Finding solutions to the child care crisis
Published by The Hechinger Report, in collaboration with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Aspiring teachers watch a video about infant development at Milwaukee Area Technical College. The college is participating in a dual enrollment program to attract high school students to early ed teaching jobs.
Students enjoy a hallway play area at Next Door's 29th Street location.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — In a dimly-lit classroom in downtown Milwaukee, nine aspiring early childhood teachers scribbled notes as they watched a video about the capabilities of 4-month-olds.
Babies at that age “can now follow an object 180 degrees,” the narrator explained, as a baby on screen watched a small toy move from side to side. After a few more scenes showing babies cooing, screeching and batting at objects, Yvette Ardis, an instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), hit pause. “What I’m hoping you don’t do in your classrooms is put the kids in those exersaucers or swings,” she said, motioning toward the screen where a baby had just been shown sitting in such a device.
“Unless you need it because you’re feeding, and you need it so that everyone is safe, okay?” she said. “You are there to be engaged with your kids.
A student practices spelling his name with the help of David Tate, a co-teacher at Next Door. Tate finished Next Door’s apprenticeship program in late 2021, and is now a co-teacher in a class of 5- and 6- year-olds. “When Next Door opened this opportunity, I was like, ‘I have to take this. This is golden,’” he said.
A student helps clean up toys in a play area at Next Door’s 29th Street location.
Brittnie Gray has held several teaching positions since she started at Next Door in 2018. In 2020, she started the apprenticeship program to expand her knowledge of early childhood and become eligible to lead her own classroom. In early 2022, after finishing the apprenticeship program, she officially became a lead teacher at Next Door. The program, which allowed her to work while going to school, was easy to fit into her life — and free. “They supply you with everything you need," she said. "You’re not putting yourself in debt.”
Debra Tucker walks her students down a hallway at Next Door. Tucker has been teaching at the center for 17 years. A veteran educator at Next Door, she recently became a lead teacher of a classroom for 2-year-olds after finishing Next Door’s apprenticeship program. She says the benefits of the pathways programs are immense, as they allow her to earn more money in a higher position while also helping to “develop myself and develop the children that I’m working with.”
