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Research shows that high quality child care is
positively related to children's later language, math and social
skills. To insure that every child has access to high quality
child care, North Carolina has set a goal of at least an associate
degree for every child care teacher. In Burke County, only 23% of
child care teachers have an associate degree in early childhood
education. Smart Start is helping increase the number of degreed
teachers through an "Early Childhood Scholarship" program at
Western Piedmont Community College. Because the majority
of child care teachers are working fulltime, most can only attend
college on a part-time basis. Therefore, in order to more rapidly
increase the number of new teachers with degrees, Smart Start is
enabling recent high school graduates to enroll fulltime in the Early
Childhood Associate Degree program and to complete their course of study
in five consecutive semesters. Smart Start Early
Childhood Scholarships were awarded for the first time in 2001 to three
high school graduates: Kim Speagle (East Burke H.S.), Cindy Poteat
(Freedom H.S.), and Jessical Powell (Tabernacle H.S.). Last year
two more graduates were awarded scholarships: Jessica Perry (East
Burke) and Katie Hicks (Freedom). We wish these young women well
in their studies and in their future careers as child care teachers.
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