Mission Statement

For your Final Project, you will be creating a presentation to use as a recruiting tool to attract the best and brightest educators to your (real or fictional) early childhood development center. As a first step, this week you will craft a mission statement for your center.

Using the information given in Chapter 3 of your text and the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct: Supplement for Early Childhood Adult Educators, write a paper that articulates your personal purpose, vision, and mission statement for a successful early childhood development center. In your response, include the following components:

a. Summarize your responses to the following questions from your text that help identify your purpose. This section of your paper will culminate with the completion of the following sentence: "My purpose on earth is to _________."

- Name three traits you had as a child that you still have today. These traits will help you identify your gifts and strengths.

- Recall a time in your life when you felt you were doing exactly what you were meant to do. This is what "living on purpose" feels like.

- Identify a person who noticed your potential. What did that person see in you? Others often serve as messengers to help us see what we cannot see in ourselves.

- Describe a time when you experienced "flow" and did not need to think about what you had to do. You may have felt that everything came naturally to you (Csikszentmihalyi 1991)

- Ask three people you trust and who care about you, "When have you seen me at my happiest? What impact do you believe I can have on the world around me?"

- What contributions would you most like to make? Some people find it helpful to write the statement/epithet for their gravestone. Others think about what might be said at their retirement party.

b. Describe your vision. How will your purpose manifest itself within your early childhood development center? In what ways do you envision that your early childhood center will improve the lives of the families with whom you interact?

c. Develop your mission statement (in approximately one to three sentences), that is true to your purpose and vision. How does your mission measure up to the requirements outlined in the Standards for a Mission given in your text and listed below?

- Inspires everyone who hears it
- Remains timeless
- Empowers staff to find their own purpose within the greater mission
- Shines steadily like a lighthouse when storms bluster
- Sets a standard for quality performance
- Reflects our deeper core values
- Informs every decision

Your paper must be three to four pages in length (excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Include a title page and reference page, and cite at least one source in addition to your course text and NAEYC

Code of Ethical Conduct: Supplement for Early Childhood Adult Educators.