This team of early childcare experts is dedicated to working with home-based program leaders to help them develop and implement continuous quality improvement (CQI) plans. Through quality improvement assistance and professional learning experiences, we can partner with you to develop CQI goals and strategies and then support you with implementation for lasting change.

Kristy Smith headshot
Kristy Smith
Associate Director: Home-based Child Care
 
Email:
kcsmith@udel.edu

 

Education:
Master’s Degree
 
Experience:
More than 20 years working in field, including experiences with ages infants through early school-age and center administration.

 

DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2014 as a family child care technical assistant, specializing in curriculum and assessment support for FCC programs, transitioned to FCC team leader in 2019.
 

Home-Based Child Care Quality Improvement Specialists

Quality Improvement Assistance: Each family child care educator will work with a specialist throughout their quality improvement journey. Our quality improvement specialists have a vast knowledge of child development and will provide support to FCC educators with goal-setting, selecting strategies to support selected goals, and accessing relevant resources and supports.

Molly Van Sickle headshot
Molly Van Sickle
Quality Improvement Program Manager
 
Email:
mvan@udel.edu

 

Education:
Master’s Degree
 
Experience:
More than 15 years experience in early childhood.

 

DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2013 as an infant/toddler specialty technical assistant, transitioned to generalist TA for center-based programs in 2020.
 

 

Meghan Pallante headshot
 
Meghan Pallante
Quality Improvement Specialist
 
Email:
mjulia@udel.edu

 

 
Education:
Master’s Degree
 
Experience:
More than 15 years of experience working with infants through school-age children.
 
DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in July 2012 as a technical assistant and has worked specifically with family/large family child care providers for eight years. Meghan is also the writer/content creator for DIEEC’s Coach’s Corner monthly blog.
 
Erika Vidal
Quality Improvement Specialist
 
Email:
evidal@udel.edu

 

 
Education:
Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential
 
Experience:
19 years in the field of early childhood education as a family child care (FCC) educator and business owner. 
 
DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2023 as a technical assistant. 
 
Patty DiCampli
Quality Improvement Specialist
 
Email:
pspring@udel.edu

 

 
Education:
Bachelor’s Degree
 
Experience:
More than 25 years of experience in the early childhood field. Roles include art educator, family child care provider, and lead teacher.
 
DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2013 as an assessor. 
 
Tonya Acker
Quality Improvement Specialist
 
Email:
tacker@udel.edu

 

 
Education:
Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential
 
Experience:
More than 20 years working in the early childhood education field with 12 of those years being a Family Child Care Provider and business owner.
 
DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2023 as a technical assistant. 

Home-Based Child Care Professional Development Coordinators

Professional Development Coordinator: FCC educators have the opportunity to build on their skills with a variety of learning opportunities facilitated by a professional development coordinator. Many of the professional development sessions will be followed up with extended implementation support.

Jessica Cheyney-Morgan headshot
 
Jessica Cheyney-Morgan
Professional Development Coordinator
 
Email:
jcmorgan@udel.edu
 
Education:
Bachelor’s Degree
 
Experience:
More than 20 years of experience working in early childhood education, 10 of those years as a program director.
 
DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2013 as an assessor on the Verification and Assessment team. Trained to and maintained reliability in the ERS, CLASS, and CHILD tools. Joined the home-based child care team in October 2021 as a professional development coordinator.
 
Irene Ashe
Professional Development Coordinator
 
Email:
iashe@udel.edu
 
Education:
Bachelor’s Degree
 
Experience:
More than 15 years of experience working as a teacher and leader in toddler classrooms in Pennsylvania and Connecticut in addition to serving as center director. 
 
DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2014 as a curriculum and assessment specialty technical assistant.
 
Londyn Hackett
Professional Development Coordinator
 
Email:
londynh@udel.edu

 

 
Education:
Master’s Degree
 
Experience:
Ten years of early childhood experience as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, and instructional coach in early childhood education programs in Virginia and Delaware.
 
DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2022.
Jaquaya Thomas
Professional Development Coordinator
 
Email:
jkthomas@udel.edu

 

Education:
Master’s Degree
 
Experience:
Brings more than 20 years of experience in early childhood education, including roles working as an assistant and teacher at large early childhood education programs. Background also includes working at Delaware Head Start as an administrative assistant, teacher, site supervisor, and program supervisor.
DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2022.

Family Child Care Networks Staff

Networks are a way for family child care educators and a staff member to work together to enhance program quality and operations. The focus of these networks is to assist FCC providers who are interested in participating in publicly sponsored programs such as ECAP and Early Head Start.

Tina Thomas headshot
Tina Mays
Network Coordinator
 
Email:
tinat@udel.edu

 

Education:
Associate’s Degree
 
Experience:
More than ten years of experience in family child care. Served as a family child care professional six years; program achieved a 5 Star rating, underscoring her dedication to quality child care.

 

DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2022.
 

 

Kim Cruz
Network Coordinator
 
Email:
kimcruz@udel.edu

 

Education:
Bachelor’s Degree
 
Experience:
More than 20 years of experience working in early childhood education, both as a teacher and as an administrator.

 

DIEEC History:
Joined DIEEC in 2021.