Well as you know I love the website the National Head Start Association and the reason why is their love for early childhood education. This week they had a great article on the 3000 organizations that signed a letter asking for the protection of nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs. Programs such as Head Start make up 3.4% of the budget and are not the cause of the growing debt. If congress decides to cut NDD programs than more than 100,000 children will lose their Head Start or Early Head Start position in the middle of the school year, which basically puts us back to square one in the achievement gap of children in poverty. I love this article for many reasons it validates why we do not need more budget cuts and it really makes people think about how important early childhood education is to our community and our children.
As for the topic of neuroscientist, economists, and politians this article wraps it up very nicely on how important their support is to early childhood education. I think this week I hit it out of the ballpark with this article and issues surrounding economics and achievement gaps between children in poverty and their peers. I say increase the budget that gives a return investment and a brighter future and implement Universal Preschool too!!!!!!!!!
Michele,
ReplyDeleteI agree they need to quit taking away from our young children and start investing in our future. They need to bring together preschools and support the growing needs of our children. If they make more cuts in early childhood then we will be paying for it in the future when these children will need twice as much to catch up and remain in schools. Early intervention is the best way to secure our tomorrow.
Lucinda
How do we convince America that Universal Preschool benefits all children? The question is still not answered in Congress because we fight to keep our budget every year. When will they learn that education is the investment of the future and that tax break and supporting other countries in making them better than us hint hint Japan is not paying off for us. Who elects these people?
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear that there are 3000 signatures surrounding the NDP bill. One of my roles within my county is to educate local service providers and families on policy and bills that are upcoming. It's quite amazing how many bills arise to reduce funding to early childhood programs. Giving families a voice is such a rewarding job.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree with you! Preschool is where money should be going, its unfortunate that these politicians and leaders are so stuck in there ways and so afraid of change. We need a BIG change in our education system. BIG BIG BIG. I know there are leaders out there that feel the same way but they are too scared to speak up because they don't want to loose their rank. STUPID!
ReplyDeleteI am with you 100%. The preschools are in much need of more money. There is a huge gap between children in poverty and there peers that arent. In most cases they are able to get a better educationd children in povety are just kinda left lingering behid.
ReplyDeleteMichele,
ReplyDeleteI too am a fan of the National Head Start Association!! This organization is impacting so many children and their families from low socioeconomic status. This organization is contributing to bridging the achievement gap between children from low income families and children from wealthier families. We need more organizations like this one if we want to keep moving forward in making the needed changes to the field of early childhood. Like you said…we as a society need to increase the budget for early childhood education for better promises for the future.