The National Institute for Early Education Research’s (NIEER) State(s) of Head Start report is the first report to describe and analyze in detail Head Start enrollment, funding, quality, and duration, state-by-state" (2019).
When I selected NIEER and its newsletter as the organization to build on my understanding of the operations of how they keep their members and others informed I had only touch the surfaces of how informed they are of the ECE field. In receiving the weekly newsletter it was literally an eye opening experience within every article.Their are so many variables that play a life long role in a child life, NOT being able to receive a quality ECE should NOT be one of them, "without Congress allocating adequate funding, Head Start programs will continue to be forced to choose between providing high-quality or school-day programs; hiring quality teachers (and paying them adequately); or enrolling more children" (NIEER,2015)
I wanted to share the article related to military families and how every state does not consider the parents military status as an eligibility criterion. As I have stated before either in my blog or in a class discussion recently or current I always feel a pull to the funding side of ECE. In reviewing this article, I discovered that there are 13 states that consider active duty status for a high quality state funded Pre-K. "Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia include parent military active duty status as an eligibility criterion for state-funded pre-k"(NIEER, 2019). If there is anything that I believe should be free it is an EDUCATION. I found this article as well as several others tugged at my heart because of the lack of high quality program being denied for ANY child. "Pre-K programs in California, Georgia, Washington, Hawaii, and Colorado, five of the ten states with the largest number of military active duty personnel, do not consider a parent’s military active duty status" (NIEER, 2019).
"State-funded pre-K programs in the USA all aim to prepare children for success in kindergarten and beyond by supporting development of the whole child. Nevertheless, policies that shape the design and implementation of these programs vary dramatically from one state to another. With so much variation, it is questionable whether any common outcomes should be expected"(Barnett, 2018).
I believe that it is long over due that Congress takes a step back to evaluate the long term damage the lack of funding causes to the country overall in ECE and resolve the issue in funding for children in addition to adequate wages for educators across the board.
References
Few
States Provide Pre-K for Children with Parent on Military Active Duty.
(n.d.). Retrieved from
http://nieer.org/press-release/few-states-provide-pre-k-for-children-with-parent-on-military-active-duty
S., Barnett, PhD. (2018). New Research on Pre-K: Surprised Findings. Retrieved fromhttp://nieer.org/2018/03/29/new-research-pre-k-surprising-findings
State(s) of Head Start. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://nieer.org/headstart
6 comments:
Hi Violanda I would like to add some research to your post. National Institute for Early Education Research supports rigorous research that contributes to the solution of significant education problems in the United States. Through its research initiatives and the national research and development centers, they engage in research activities that will result in the provision of high-quality education for all children, improvement in student academic achievement, reduction in the achievement gap between high-performing and low-performing students, and increased access to and opportunity for post secondary education.
Great post Violanda! I enjoyed reading your blog about sharing web resources. I found your post to be very interesting and enjoyed reading about NIEER. The data that you included was very informative. Funding is so important in the field of early childhood. There needs to be a push for all programs across the country to be of high quality and to have the funding to increase wages for teachers.
What a wonderful post Violanda! You shared wonderful resources. I agree with you that funding is extremely important in the early childhood field. If we don't invest in our children when they are young, then who will? All education programs need to be high-quality as well as increase funding for the wages of those who are teaching the children. Educators are teaching the future generation, the future generation is learning from these educators. Who should we focus on?
Hello Violanda, great post! I think you did a good job in the organization you have chosen. The organization I chose has some of the same things to talk about dealing with organization I have chosen. I think it is a good thing to have congress on our sides to making education better for early childhood education. I do agree with you on getting an education should always be free.
Hi Violanda, I enjoyed reading your post. I think high-quality education should be free, especially for military soldiers. My co-worker's son is in the military overseas and his son attends our center. No one shared with her that military children receive free child care for their children until we research their benefits. It took over six months before they paid it her grandson's tuition, but it was paid in full.
Violanda great post. I agree with you that education should be free! I never realized that military status fro families was not taking into consideration in some states. My parent were in the military when I was born and my mother use to tell me how she would try and find quality care fro me and it just seemed like a nightmare. Even now with quality care there becomes so many regulation that it seems more about politics than really understanding what young children need.
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