This month’s spotlight is on Michelle Crawford from Austin, TX.
To say that June’s Affiliate Trainer, Michelle Crawford, is a busy woman would be an understatement. Michelle is the Quality Initiatives Program Manager at Workforce Solutions Capital Area Child Care Services in Austin, Texas. Her organization is a part of a network of 28 Workforce Solution boards across the state that among other things, oversee the Texas Rising Star Program, which is similar to a QRIS, as it focuses on the quality of early care across the state.
The Capital Area program has included the CLASS in their work because of the focus on effective teacher-child interactions. They have also included the CLASS as a part of their school readiness initiative. In addition to conducting observations for monitoring purposes, they mentor teachers, and provide CLASS-based PD driven by each teacher’s CLASS scores.
In addition to supporting teachers from programs that participate in the Rising Star Program, they are also using myTeachstone, our online subscription service, to help organizations that are getting ready to apply to join Texas Rising Star to improve program quality.
Michelle oversees all of the CLASS work for her organization. She trains and mentors her staff that conduct observations and provide professional development (did I mention that she is an Affiliate Trainer for Pre-K, Toddler, and Infant CLASS?), answers questions about the CLASS and provides Introduction to the CLASS trainings for providers. Finally, she and her team are responsible for all of the Rising Star programs within Travis County that receive support to maintain quality standards.
When she isn’t busy managing this multifaceted program, Michelle teaches courses in early childhood at Austin Community College and Texas State University (my niece’s alma mater – go Bobcats!).
Michelle is considered by many to be the “CLASS-Guru” for Central Texas! A self-professed “super CLASS nerd,” Michelle is always looking for new things to learn about the CLASS.
If you would like to be featured, or if you would like to nominate a colleague for this spotlight, please get in touch with us at contact@teachstone.com.
