Parent Takes Advantage of Apprentice Program

posted 6/1/23 -- LCCAA Head Start started its apprentice program to help promote Early Childhood Education as a profession.

Head Start parent Maria del Santos will be among the first to complete the program which places apprentices in classrooms while they complete coursework.

The Child Development Associate credential is the most widely recognized credential in Early Childhood Education and as such is a key stepping stone on the path of career advancement.

Maria has been working in a classroom at Hopkins-Locke Head Start where her son has been a student.

“It feels good to have the opportunity to learn and work with the kids,” she said.

As an apprentice, Maria can serve as an extra pair of hands in the classroom but she is not counted in teacher to student ratios that Head Start is required to meet for various regulations, said Apprentice Manager Sharon Harmon.

Maria helped classroom teachers with just about all aspects of the preschoolers’ day: taking attendance, helping with activities, serving food and playing with the students.

Maria will complete her classroom hours- 480 total – during Head Start’s Summer Child Care program. Harmon estimates that it will take her about four more months to complete required coursework.

When she’s finished her CDA, Maria hopes to stay with LCCAA Head Start.

“I want to keep learning and in the future, if I have the opportunity, to work here I would love it,” she said.