April 11, 2001

WKU Professor To Lead
Child Education Group

Bowling Green, Ky. - A Western Kentucky University professor will take office this summer as president of a national early childhood education group.

Vicki Stayton, assistant to the dean for Grant Development in the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, will become president of the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children on July 1.

For the past two years, Dr. Stayton has served as vice president and president-elect of the division, a 7,000-member organization of early childhood special education professionals and parents of children ages birth through 8 with disabilities or developmental problems. After her term as president ends next year, she will serve one-year as past-president.

Through her involvement with the organization and other state and national groups, Dr. Stayton has kept Western at the forefront of changes in early childhood education.

"The group has taken the lead on two issues that are important to Western and other universities," Dr. Stayton said.

Those issues are developing recommended practices for community programs such as public school preschool, Head Start and child care that offer services for parents and children and establishing personnel standards and guidelines for how colleges prepare individuals who work with children with special needs and their, she said.

Dr. Stayton was co-chair of the Division for Early Childhood's committee that developed the professional preparation guidelines.

"We are trying to enhance the quality of early childhood education programs, but we're also trying to professionalize the field to attract and retain individuals for employment in early childhood programs," she said.

Dr. Stayton's involvement with the national organization has created other opportunities. She recently was named to a national advisory committee for the Praxis Early Childhood Education test. The Praxis exam is required for teacher certification in several fields, including special education and early childhood education.

For more information, contact Vicki Stayton at (270) 745-4662. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.