technology Officer for DECAL.