Each month, we highlight a member of the Early Learning Advisory Council (ELAC), which has members from around the state and meets quarterly. ELAC provides input and recommendations to DEL so our strategies and actions are well-informed and broadly supported by parents, child care providers, health/safety experts and interested members of the public.

This month, we spotlight ELAC member State Rep. Roger Goodman, Kirkland.

1. What was your first job? When I was 11, I got my first job with the Cape Cod Standard Times, delivering the daily newspaper to homes in and around Hyannis, where my family lived in the summertime. I outfitted my bicycle with special baskets to carry the 50 or more papers on the route. I remember how difficult it was to wake up before dawn on Sundays and how heavy the Sunday papers were. I deposited in a bank all the money I earned over three summers as a paperboy, and almost 10 years later I withdrew the entire amount, including the accumulated interest, which was enough for me to buy a round-the-world airplane ticket.
2. What drew you to early learning? I never went to preschool, although my mom would bring me once a week to the Jewish Community Center for structured play time with other kids my age. I never liked that very much–it was more fun for me just to stay home and play with my Hot Wheels and GI Joe dolls … 
   
   When I arrived in the state Legislature, my 3-year-old daughter was just beginning an outstanding French-immersion preschool and my newborn son was keeping us busy (and sleepless!) at home. The Speaker of the House assigned me to the Early Learning Committee, believing it was a good fit for me as a parent of young kids and also my representing a suburban district with a great many parents and families in my situation. The Speaker’s judgment was right–I quickly embraced the early learning field and the fascinating research underlying early learning policy. In the last six years, I’ve sought to be a champion of early learning programs, especially expanding access to high-quality preschool for parents and their kids across Washington.
3. As an ELAC member, how do you hope to influence a stronger early learning system for Washington? Having served on the Early Learning Advisory Council for five years now, I’ve seen how early learning has benefitted from a raised profile in the media and in the business community and I’ve worked hard to help preserve the good quality of Washington’s early learning programs and to expand access. Moving forward, I believe we need to hear more from our diverse communities across the state–more from ordinary people and less from bureaucrats and politicians. We need to make sure that early learning programs serve our “customers” better, so we need substantive input from parents to ensure the quality and popularity of those programs.
4. Who has had the most influence in your life and why? My brother is seven years older than I am and has always had time for me, from play time when we were kids to wise, brotherly advice now as adults. My brother sparked my passion for classical music and sports and has been an inspiration to me in so many ways, especially to ignore convention and follow the beat of my own drummer.
5. What is your favorite childhood memory? After Apollo IX landed on the moon in 1969, I wanted to be an astronaut like every other kid. That summer I constructed my own lunar module in the backyard using picnic benches and blankets and other materials, and wearing a plastic bucket on my head I pretended to be an astronaut flying in outer space. Today the notion of space travel terrifies me, but I fondly remember that fantasy from when I was an 8-year-old.
6. How do you spend your free time? When I’m with the kids we go OUTDOORS as much as possible – to the parks, the beach or walking around the city. I’m a sports fanatic and I keep a close watch on the NFL, the NBA, the Major Leagues and mixed martial arts, as well. When I have the chance I love to go to the symphony and the theater. More than anything, however, I love adventure travel, having visited more than 100 countries on six continents and having circumnavigated the world twice so far. With young kids and a jam-packed professional life right now, I’m having to put further adventure travel on hold for a little while…
7. What have you done for a child recently? I love when kids come to visit my legislative office and I make sure they sit in my desk chair to see the awesome Capitol dome fill the window view. I always have lots of toys for the kids to play with. It’s more fun for me to talk to and play with kids than with adults because I’m always a kid at heart. “Having fun” is my number one rule in life and it’s easier to have fun with kids!
8. What historical event or time would you go back to witness? I would have loved to sit at the negotiation table at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 when the European powers carved up the world map to claim their respective colonial interests. We still live with the legacy of those decisions.
   

Photo: Rep. Roger Goodman with his children, Vivian and Felix

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DEL's new online training library

DEL recently launched an online training library to help early learning professionals find learning resources in one location. The training categories align with the Washington Core Competencies for Early Care and Education content areas. Not all of the trainings were developed by DEL; the page includes trainings from other organizations.

To earn STARS credit for the trainings, you must search the MERIT training list.

Visit DEL’s training library for early learning professionals.

Child care subsidy billing training

Licensed family home and family, friend and neighbor (FFN) child care providers who bill the state for child care subsidies are required to receive child care subsidy training by June 30. The training is provided by DEL’s partner, Child Care Aware of Washington.

Take this training online or request the training be mailed to you by calling 1-866-416-4321 ext. 108.

Pinwheels for Prevention

Each April, people across the country join together during National Child Abuse Prevention Month to help raise awareness and promote ways in which together we can strengthen families in our communities. Strengthening Families Washington is the Washington state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, the nation’s leading organization working solely to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation’s children.

DEL is leading the campaign in Washington through the Pinwheels for Prevention campaign. The pinwheel represents DEL's efforts to change the way our state thinks about prevention by focusing on programs and public policies that prioritize prevention right from the start.

Download the order form.

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Early Achievers, Washington’s quality rating and improvement system, is a voluntary program that gives participating child care providers training, coaching and scholarships to help them provide high-quality child care. Later this year, families will be able to use the ratings that providers earn as a tool for selecting care for their children.

DEL partners with Child Care Aware of Washington to work with child care providers who participate in Early Achievers. This month, we hear from Child Care Aware of King County.

King County is one of the most diverse zip codes in the country, which is an immense opportunity to work alongside early learning professionals from many cultures, backgrounds and early learning philosophies. The child care facilities in King County that participate in Early Achievers reflect the diversity of the families and children who receive care.

Child Care Aware of King County provides Early Achievers technical assistance and coaches who bring a variety of experiences, skills and languages to work with early learning professionals. Whether it is helping a facility that needs technical support with MERIT, mapping out a professional development plan, refreshing a facility’s environment or finding ways to maintain the balance between licensing compliance and pursuing the new Early Achiever quality standards, CCA of King County staff address each facility’s needs.

To provide quality, responsive technical assistance to diverse child care providers, CCA of King County has created innovative and specialized strategies. In addition to customized one-to-one technical assistance, CCA of King County is connecting Early Achievers participants in their communities so they can learn from each other. CCA of King County has created early learning reflection groups, partially funded through private dollars. These groups are an opportunity for early learning professionals—directors, family child care owners, and classroom teachers—to reflect on their practice, learn from others in the field and build relationships with others who are doing similar work. Most importantly, these groups are focusing on some of the key elements of Early Achievers that providers have resoundingly requested more support with: assessments, teacher-child interaction, and curriculum development.

 As Early Achievers expands across King County, CCA of King County will create several new learning communities in various languages to ensure quality technical assistance and strong rating readiness for King County child care providers.

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