Jessica Lewis, MEd, ECSE, oversees the extensive course libraries for Continued Early Childhood Education and Continued Massage Therapy.
Lewis is committed to fostering professional growth and says she always felt called to the teaching profession.
Her path in education started early, when she would “play school” with her stuffed animals as a child.
Lewis followed her passion and pursued a bachelor’s degree in ECE from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR).
She went on to teach in a public elementary school before transitioning into a program for young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This position ignited her interest in special education and led her to a teaching role in behavioral hospitals in Little Rock, Arkansas, and nearby Benton. As a kindergarten-sixth grade teacher in these facilities, she worked with children with a variety of behavioral challenges who typically lived in the hospital for a few months.
She earned a master’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education from UALR, and for the next several years she worked as an early childhood special educator with children with unique needs, including cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, complications from prematurity, and various intellectual and developmental disabilities.
As her career progressed, Lewis developed a curiosity for early educator training and ultimately grew passionate about quality training for teachers who work with this age group.
She started working with Early Care and Education Projects (ECEP) through the University of Arkansas to disseminate information and training to early childhood educators statewide in a variety of settings, from daycares to in-home child care centers to Head Start programs.
It was this enthusiasm for teacher training that led her to Continued. She assumed the managing editor role of Continued Early Childhood Education in November 2017, and in 2024 added Continued Massage Therapy to her oversight.
“One of the things I always loved most about being a trainer is sharing information that would allow teachers to better themselves and also better support their students and their families,” Lewis said. “I feel like with this position, I may not be directly training people, but I’m still part of sharing the crucial information. Through Continued, I can do that on a much grander scale and reach many more people.”
Lewis lives in Bryant, Arkansas, with her husband and dog. They enjoy riding trails in the national forests in their Jeep. She also enjoys reading and camping, and she travels to the beach as often as she can.