[238] TECTA Offering Training In Early-Childhood Education

TECTA OFFERING TRAINING IN EARLY-CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Registration for Free Spring Orientation Courses Under Way Now

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 10, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Denise Perkins, 615-898-2974

(MURFREESBORO)—Free orientation courses for people working in monitored early-childhood education programs, offered by the Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance, are getting under way for spring and summer at MTSU.
TECTA orientation is the gateway to eligibility for financial assistance for college course work leading to a degree in early-childhood education or related fields is recognized by the Tennessee Department of Human Services as a way to satisfy annual training-hour requirements.
Participants must complete the 30 hours to receive a TECTA Orientation Certificate.
Students who complete the 30 clock hours and continue to work with young children become eligible for tuition assistance for academic coursework leading to a degree in early-childhood education at various levels—associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral.
There are five types of orientation programs: school-age, infant/toddler, family, center-based and administrative. The MTSU TECTA site is part of a statewide grant and serves Rutherford and 16 other counties in the south central area of Tennessee.
The TECTA Family Child Care Orientation course in Rutherford County includes information on caring for up to 15 children six weeks to 3 years old. Sessions begin on Saturday, March 26, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and follow on April 2, May 14, June 4 and June 11. The registration deadline is Tuesday, March 1.
The TECTA Center-Based Orientation course in Rutherford County, which emphasizes work with children ages 2 1/2 to 5, will meet on Thursday nights from 6 to 9 beginning on April 14. Subsequent sessions are set for April 21 and 28; May 5, 12 and 26; and June 2, 9, 16 and 23. That registration deadline also is March 1.
The 10-week TECTA Administrator Orientation in Rutherford County will meet every Tuesday beginning Jan. 25. The focus of this orientation program is on how to run an early-childhood program, managing staff, etc., and the registration deadline is Thursday, Jan. 6.
TECTA is funded through a contract with the DHS and Tennessee State University’s Center of Excellence for Learning Sciences.
For more information about these courses or to register for them, call 615-904-8318 or visit the MTSU TECTA website at www.mtsu.edu/~tecta.

Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. MTSU also recently unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.

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IN BRIEF: Free orientation courses for people working in monitored early-childhood education programs, offered by the Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance, are getting under way for spring and summer at MTSU. The TECTA Family Child Care Orientation and the Center-Based Orientation courses in Rutherford County have a registration deadline of Tuesday, March 1. And the 10-week TECTA Administrator Orientation in Rutherford County course has a registration deadline of Thursday, Jan. 6. For more information about these courses or to register for them, call 615-904-8318 or visit the MTSU TECTA website at www.mtsu.edu/~tecta.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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