Final Blog

In the research and discussions pertaining to consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for my professional and personal development I have gained a clearer perspective of the struggles, accomplishments and mindsets that others have in which are very similar to those here in the U.S. I have learned that we have the same struggle as children, families and educators do in other countries however, that approach to the various challenges and the methods used to resolve our circumstances is what defines the results. What has stood out to me the most is how communities rally together in other countries to have a more positive well balance overall early learning development for children and families than that of those that are right here. The culmination of what I have gathered is that there are never enough advocates to strive to make educating and providing helpful resources to children and their families. Everyone has their own way of approaching the incessant struggles for both educators and families in early childhood development but, if we could get everyone in the mindset of not just making conversation and taking more action from our leaders that fund our children future we could contribute to building a wealth of powerful positive individuals and change the ramifications of poverty.

One goal I feel that I can establish and maintain is to continue learning more statistics about issues and trends in other countries and how they approach their obstacles and look for ways that I can personally incorporate their process to help children and families here. Sharing and building through conversations with peers will help reach this goal. I can also see how I can become a better active advocate to help children here as well as globally through research and attending forums that will help me establish the best path I should embark to be most effective.


Resource
Education Is Not The Learning Of Facts Quote: Albert einstein quotes education, Quotes for students, Fact quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/480548222724594208/

Professional Goals, Hopes and Dreams

 "If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results." - Jack Dixon

What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?

In the area I live in the school district and educators are being unfairly bashed for the behavior of the students in all areas. There have been social media post, forums held, conferences, and even news reports of the horrible behavior of the students in this area. Their are some parents whom have stepped in an visit the schools and have done so even with their high school student. There are other parents whom have taken being room mom as an everyday all day task be it in their child class or where ever additional support is needed within the campuses. 

What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?

With the current issues of the students poor behavior I believe based off of what I have read that the educators and the more supportive parents/guardians along with the school board have taken measures to host platforms to discuss the ongoing issues and what the parents along side the educators can do to build as well as implement a resolution. 

What are some of your professional goals, inclusive of goals related to supporting social equity?

My professionals goals are to successfully master this program along with receiving my certification before the end of the summer and to gain as much insight possible along the way. I believe as an educator I will continuously build on subject matters concerning ECE and all learners in general which is something I ecstatically embrace those impending experiences. 

What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?

I have had a legal list of challenges to come about since the beginning of the year however, my biggest have been juggling being a single mom, this program, my certification program and working full time with little to no rest with various other task that require my time and attention. Although those are just a few things I highlighted in regard to my challenges I know that because this is something that I want and time is quickly passing it will not be long before I am able to look back and possibly encourage someone else to pursue their life goal. 

References

https://www.motivateamazebegreat.com/2018/02/famous-quotes-about-success-and-hard-work.html

https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/what-do-children-learn-kindergarten-program

Learn in a High-Quality Kindergarten ...

naeyc.org

Sharing Web Resources - Equity and Excellence

There was an endless realm of links to follow within reviewing the newsletter and articles from the organization site I selected earlier on in Issues and Trends in Early Childhood Education. The organization I selected is NIEER. I found myself selecting an outside link that read "access" and within that link and article on "Barriers to Expansion of NC Pre-K: Problems and Potential Solutions". According to this article North Carolina’s preschool program has solid evidence that it produces long-term benefits, but most children eligible for NC Pre-K are unable to enroll due to inadequate state funding, according to an analysis by the National Institute for Early Education Research. (Nieer, 2019). Many families in numerous state are effected by this same issue however, this article has a suggestion on how this barrier may be resolved. There are advocates that seek to be a part of the resolution that is needed to resolve all barriers within early childhood education however, many moons ago there should had been less talk and more action.  Consequently, some families have to seek other facilities for a form of education for their early learners however, often times it comes at the rate unqualified instructors that unfortunately do more damaged than good. "While children may be attending other early education programs, those programs do not provide all the quality components of NC Pre-K—so those vulnerable children are less likely to gain the lasting benefits provided by NC Pre-K" (NIEER, 2019).


While researching further into NIEER, I came across a newsletter article that touches on families that are effected by unaffordable child care. "Given the importance of child care for family and child well being, in 2016 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services set a federal affordability benchmark (i.e., the maximum percent of income a family should spend on child care) at 7% of total annual family income" (Acevedo-Garcia, 2019). This article grasped my attention because, the root of the problem for all Early Childhood Education and Education in general is "Money". Parents either make to much or not enough. Even with placing a cap on the amount of fees a family will pay for early child care in at a low percentage when you add it up as a whole it still consumes an extremely large portion of a families income. This greatly defeats families that are following policies and doing their part to give their child or children a quality early education and should be reevaluated immediately.

• Center-based care would cost low-income working parents 28% of income.
• Market rate child care is unaffordable for a majority of working parents and for nearly all low-income working parents.
• Black and Hispanic parents are more likely to experience unaffordable child care.

 I can attest that through my research that there are measures to provide ECE with a much stronger foundation to stand upon however, I believe there can be and should be more action and less talk in doing what is best for children and their families as a whole.

Resources

Barriers to Expansion of NC Pre-K: Problems and Potential Solutions. (2019, January 17). Retrieved from http://nieer.org/research-report/barriers-to-expansion-of-nc-pre-k-problems-and-potential-solutions

M. Baldiga, P. Joshi, E. Hardy, D. Acevedo-Garcia. Child Care is Unaffordable for Working Parents Who Need It Most. (2019, February 15). Retrieved from http://nieer.org/2019/02/15/child-care-is-unaffordable-for-working-parents-who-need-it-most

Equity and Excellence

Almost immediately when I visited Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website I was intrigued by one of the links that read Across countries (Saving Brains). I found that it is "a  partnership led by Grand Challenges Canada, Saving Brains seeks to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life ( Developing Child, 2020). I trust that much like taking the time to get to know your individual students applying research of known key factors as to what variables play a factor in their development is efficacious to their overall growth. The Saving Brains portfolio of activities is designed to develop and broaden the reach of products, services, and policies that protect and nurture early brain development (Developing Child, 2020). They have projects that seek to protect early brain development all over the world. Currently, projects are being implemented in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America (Developing Child, 2020).
There is also work done in Brazil that has a partnership that ushers training in policy.  The collaborative Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância (NCPI) partnership has been highly successful in creating a science-driven early childhood movement in Brazil, most notably through training Brazilian policy makers on how to apply developmental science to inform programs and policies and, recently, through launching the iLab Primeira Infância, one of the Latin American Innovation Clusters (Developing Child, 2020). Equipping all professionals on the various levels of early child development is needed as policy will consistently change as the economy does and it is imperative that everyone remains current on the policies that both benefit and effect early child development. "Children with healthy intergral development during the first years of life have a greater ability to adapt to different environments and to acquire new knowledge, helping them to achieve good academic performance as well as personal , vocational, and economic fulfillment and become responsible citizens" (NCPI, 2020).

Additionally, I learned about a Canada's "Albert Family Wellness Initiative". That is a movement that was looking to gather a resolution to its prime economic struggles. In 2007, Alberta was facing a health crisis—increasing rates of substance abuse and addiction and mental health issues among its residents—combined with a lack of adequate comprehensive, integrated programs to address these issues" (Developing Child, 2020). Through research a strategy evolved referred to as "knowledge mobilization". Much of AFWI’s work has focused on providing the infrastructure and facilitation to bring together practitioners and policymakers from across Alberta with scientists from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and other experts to enable them to collaborate and develop science-based, innovative solutions for the fields of health, justice, education, and human services (Developing Child, 2020). In the same way that educators, students and parents partner up to meet the total need of the child within a classroom it makes sense to have those in a higher authority to devote their resources to early child development. Through knowledge mobilization, AFWI has trained an “army” of change agents who continue to share the message of the importance of early childhood development with their communities and who are transforming the ways in which they and their colleagues work (Developing Child, 2020).

 




References

Early Childhood. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ncpi.org.br/en-us/early-childhood/

Partnerships with Global Early Childhood Organizations. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/#global

Sharing Web Resources - A Recent Newsletter Article

My most recent newsletter comes from NIEER.org. It tugged at me to read the article in part because there is great progress made in Idaho however, there is still much to be done for children in pre-k.

Where as child development is concern, every aspect is relevant to my professional development. The most recent article I read however in NIEER Weekly highlighted a matter of funding in Idaho that floored me but also made me proud that educators found a way around insufficient funding. The governor in that state is for whatever reason mentioned "undecided" about all day pre-k.

I found his indecisiveness to be a bit confusing to me because his state is clearly in need of funding in the area of pre-k and obviously the funding is being redistributed to them so why not push to give children a learning advantage as early as possibly with funds by whatever means available or necessary. "Little convinced lawmakers to put $26 million into early reading programs, with few strings attached" (Richert, 2020). He has made a great strides in his state with literacy in education so my confusion comes to why NOT just rip the band aid off and start building children in pre-k skills as to when they have leveled up to kindergarten they will have some foundation to go off of."Many schools are using their share of the money to provide all-day kindergarten to some or all of their students. Schools can’t use state literacy money for pre-K, but if state funding helps schools move money around and launch a preschool, Little is fine with it" (Richert, 2020).

The e-newsletter contain additional information on how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support positive social change through the early childhood field but also causes me to question are we really doing enough based off the continued struggle to fund. "While schools struggle to find ways to fund and maintain pre-K, advocates face another challenge: selling a skeptical Legislature on the value of early education. Pre-K is a values debate and a policy debate. Critics say the state should focus on K-12 spending, assert that young children are best taught at home, and dismiss research on the lasting value of pre-K" (Richert, 2020).



The benefits of all day pre-k would outweigh the skeptics with proof of the children growth in literacy if given the opportunity. As it stands now Only one in five kindergartners show up in the fall with the skills they need to learn to read — the lowest numbers among Idaho’s large districts" (Richert, 2020).




Reference

All-day kindergarten takes off in Idaho. Is pre-K next? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://nieer.org/news/all-day-kindergarten-takes-off-in-idaho-is-pre-k-next

Richert, K. (2020, January 1). All-day kindergarten takes off in Idaho. Is pre-K next? Retrieved from https://www.eastidahonews.com/2020/01/all-day-kindergarten-takes-off-in-idaho-is-pre-k-next/