Research that Benefits Children and thier Families

If I were researching a topic which esulted in positive results that was for the common good of society it would be Why implementing high qualityearly childhood programs universally will close the gap on achievement.  I would begin by stating that we know in America today there is a huge achievement gap between class societies because of poor quality child care and high quality programs.  I would then go ahead and state the facts surrounding my research with Head start verses family child care etc...and why society is still suffering from achievement gaps when children enter kindergarten.  I then would post the results of my research stating that implementing high quality programs that are federally funded would close the achievement between class societies because of the following:

1) All teachers would be required to have a BA and all assistants a CDA.
2) All children ages 3 to 5 would be required to attend no matter the class status.
3) The program would be of high quality and developmentally appropriate.

The benefits would be that all young children have a strong foundation because they attended a high quality early childhood program for 2 years.   There would be no achievement gaps because there would be no class status.  All children ages 3 to 5 would receive the same high quality programs that prepared them for entering the academic world of education.  It would show a lower crime rate and less behavioral issues as well as more parents involved in their children's education.  Parents would be able to attend to college while their children were in the program breaking the cycle of class system especially in poverty.  More parents would be able to work and less assistance for welfare would be needed because quality care would not be an issue. 

I dream of one day making this research a reality as I continue to pursue my education and work towards my doctorate in advocating for universal preschool. 

Research Topic

Well....the topic I chose was is learning through play preparing children for going to school academically but, the question I am really going to answer is the benefits of play which will prove that it prepares children for school. The reason I chose this topic is because I am a firm believer it does work! I teach preschool for 4-5 year olds and the growth I see quarterly is amazing. Using a curriculum that has objectives in which children can build and grown on while playing is phenomenal. Being a professional in early childhood is a challenge in itself, but having to defend our profession in the fact that our children do learn is a disgrace! I chose this topic to inform society about the importance of play and how children learn and develop. It is funny to me that when I was young play was acceptable and important in being a child, but now everyone wants to know are they academically ready for the challenges of kindergarten. What is the purpose of knowing the alphabet if the child cannot even express their emotions in an acceptable way or have the ability to make good choices? Play is the spark of thinking outside the box....exploring the world through their own pace of development. The zone of proximal development and the theories of Vygotsky and Piaget are true testaments that learning through play does exist.

 

In closing I found some great sites on the benefits of learning through play:

http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v11n1/lara.html

http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/crisis_in_early_ed.pdf

Farewell EDU 6162

Well to be quite frank about the consequences I learned internationally our early childhood program really sucks compare to countries such as Brazil, Norway, and Sweden. I mean even Mexico is starting to put their children first by funding programs for early childhood and here we are trying to fight to keep ours in the budget. I really did learn that even though the United States is the most powerful country it is not the smartest when it comes to education. If we know and research brain development, economics and all the ties that fit into the mesosystem than why are we not putting our children first?  Countries such as Zimbabwe and Singapore are revamping their early childhood programs in efforts to enhance their children’s quality of care and learning.  They even understand that educating the future of their country is the economic stability they need.  I feel like I beat a dead horse in asking America why when it comes to early childhood.



Although my journey in EDU 6162 was only 8 weeks I learned a lot in international contacts and issue and trends.  I am more aware of the problems and the research of early childhood, and what I can do to make a difference.  I want to thank all my colleagues for their responses in every aspect.  I enjoyed reading everyone’s post and their perspectives on trends and issues.   I wish everyone the best and look forward to advocating with all of you in the future.  Only 4 more classes to go woohoo!!!!!!

International

The first article I read was about Brazil trying to get the federal government to pass a congressional bill that would make it mandatory to fund an early childhood program for children ages 0 to 6.  Yet, like most countries this bill has lots of conflict surrounding the funding.  In Brazil, it is mandated that funding for education follows strict guidelines where 25% out of 60 goes to early childhood and then elementary education and the other 40 going to secondary education.  Brazil is challenging its government to invest in early childhood they understand the importance of educating the very young and promoting equity in their country.  Many officials are concerned that only the rich will have an education and that many poor families will not have an education nor understand the importance of getting one.  I am so fascinated by Brazil and their efforts; I would love to do an internship in their early childhood program. 

The second article I read was the quality improvement of preschool in Singapore.  This country actually in the 70’s try to implement a universal preschool for all children but the cost was too high so they turned it over to private sectors.  However, private sectors in Singapore are nonprofit agencies who are given subsidiaries to poor families to attend preschool in 2004 nearly 99% of the children’s population had attended 1 to 3 years of preschool.  The attendance to me is amazing so much that even poor countries such as Singapore knew that they needed to improve the quality of the children’s education.  The nonprofit organizations are making an effort with the help of the country to train and educate caregivers.  The outcome has been phenomenal as caregivers are highly educated and the quality of care has improved drastically.  Way to go Singapore! Oh and by the way the quality of care has been equity across the board for the majority of the country since the trainings have begun.

The last article was a short insert of implementing many languages into preschool and hiring educators that can speak multi languages to enhance the children’s culture and others who are from other countries.  I will be quite honest this article did not appeal to me it is often very hard to add culture in the classroom in terms of speaking it on a daily basis but to want educators to be fluent in many languages will make it even more difficult.  I know Spanish and speak it to my children in ways they can comprehend and reciprocate, but to add another one at this point for me would be a train wreck.  I love culture and discussing it and finding interesting ways to add it to the classroom but by no means could I speak it on a daily basis in many languages. 

In any thoughts ……none of these articles really pertained to my professionals goals in a huge sense except for advocating that all children receive quality care and learning and that my enhancement for broadening my education on other cultures has occurred. 

NHSA

I want to first say that I love my website!!!!!!!!  The NHSA had a great article on Dr. Tammi Mann the director of Head Start testifying on the detriment of cutting the budget for early childhood programs... Her grant talked about the waiting list of participants the ever growing need of the children and the spring enrollment of over 500 applicants in which they could not serve ½ because of the lack of increase.  Dr. Mann also touched on the fact that they have to come up with over $7500.00 each year to serve the children and families in the program.  If I had read this article first and then answered this week’s discussion question I could have fully related the struggles to the White House Council.  However, I did explore the website in more depth and found that in the Open window segment you can email President Obama about the importance of Head Start and not cutting the budget as well as writing or videoing the difference Head Start made in you or another child’s life.  Well I must say I did both today and felt like that small step is the start of a new direction for me and my advocacy for early childhood.  I am so inspired by the timeless dedication and actions of others in early childhood and this website is such a great advocacy of my passion.  It is almost like whatever the issue we are discussing for the week is the important issue or trend for the month or week. 

Global Early Childhood

I read several articles from the developing child from Harvard and I must say Brazil is on top of their game.  A group of Brazilians ranging from policy makers to civil society leaders gather together at Harvard to understand the importance of  child development and how it can be applied to most social complex problems.  The range of leaders wanted to strengthen early childhood policies in their community as well as strengthen public and social policies.  Many of the leaders vowed to go back to their jurisdiction and communicate to their stakeholders beginning with the parents to the head of state about the importance of early childhood.  I commend Brazil for their dedication to children and bettering their community.  It takes a village to raise a child and this country is willing to take on the task.

In the next article I read it was about the children in Zimbabwe attending an early childhood program.  Basically the program is trying to develop an assessment tool of the physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development of the children.  The assessment will be necessary for understanding the progress the children have developed in the program and monitoring the achievement gap.  The assessment is called ZAMCAT which stands for Zimbabwe Child Assessment Test and is sure to make a difference in the early childhood program. 

The last article I read was the basically an array of the collaboration and dedication that Harvard dedicates to early childhood globally.  They worked with the people of Zimbabwe to develop and assessment tool, brought the people of Brazil over for a leadership class in the importance of early childhood and social problems.  The magnitude of the work Harvard puts into creating a better world is inspiring.  I hope one day to be able to part of the change of the world but in the meantime I will continue to make a difference one child at a time.

Nondefense Discretionary Programs

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!!!!!!!!!