International Early Childhood Professionals

            The course has allowed me to see that the early childhood education system around the world have the deal with the same types of issues. Early childhood professionals have to find ways to deal with equality. Professionals have to deal with the quality of education for all children and their families. Early childhood Professional also has to deal with poverty and the inequality which comes with the lack of finances. Early childhood professionals also have to deal with the economy and how it effects childcare and early childhood education. The lacks of funding due to the down turning economy create challenges for professionals. Once challenge may be the lack or limited materials or resources. Another challenge for professionals as a result of the economy may be over sized classes which affects the quality of education. One of my goals as it relate to international awareness of issues and trends is to stay current. I also want to connect and collaborate with early childhood professionals from other countries. 

International Connection Part 3

I still have not heard from any of the early childhood professionals I reached out to. I am not sure why and I am not sure what to do next. It has been over six weeks and still nothing. I have made more than one attempt; I have sent emails from my personal email account as well as my Walden University email account in attempt start a dialogue with the professional. Nothing has worked thus far. Since I am unable to correspond with any of the early childhood professionals, I began to look for theme related articles and research.

Access and Equality

Most counties agree that education is important and learning starts from birth. They agree that the poor are normally disadvantaged when it comes to early childhood education. It is said governments were urged to expand equitable access to quality early childhood service with the focus on the importance of instituting policies in favor of the poor (Roe, 2012) . Countries have alternate services for poor. The programs are mainly to ensure early childhood education is available and affordable for every child. Even though there are alternative program for early childhood education to ensure the poor have the same advantages as every other child, the privileged seem to benefit the most from state investment (Roe, 2012).

Quality

It is agreed that quality early childhood education is need. It is not just something to help children successfully transition to formal school, but early childhood education should emphasis the child’s holistic development. A universal definition for quality in Early Childhood education is need, but there is not a universally agreed upon definition of quality. There are a few things that are agreed upon such as child-centered learning. One of the reasons there is not a universal definition of quality is because there are so many components to early childhood care and education. A universal definition is important because without that evaluation of a program or policies does not guarantee that the program/policy is effective.

References

Burke, N. (2012). Quality. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strenghtening-education-system/early-childhood/quality

Roe, R. (2012). Access and equity. Retrieved from http://unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strenghtening-education-systems/early-childhood/access-and-quality/

Sharing Web Resources

This week NBCDI website had a few new links located on their site. One thing that is new this week is the information about upcoming events. Information was give about the 3^rd Annual T.E.A.C.H. D.C. college fair. The link provides information about to those who are interested in a career in early childhood education. Another event the site provided a link to is “Coffee & Donuts” for Early Childcare center directors.

The site provided information about the extended deadline for President Obama’s budget for children from birth to five years old. The organization is asking its members and supporters to write a letter to “help move the plan forward”. The link also leads to another link that provides information about Historic investments proposed for our children. The site provides information about the proposed budget. The website discusses the parts of the initiative in the new pre-k plan. One initiative the site mentions in the “Preschool for All”. Every part of the link discuss the parts of the initiative voluntary home visiting programs, New partnerships between Early Head Start and child care programs, high-quality prekindergarten programs and Preschool Development Grants. All of the part is something we talked about this week especially “Preschool for All”.  The site provides current information concerning early childhood education and preschool.

Reference

 http://www.nbcdi.org/events

 http://www.nbcdi.org/news/we-need-your-help-deadline-extended

International Contacts part 2

I have reached out to a number of international professional hoping to gain more insight for this course. Unfortunately, I have not received any response back from any of the professional. Four weeks ago I tried reaching out to a professional who heads up the Mongolian Education Alliance, but I am still awaiting correspondence.  

Zambian Early Childhood Development Project is a project to evaluate early childhood development in a developing country. There is an anti-malaria initiative in Zambia. The Zambian Early Childhood Development project also measures the effect of the anti-malaria initiative on the children’s development of Zambia. There was an assessment created to measure children’s physical, socio-emotional and cognitive development called the Zambian Child Assessment Test (ZamCAT). The assessment is the first assessment tool of its kind in Zambian. The purpose of the assessment is to provide a broad assessment for Zambian pre-school age children (Harvard University, 2012).

 Un Buen Comienzo (UBC) meaning a good start is a project to improve early childhood education. The improvement is done through teacher professional development. The purpose is to improve the quality of education for children ages four to six year old in the area of language development.  The purpose of the project is also to improve school attendance by intervening in the area of critical health. The project began in 2007 with the goal to eventually encompass 60 schools. The project has an evacuation system that is unique because no other Latin American country has a system like it. The Un Buen Comienzo project places Chile at the forefront of high quality early childhood education (Harvard University, 2012).

            Improvement to Early Childhood development is the focus many counties. Research and improvement of early childhood development have been the focus of developed counties for many years, but now early childhood development has become a priority to less developed counties as well. Assessments have been created to measure the success of all of the programs and projects to gain an understanding of what works and what does not. Improvements can be made according to the evaluations.

           

References

Harvard University. (2012). Un Buen Comienzo. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initative/ubc/

Harvard University. (2012). Zambian Early Childhood Development Project. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/zambian_project/

Sharing Web Resources

The origination I chose was National Black Child Development Institute. The information that seemed particularly relevant to my professional development was a podcast on poverty entitled: The New Face of Poverty. The podcast cause me to see poverty in a new light. It emphasized how to look of poverty is not the same. The stereo types of the past no longer apply to children and families dealing with poverty. The New Face of Poverty discusses how the current state of the economy is affecting families. Families and schools that did not have to worry about finances are finding themselves struggling to make ends meet. The podcast allowed understanding that everyone is affected by finances. The worst part about the economy is education is being compromised. The podcast allowed me to see the importance of policies and programs politicians are implementing in order to improve education policies such as free meals. Free meals have been around for a long time, but in some states and counties are adjusting the policy in order to ensure no child goes hungry because they are able to pay for breakfast and lunch.

The information from the pod cast allowed me to see that something positive can come from a negative effect of poverty. For instance, in the podcast one of the guess discuss the effect of the struggling economy on her school district. The school district was unable to successfully support every school in that district. Some of the middle schools were closed because they were unable to afford to keep them open. As a result, some schools were turned into elementary/junior high schools. The guest discussed how students’ grades begin to improve. She was able find research showing students in schools that are combinations of elementary and junior high schools tend to do better than students who attend stand alone junior highs. The district was originally distraught about having to close schools because of financial issues, but in the end something positive came from it.

Reference

NBCDI National Black Child Development Institute. (2013). News Dr. DeHaney Featured on Podcast  about " The New Face of Poverty". Retrieved from http://www.nbcdi.org/news/dr-dehaney-featured- podcast-about-new-face-poverty