Case Statement

Mission

The Wisconsin Child Care Administrators Association (WCCAA) collaborates with government, individuals, agencies and companies to increase access to quality early care and education for all families. We achieve our mission in three ways:

WCCAA influences public policy to increase standards, quality and access to early care and education for all families.
WCCAA provides professional development on early care and education to strengthen best practices and increase quality.
WCCAA supports its members via access to a network of center administrators.

Vision for the Future

All children are prepared for personal and educational success

WCCAA is a global model for collaboration to influence public policy and professional development to impact best practices for early care and education.

WCCAA inspires a family-friendly philosophy empowering early care and education centers to care for children and assist businesses to achieve goals through secure and productive employees.

History

For more than 30 years, WCCAA has been promoting excellence in early care and education. Through strong collaborations and advocacy efforts, WCCAA actively shapes local, regional, state and national policies to increase the quality and access of early care and education especially for families with limited financial means. Today, WCCAA’s members represent almost 12% of the 2,500 licensed child care centers in Wisconsin.

The Need

While low-income families receive subsidies for child care, there is a dire lack of centers that provide high-quality early care and education to prepare children for school. Middle-class families struggle with affordable options. As the research concludes that birth to three are the most critical years of development, both government and private sectors will benefit by coming together to ensure all families have access to early care and education. This will allow children to succeed and families to have the peace of mind to be productive employees.

Success Stories

As the idea of four-year old kindergarten took hold in early 2000, WCCAA took the unpopular stance of challenging the appropriateness of the program being delivered in the public schools as opposed to properly designed early

care and education centers. The result is WCCAA continues to have ongoing discussions with the Department of Public Instruction by participating on applicable committees. WCCAA continues to be a respected source of critical input about child care issues.

For almost twenty years, WCCAA’s Rosie Baker Scholarship Fund has been awarding scholarships to early care and education administrators who seek educational and enrichment experiences for the purpose of implementing innovative best practices in their centers. The Fund has awarded more than $18,000 to 35 administrators, including Hillary, who used her scholarship to travel to Africa to teach in a small village and brought her experience to life for her center and WCCAA members. Angie used her scholarship to learn how to adapt curriculum to children’s strengths and weaknesses, and identify children with special needs.

As a result of WCCAA’s collaboration with other state agencies for high child care standards, The
Registry Administrator Credential was established in 1994. It is now a licensing requirement.

WCCAA also contributes to the Annual Registry Credential graduation.

WCCAA is a respected voice and influence in developing public policy related to early care and education. WCCAA has been invited to bring its voice to many early care and education initiatives, including The Governor’s Early Learning Advisory Council, Child Care Forum, T.E.A.C.H./R.E.W.A.R.D., Superintendent Advisory Council for 4 year olds, Early Learning Coalition, 4k Assembly Task Force, Kids First Task Force and Rate Subsidy Setting Task Force.

WCCAA Membership Programs

Public Policy – Through education and advocacy initiatives, WCCAA brings the voices of thousands of
concerned early care and education professionals, and concerned citizens, to the public policy process.
Our Email Alert System informs, educates and prompts action regarding important policy
initiatives.
Through Advocacy Training and Mentoring, WCCAA encourages and trains people to contact
legislators and attend hearings.
We Represent our members on task forces to offer input into policies related to increasing the
quality of early care and education.

Professional Development – Through conferences, regional meetings, scholarships and newsletters,
WCCAA delivers high-level professional development to child care administrators to impact best
practices.

Support & Networking – More than 325 members attend local and state-wide meetings, as well as
have access to each other via email, phone and other technology, to network, share best practices and
identify common challenges and solutions to delivering the highest quality of child care to children and
families.

2010 Goals

Increase public awareness of the lack of affordable high quality early care and education
options and the role WCCAA plays in strengthening best practices.
Form collaborations with private sector companies to create solutions that offer workers
affordable and quality early care and education that brings peace of mind for families and
productivity for companies.
Increase our current membership by 10%.

How you can help

Become a Friend of WCCAA by making a financial donation.
Become a Member of WCCAA to strengthen our voice and network with leaders in the early care and
education field.
Become an Advocate for WCCAA by understanding and promoting positive policy changes.
Become a Committee member for WCCAA and bring your talents of resource development and
marketing to our mission.

Executive Leadership

Joan Beck, President
Angela Lampkin, Vice President
Nancy Fliehr, Secretary
Verna Drake, Treasurer
Laura Klingelhoets, Past President

Board of Directors

Six regions are represented by four board members each

PO Box 21
Westby, WI 54667
1-888-4-R-CHILD
WCCAA.org

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