Who is karen rucker??

 EDUCATING EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFESSIONALS IN DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICES AND RESPECTFUL INTERACTIONS WITH CHILDREN. 

Karen Rucker has been working in ECE for about a zillion years.  She has a bachelor’s in education and a masters in Family Support Studies, with postgraduate work in Early Care and Education. 

Over the years, Karen has worn many hats; including teacher, director, multi-site manager, consultant, instructor, adjunct faculty, technical assistant, quality assurance assessor and project manager. 

Her work has taken her into a broad range of early childhood settings –  urban and suburban; for-profit and non-profit; private, commercial and government-sponsored programs; a large university lab school; as well as both start-ups and fix-ups.

Along the way, Ms. Rucker has led three child care centers to NAEYC accreditation; a national hallmark of quality in early childhood education.  She has presented at countless local & national professional development conferences and has been a consultant on multiple projects throughout the eastern corridor. Currently, Ms. Rucker conducts CDA courses and childcare center in-service trainings to guide early educators on the path to enhancing their practice and professional growth.

 This wealth of experience brings a unique perspective to her work with early childhood staff and administration.

• Pennsylvania PQAS Certified Instructor
• CDA Instructor for more than 25 years 
• CDA Professional Development Specialist (PDS)
• Nationally Certified Zero to Three Instructor for The Growing Brain Series
• Internationally Certified in Brain Story
• Child Care Health Advocate Certification
• ​Former Environment Ratings Scales (ERS) Assessor
• Former CLASS Assessor (Infant)
• Former nationally Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI)
• Former certified Pediatric First Aid/CPR instructor

 RESPECTING CHILDREN...  It sounds like such a simple concept.  All humans, no matter how young, deserve to be treated in a way that respects who they are and who they have the potential to become.

Truly respecting children means that we talk with them, not at them; that we handle their bodies and minds with care, not carelessness; and that we afford them no less than we would want afforded to ourselves.  The end goal is to raise the bar of quality in early childhood settings to the level that all children deserve.