RESEARCH    

 Even the word carries the eminent dread of time, scouring through pages of data only to get redirected a hundred times and still not find what you need or if it is even credible!!  This class is quite necessary for me personally because quite simply, I need to know what the heck I’m talking about as a professional and currently I don’t have enough knowledge or experience to be credible. Also, even if I did, staying up to date on current issues is critical because things are changing so quickly especially with regards to early childhood education. The resource, “A practical guide to reading research articles” has already helped tremendously as well as knowing the principles for high quality research, how to critically analyze information, and use certain criteria and tools to evaluate electronic resources. Now I am not as apprehensive and even look forward to gathering the information I need.  

There is NOTHING wrong with My Child!

The topic I’ve chosen for the simulation process revolves around the detection, diagnosis, and treatment/services for children with special needs and varying exceptionalities.  As everyone knows, this is my passion and at the heart of my business because of my own personal experiences with my son who was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and Autism at age 2 and Sensory Integration Dysfunction by age 4. I believe early intervention is the key to helping these children develop, as much as they are able, into happy, healthy, independent adults. The first step is detection, which is an area that requires observation, honesty and action on the part of the parents and unfortunately, many either deny any possibilities that something may be amiss or don’t know where to go to get help obtaining a proper diagnosis for their child.  I believe when a parent or caregiver Denies the existence of a need in their child, they have become the greatest Barrier to that child achieving their fullest potential.

In order for me to truly help the children and families I will work with, I need to have accurate knowledge and resources available. Even though the thought of research is intimidating to me, learning how to properly research, deciphering what is and isn’t relevant through the guides and charts we have already begun to use saves times and energy. Also, by actually using a topic that is of great interest and relevance to me allows me to begin collecting the information that I need and can use!

To my classmates and colleagues I would ask that you share any new information and credible resources as I will do the same!

Lepuschitz, J.K. (2011). A practical guide to reading research articles. Laureate Education Inc., Baltimore, MD.

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Over the weeks I have studied Issues and Trends in Early Childhood Education and have gained very valuable information as an ECE from a professional and personal perspective. Although I was unable to connect with an international contact, the site I chose NAEYC has a lot of information with regards to education and children. There are many consequences of learning about the international childhood field and the three I chose are:

          

   Awareness

                                                                      

                                                                                                                 

        Knowledge                                                                                                                                  

         

     Sharing

Being aware of current early childhood education programs in other countries and any issues they may experience and the knowledge we gain can help us to compare, collaborative and share their strengths, lessons learned, and diverse approaches for supporting early childhood development.  It is clear that as early childhood educators and advocates, we have a shared goals for young children and their families, despite the long distances between our home countries and the varying cultural perspectives from which we view the world.

Early Childhood Care and Education

As ECE, we all know that learning begins at birth but the focus on the value of high-quality early childhood education eludes many and unfortunately, by the time a child reached the primary education level, some are faced with cognitive, social and emotional challenges that can have lifelong impacts for them.   Four areas that are discussed in the article are quality; access and equity; investment and financing; coordination and integration.

Quality: Early childhood care and education programs should emphasize the child’s holistic development and extend beyond assisting the child’s transition to formal schooling. High quality childcare, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, promotes motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development and school readiness.

Access and Equity: The problems with high quality programs are the costs to access them.  Many are not able and must settle for less which is where the main issues lie.  Yes there are some funds for the severely disadvantaged, but unfortunately, the majority of the population exists in a gap where they make too much to receive assistance and too little to truly afford high quality services. So the real question is how can we bridge the gap so every child has equal access, regardless of the socioeconomic status, to a high quality early childhood program?

Investment and Financing: The government has limited the allocation of the funds dedicated to education with stipulations that make it impossible for the group mentioned above to access and if they deal with the issue at all, often approach early childhood from the context of national social policy or health services. The 1990 Jomtien Declaration on Education for All (EFA), stated that countries should view early childhood as part of basic education. Once countries recognize the positive value of state investment in this area, the next challenge is to mobilize funds and that is where the private sector businesses are encouraged to assist.

Coordination and Integration: Coordination issues include coherent regulation, funding and staffing schemes and a common vision of care and education. Effective coordination must exist among sectors at both national and local level, and also between public and private establishments.

Each of these areas must be addressed if we are to make positive strides to provide quality education for our children and fair compensation for the wonderful educators out there struggling to do their jobs on the very limited resources available to them.

Reference

Early Childhood | Education | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization." Early Education. Early Childhood Education United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, n.d. Web. 19 June 2015.

As I perused NAEYC’s site I came across this topic that reflects our issue this week.  I was amazed how closely my thoughts align with theirs.  As I delved deeper I discovered they are very specific and have a step by step approach to achieving excellence in early childhood. The bottom line is that if we truly want to provide excellence and equity in early childhood, everyone must work together to make it happen. Below are NAEYC’s goals and beliefs:

A Call for Excellence in Early Childhood Education

Early Years Are Learning Years

The demand for early childhood care and education programs continues to increase not only in response to the growing demand for out-of-home child care but also in recognition of the critical importance of educational experiences during the early years. Several decades of research clearly demonstrate that high-quality, developmentally appropriate early childhood programs produce short- and long-term positive effects on children's cognitive and social development.

NAEYC members, most of whom work directly with young children and families, see daily the toll of ill-conceived policies on the lives of the children and families we serve. Existing programs have too often taken fragmented, piecemeal approaches to the complex issues facing children and families. Effective policies have seldom been funded at sufficient levels to provide adequate support to all families who might benefit.

NAEYC believes that our nation is at a crossroads. We must develop an integrated system of early childhood care and education that includes comprehensive approaches that directly involve families and communities in program design, implementation, and evaluation. We can invest now in our children and families and enjoy long-term savings, with a more vibrant nation of healthy, achieving children and more stable families. Or, we can fail to make the investment and pay the price: increased delinquency, greater educational failures, lowered productivity, less economic competitiveness, and fewer adults prepared to be effective, loving parents to the next generation of children. Federal, state and local government, communities, parents, and the private sector must share in the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of children and families.

Our nation can and must do better to create opportunities that help all children and families succeed. The time for action is now.

A Renewed Call to Action

Our goal is not to simply defend the status quo. NAEYC’s convictions about early childhood care and education set forth a vision of a system that is still unmet.

• That all young children deserve excellent early care and education

There are a large percentage of child care classrooms and family child care homes that are of mediocre or poor quality. An alarming number of infants and toddlers are found to be in unsafe settings. We know that children in schools with fewer resources, a larger percentage of teachers that are new or have emergency certificates, and lacking parental involvement in their education are not receiving the excellent early education they deserve.

• That high quality early experiences make a difference in children’s lifelong academic and social success

Several decades of research clearly demonstrate that high-quality, developmentally appropriate early childhood programs produce short- and long-term positive effects on children's cognitive and social development. Specifically, children who experience high-quality, stable child care engage in more complex play, demonstrate more secure attachments to adults and other children, and score higher on measures of thinking ability and language development. High-quality child care can predict academic success, adjustment to school, and reduced behavioral problems for children in first grade. Studies demonstrate that children's success or failure during the first years of school often predicts the course of later schooling. A growing body of research indicates that more developmentally appropriate teaching in preschool and kindergarten predicts greater success in the early grades.

• That these programs must be accessible to all families

Access to child care, particularly high quality child care, remains out of reach for many families. Programs outside of K-12 public education have the greatest difficulty in meeting the criteria of good quality, equitable compensation, and affordable access. Unlike K-12 education -- a publicly financed system with a relatively stable funding base -- most early childhood care and education services operate in a very price-sensitive market financed primarily by fees from families and supplemented by public and private contributions. Many families cannot pay the full cost of quality care, and the ongoing commitment from public and private contributions is seldom guaranteed. For other children, there are insufficient numbers of child care providers trained in or connected to others who can help support their special educational or other needs to develop to their full potential.

• That early childhood professionals must have excellent preparation, ongoing professional development, and compensation commensurate with their qualifications and experience

A key component of quality programs is the quality of teacher. Recruitment and retention of child care staff is extremely difficult. The average child care teaching assistant earns roughly $10,500 a year and the highest paid child care teachers are paid roughly $18,000 a year. Turnover of staff averages 31 percent. In public schools, although salaries are much higher than for child care teachers, there is difficulty retaining talented teachers and recruiting more experienced teachers to troubled schools. Scholarships, financial aid, and loan forgiveness are insufficient to help many early childhood educators obtain excellent preparation and ongoing professional development.

• That effective early education must be both challenging and appropriate to young children’s ages, individual needs, and culture

To guide their decisions about practice, all early childhood teachers need to understand the developmental changes that typically occur in the years from birth through age 8 and beyond, variations in development that may occur, and how best to support children's learning and development during these years. Children's development is best understood within the sociocultural context of the family, educational setting, community, and broader society. These various contexts are interrelated, and all have an impact on the developing child.

• That everyone needs to work together to build a successful future for our youngest children

An equitable and sufficient system of financing early childhood education in the United States is still elusive. Child care is financed through a patchwork of government, parent, and private sector resources. Families contribute roughly 60 percent of the costs of child care; federal, state, and local governments combined contribute 39 percent, and business contributes one percent. Public schools are financed largely through property taxes, which has created an inequitable distribution of resources within school districts and states, despite additional resources from states and the federal government. An equitable system of financing child care and early education requires a strong partnership between government, families, and the private sector.

A Vision for Excellence

All states must develop a system of early childhood care and education with appropriate regulatory, governance, finance, and accountability mechanisms so that --

• All Children have access to a safe and accessible, high quality early childhood education that includes a developmentally appropriate curriculum, knowledgeable and well-trained program staff and educators, comprehensive services that support their health, nutrition, and social well-being, in an environment that respects and supports diversity.
• All Early Childhood Professionals are supported as professionals with a career ladder, ongoing professional development opportunities, and compensation that will attract and retain high quality educators.
• All Families have access to early care and education programs that are affordable and of high quality, and are participants in the education and well being of their children through family involvement in programs and schools, as well as opportunities to increase their educational attainment.
• All Communities are accountable for the quality of early childhood programs provided to all children, backed by the local, state, and federal funding needed to deliver quality programs and services.

To achieve these goals at the national, state, and local levels, policies and decisions must be guided of principles of Excellence, Access, Equity, Diversity, and Accountability.

• Excellence: The design, funding, and implementation of systems necessary to support best practices in all early childhood programs.
• Access: The absence of barriers for all children to attend high-quality programs.
• Equity: Opportunities for all children, regardless of family status, income, disability, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, or race to attend high quality programs, with an emphasis on targeting funding to ensure that those families with the fewest resources are served.
• Diversity: Flexibility in the ways in which programs are provided and services are tailored to the needs of families and children. Responsive and supportive programs that recognize and respect the whole child and family, their cultural backgrounds, and the community’s culture.
• Accountability: Clearly defined standards for program quality and personnel, with input from the early childhood professionals, families, and communities, with ongoing planning and evaluation processes, to ensure positive educational, health, and social outcomes for children.

Making the Vision a Reality

Early childhood programs have the potential for producing positive and lasting effects on children, but this potential will not be achieved unless more attention is paid to ensuring that all programs meet the highest standards of quality. As the number and type of early childhood programs increase, the need increases for a shared vision and agreed-upon standards of professional practice.

Making this vision of excellence a reality will require a commitment from and a partnership among the federal, state, and local governments, business and labor, private institutions, and the public. As we stand at the beginning of a new millennium, we must join forces to advocate and implement the policies at the appropriate federal, state, and local levels that will lead to excellence in early childhood education programs.

References

http://www.naeyc.org/policy/excellence

Global Children’s Initiative seeks to catalyze fresh thinking about how to achieve breakthrough outcomes for children around the globe. The following propositions guide GCI's work:

• To protect children from the biological consequences of significant adversity, in addition to providing them with enriched learning opportunities. Investments in the early childhood years are critical building blocks for lifelong health promotion and disease prevention, not just strategies to enhance school readiness.
• Coordinated strategies to reduce biological and environmental risk factors in the lives of women and their children can simultaneously reduce child mortality, improve developmental outcomes, build human capital, and reduce widespread poverty throughout the world. 

After exploring Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative website, I found there are three current activities they are involved in:

1. Applying the Science of Early Childhood in Brazil called Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância (NCPI)– They are  committed to:

·         Building a unified science of child development to explain the early roots of lifelong health, learning, and behavior in Brazil;

·         Translating and communicating science effectively to inform the public discourse around issues that affect children and families; and

·         Preparing leaders to leverage the science of healthy development in the design and implementation of innovative policies and programs that reduce preventable disparities and promote greater well-being for all Brazilian children.

NCPI represents a model of collaborative work at the nexus of practice, policy, and research. Core program activities include the following:

           ·    Building a Brazilian scientific community around early childhood development. NCPI is convening an interdisciplinary group of Brazilian scholars to guide the synthesis and application of scientific knowledge about child development to policymaking and practice in Brazil. It is also fostering collaboration among Harvard and Brazilian researchers.

            ·  Translating scientific knowledge for application to social policy. This includes working with the Center’s longtime partner organization, the Frameworks Institute, to communicate the science of child development within the Brazilian cultural context in the most effective ways.

• Strengthening leadership around early childhood development through an executive leadership course for policymakers. Drawing on the latest research, the program provides public leaders with the knowledge and tools to design and implement more effective, science-based public policies and programs.
• Translating and adapting the Center’s existing print and multimedia resources for a Brazilian audience. The translated science forms the basis of a wide range of publications and educational media that give Brazilian policymakers, practitioners, and the general public multiple ways to engage with and understand the science of early childhood development. 

2. Global Learning Community:  Saving Brains-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 by:

• Articulating a common theory for action based on scientific knowledge and practical experience;
• Developing shared metrics and evaluation frameworks for interventions;
• Fostering an ongoing learning community to accelerate innovation through sharing lessons and results; and
• Encouraging policy translation through cross-sectional leadership development.

Currently, projects are being implemented in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

3. Support for Faculty: Seed-Funded Research- The GCI provides support to research activities led by affiliated faculty members of the Center who work closely with researchers and institutions in low- and middle-income countries around the world. Each project has fostered interdisciplinary collaboration to generate new evidence and insights about how child development unfolds in diverse cultural contexts.

Some examples of global projects conducted by Center-affiliated faculty that have received funding through GCI include:

• China: Assessing Child Mental Health Needs in Shanghai

            Myron Belfer, project co-leader
                This project aims to assess the mental health needs of children and             adolescents – a first for China. Blending qualitative and quantitative methods,       it seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of the current status of services,               information on barriers to care, an improved understanding of local                 epidemiology, and a roadmap for future services and research development. 

• Chile: Expanding effective interventions to improve preschool quality                                  Project collaborators: MaryCatherine Arbour, Catherine                                          Snow, Hirokazu Yoshikawa

                Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), "A Good Start," was a collaborative project in Santiago, Chile, that sought to improve early childhood education through                 teacher professional development. Its goal was to improve the quality of educational offerings for four-to-six-year-olds, particularly in the area of language development. The project also addressed critical health areas that can improve school attendance and socioemotional development, and worked to involve the children's families in their education.

 The project began in 2007 with four demonstration sites. Since 2011, the            UBC program has been implemented in 75 schools in two regions.

The GCI has recognized what scientists and educators have known for years and are taking the next steps drawing from the Frontiers of Innovation initiative started here in the US.  As educators, parents, community leaders, etc. we need to continue to advocate for all our children.

References:

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

NAEYC has many resources on their website to choose from including publications, accreditation, professional development and public policy. One topic I found particularly interesting to me that is relevant to my professional development is the matter of childhood trauma and how it impacts children’s abilities to learn, create healthy attachments, form supportive relationships, and follow classroom expectations.  It also has negative behavioral, emotional, neurobiological, and developmental repercussions throughout children’s schooling and their adult life. Children who experience trauma are two-and-a-half times more likely to fail a grade in school than their nontraumatized peers. They score lower on standardized tests, have higher rates of suspension and expulsion, and are more likely to be placed in special education classrooms.  When evaluating children for special needs, that is an important area to include in the process.

NAEYC is an advocate for play and has tips for parents to help them understand how important it is for their child’s development.

Here are 10 things every parent should know:

1.  Children learn through their play.  Don’t underestimate the value of play. Children learn and develop: cognitive skills – like math and problem solving in a pretend grocery store; physical abilities – like balancing blocks and running on the playground; new vocabulary – like the words they need to play with toy dinosaurs; social skills – like playing together in a pretend car wash; literacy skills – like creating a menu for a pretend restaurant.

2. Play is healthy.  Play helps children grow strong and healthy. It also counteracts obesity issues facing many children today.

3. Play reduces stress. Play helps your children grow emotionally. It is joyful and provides an outlet for anxiety and stress.

4. Play is more than meets the eye.  Play is simple and complex. There are many types of play: symbolic, sociodramatic, functional, and games with rules-to name just a few. Researchers study play’s many aspects:  how children learn through play, how outdoor play impacts children’s health, the effects of screen time on play, to the need for recess in the school day.

5. Make time for play.   As parents, you are the biggest supporters of your children’s learning. You can make sure they have as much time to play as possible during the day to promote cognitive, language, physical, social, and emotional development.   

6. Play and learning go hand-in-hand.  They are not separate activities. They are intertwined. Think about them as a science lecture with a lab. Play is the child’s lab.

7. Play outside.  Remember your own outdoor experiences of building forts, playing on the beach, sledding in the winter, or playing with other children in the neighborhood. Make sure your children create outdoor memories too.

8. There’s a lot to learn about play.  There’s a lot written on children and play. Here are some NAEYC articles and books about play.  David Elkind’s The Power of Play (Da Capo, 2007 reprint) is also a great resource.

9. Trust your own playful instincts.  Remember as a child how play just came naturally? Give your children time for play and see all that they are capable of when given the opportunity.

10. Play is a child’s context for learning.  Children practice and reinforce their learning in multiple areas during play. It gives them a place and a time for  learning that cannot be achieved through completing a worksheet. For example, in playing restaurant, children write and draw menus, set prices, take orders, and make out checks.  Play provides rich learning opportunities and leads to children’s success and self-esteem.

We as parents want our children to excel academically so we simply accept school's decisions to remove play from the curriculum, when in fact it is one of the biggest mistakes schools can make. Bottom line: Let the children play!!

References

http://www.naeyc.org/yc/article/creating_trauma-sensitive_classrooms_Statman-Weil

http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/child-development/10-things-every-parent-should-know-about-play               

http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/child-development/10-things-every-parent-should-know-about-play

NAEYC Podcast- Dual Language Learners

Participants:  Rae Pica, Jerri Daniel-Hosts

                         Karen Nemeth, Ed. M 

This podcast was about Dual and English Language Learners (DLL), (ELL) and I learned that there is a difference between the two.  First of all, Karen states that all preschool children are ELL which I hadn’t considered but such is the case.  DLL is where children of different ethnicities not only learn their home language but English as well. 

She also stated many parents only want their children to learn English and not their native language because they feel, especially living in the US that English is more important to their child’s academic success.  Research shows that when a child’s native language is used as well as English, it actually helps them to learn English more quickly and in fact, depriving them of their home language carries negative implications as well as their identity, which is an integral part of that child’s healthy development

Early childhood educators should encourage parents to use their native language in the home and for those parents who speak little English, to assist them by simplifying paperwork, using visuals, get translators, and try to learn common key words and make and keep eye contact.

Child Poverty in Bangladesh

Three insights I gained studying Bangladesh on Child Poverty from UNCEF’s page include:

• The extent of poverty declines according to the educational level of the parents. For example, 53% of households that have a household head with no education live below the upper poverty line, compared to only 19 per cent of households where the head has completed secondary education as a minimum.
•  Male headed households with children are more likely to live in poverty than comparable female-headed households. The research did not reveal why, but I am quite interested to know because I would have thought the opposite was true.
•  49% of households with children have at least one adult that suffers with a chronic illness.

There are key recommendations for policies and programs with regards to nutrition, health, education, child protection, water, sanitation, laws, and policy.  Because there are so many I will only list one from each category:

•  Expand nationwide evidence-based and proven nutrition interventions and improve coordination of nutrition programs, including: use of multiple micronutrients for control and prevention of anemia; exclusive breastfeeding and timely introduction of appropriate complementary feeding; and iron and folic acid supplementation for pregnant women.
•  Accelerate implementation of existing policies and strategies that are most likely to reduce risks to child well-being, and increase gender and age sensitive care and support services for Most at Risk Adolescents (MARA) and Especially Vulnerable Adolescents (EVA).
•  Access to safe drinking water and sanitation needs to be consolidated, expanded and sustained. Special emphasis should be given to arsenic affected, flood and disaster prone areas.
•  Alternative care facilities for children deprived of parental care and children in contact with the law should be increased and developed. The existing network of institutional care should be transformed into a family-type environment and monitoring and supervision mechanisms should be strengthened in order to ensure the quality of care.
• The inclusion of children, who are out of school, including those from ethnic minorities, needs the highest level priority.
•  Child related national legislation should be harmonized with the United Nations Committee on  the Rights of the Child Concluding Observations and Recommendations for the Government of Bangladesh 2009. A comprehensive child protection policy, addressing early marriage, child labor and street children issues, should be developed that articulates a clear and structured action plan to ensure preventive and protective measures for children.

Reference

http://www.naeyc.org/newsroom/NAEYCradio