Sharing Web Resources
Center for childcare workforce . Retrieved from http://www.ccw.org/index.phpWhat specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?
The information on making the connection- ADVOCACY and OUTREACH, was very insightful. It was very fitting for this week since we are concentrating on investing in our children at an early age. Advocacy is part of what we do and what others should be doing. The organization through advocacy came together with other professionals came together in what they referred to as 'Worthy Wage Day' to recognize the important work early childhood professionals do every day to make a difference in the lives of children. They advocated for early childhood profession and the nation's future - the children.
Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?
The newsletter highlighted the AFT president, Randi Weingarten, article named 'What Matters Most.' In the article Randi stated, "If high quality early childhood education were a stock or a commodity investors would be racing to invest in these programs that routinely yield a high rate of return." Our politicians have devoted funds for children in early childhood before they start elementary. However due to the downturn of the economy some states cannot support programs that benefit children and families. The question is "WHAT MATTERS MOST?" Should federal funds go towards investments of our young children, or should it go towards other programs not including children? This is debatable in my opinion because many believed that early childhood education does not matter. If the opportunity to provide much needed funds to greatly expand access to high quality early childhood education and other early learning program then what will become of children and families especially those at-risk? The decision to allocate much needed funds as an investment in early childhood and early learning program should not be made an issue but should be mandated in my opinion. The decision should not be finding the money but how much is needed to give as many children as possible access to an early start on success. Investing in early childhood education is a down payment for the nation's future success.What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field.
Covering Pre-K -New investments in our little learners; by the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, Teachers College, Columbia University
For years, preschool was the stepchild of education largely ignored by policymakers and researchers. That has changed dramatically, thanks to the convergence of new findings in neuroscience, child development and economics. Policy makers, educators, foundations and business leaders are now pushing for greater access to preschool.
The Economics of Inequality· Working together.
James Heckman writes, "The logic is quite clear from an economic standpoint. We can invest early to close disparities and prevent achievement gaps, or we can pay to remediate disparities when they are harder and more expensive to close. Either way we are going to pay. And, we'll have to do both for a while. But, there is an important difference between the two approaches. Investing early allows us to shape the future; investing later chains us to fixing the missed opportunities of the past. Controlling our destiny is more in keeping with the American spirit."
What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?
The economy has put stress on the families of children you work with every day. Stress can correlate to the way in which a parent takes care of his or her child. As a result, that same child may suffer the same amount of stress causing impact on his or her well-being. Early childhood providers have the unique ability to help the children and families who are currently experiencing an increase of stress due to the daily connection with parents. This is an issue and thus the website has provided valuable information and resources to help us in reaching out to parents and families of the children we educate.
Resources include:
· Touch points in early care and education (Brazelton)
· Kids Health
Resources
Center for childcare workforce . Retrieved from http://www.ccw.org/index.php
The RAND Corporation. (2008). What does economics tell us about early childhood policy? (Research Brief). Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/2008/RAND_RB9352.pdf
Thank you for you post it was a great post. I like making the connection Advocacy and outreach this seem like a great program for the children. It is alwasy to hear of people helping
ReplyDeleteTheresa,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. I think the Worthy Wage Day is something all early childhood professionals should know about, and even advocate for, Yes it is important to advocate for the children, but there needs to be some advocating for the professionals as well.
Theresa,
ReplyDelete"Investing early allows us to shape the future; investing later chains us to fixing the missed opportunities of the past. Controlling our destiny is more in keeping with the American spirit." These are some great words. Can we create magnets, bumper stickers,mugs anything to promote these great words. Thank you for sharing.
Theresa,
ReplyDeleteWow!You did an excellent job composing your blog.It is time researchers, policymakers, educators, and foundations, "Invest In Our Future" by pushing to keep Pre-K programs available throughout the United States.
Theresa,
ReplyDeleteThis is where I have a problem with our policy makers. Early childhood is not given significant prominence and as such there is a toss-up with the allocation to the field as compared to……. This says to me that as advocates, we got to get out there and pursue a wide range of things to bring not only awareness but we have to be able to convince policy makers of the importance of early childhood development and how critical the development is at this stage. As Dr. Grace indicated in this week’s audio tape it is not that if children do not achieve what is necessary that they would lose out for life but it will be much harder for them to acquire the skills later in life. This also means that greater investment will be needed to address their issues so why not be prudent and engage in quality invest at this level? Food for thought!