Our Future

   The resources of this week in the Walden University EDU-6162-1, Issues and Trends in Early Childhood Development class, reminded me how important education is not matter what age we are. I also have a Masters in Adult Education and I am very passionate about learners of all ages. Long standing educational gaps and low high school graduation rates was the issue that stood out the most for me because this issue will effect the growth of all economies and lead to not enough qualified workers to run the countries. This is why high-quality, early education is important for children birth to five years of age. On the United States Department of Labor website it stated that the future of unskilled workers depends largely on the education system and the government to provide supplementation to help low-skilled workers and their families http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/herman/reports/futurework/conference/trends/trendsVII.htm.  

   Qualified teachers are an essential component to all preschool programs. Children who are educated by teachers with higher educations in related fields of child development are more sociable, exhibit better language, and perform at a higher level on cognitive tasks than children who are not (Bowman, Donovan, & Burns, 2001). Quality education not only takes qualified teachers, it also takes much needed funds to support the programs.

   Another good resource I found was The National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force brings together leading experts in child development, early education, and state police to help states develop tools to measure, assess and set standards to help improve early education (PEW Charitable Trusts Programs http://www.pewtrusts.org/news). The benefits to the Task Force’s recommendations’ are that any state can use this to guide them to create an effective accountability and improvement system. The Task Force aims to help the states overcome the challenges they might face and effectively confront the issues. Some of the issues that might be a challenge are developing new approaches to assess children and programs and improve early childhood services because of structural, conceptual and technical challenges (National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force, 2007).

     There are many resources available to the people that want to learn and research how important education is and how we go about using the knowledge to help others. I feel the common denominator is we all seek to help children, learn, grow in all ways, live healthy, physically and mentally, and most important become productive members of our society. To do this, we as educators need all the help available to obtain this ambition.

Resources

Bowman, Barbara T.; Donovan, M. Suzanne; & Burns, M. Susan (Eds.). (2001). Eager to learn: Educating our preschoolers. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. ED 447 963

Programs at a glance: The National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force, PEW Charitable Trusts. Retrieved on June 18, 2012,  http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=23460

Childhood Poverty

After reading The Crisis of Childhood Poverty it lead to think about how poverty can lead to lifelong learning disabilities, can be passed on from generation to generation, and can lead to lifelong emotional and physical health issues, http://www.childhoodpoverty.org. I wanted to learn more about how poverty can lead to these issues and one resource I came across was Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development http://www.rupri.org/Forms/WP06-05.pdf. This article has some very interesting theories about all of the above consequences of poverty. This paper states that most rural community development efforts is to relieve causes or symptoms of poverty, it makes a difference to which theory of poverty is believed to be responsible for the problem being addressed. This paper explore five competing theories,

1. Individual deficiencies-
2. Cultural belief systems that support subcultures in poverty
3. Political-economical distortions
4. Geographical disparities
5. Cumulative and circumstantial origins

This paper helps to understand the theories and shows how they shape different community development practices that address sources of poverty more effectively than comparing to one single theory. This resource also explores the relationship between individuals and their community in placing people in poverty, keeping them there, and potentially getting them out. This resource seems to support that idea that individuals are shaped by their community, and communities are a consequence shaped by their individual members.

Resources

Bradshaw, T. Rural Poverty Research Center. Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development, retrieved from, http://www.rupri.org/Forms/WP06-05.pdf, September 18, 2012.

CHIP-Knowledge of Tackeling Childhood Poverty. The Crisis of Childhood Poverty, Retrived from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/, on September 18, 2012.

A Great Resource

   ZERO TO THREE is a national non-prophet organization in Washington D.C. Their mission is to promote the health and development of young children. The website gives specific information about early experiences in childhood development that helps all people involved in the lives of children. The website has tools and resources for adults who influence the lives of young children. ZERO TO THREE has three main goals:

1. Train professionals and build networks of leaders
2. Raise public awareness of early childhood issues
3. Influence policies and practices

   Navigating the ZERO TO THREE website is very simple and user friendly. The main page has such topics as, Featured Resources, What’s new, and Downloads of the week. At the top of the Home Page it has six tabs to click on for information. The tabs consist of Home, Behavior and Development, Maltreatment, Care and Education, Public Policy, and About Us. There is also a search tool in the same row at the top of the home page to help you find anything that might not be mentioned. The left-hand side of the home page has the ZERO TO THREE mission statement. At the bottom of the home page there are three tabs to click on, Military Family Projects, National Training Institute and Early Head Start. Below these tabs is the contact information for the ZERO TO THREE Organization. You simply need to click on http://www.zerotothree.org/, and just get started. It will take some time to absorb the information this website has to offer, but time will pass by very quickly because you will never get bored with all the things the ZERO TO THREE website has to offer.

   ZERO TO THREE has been a very useful website to help promote understanding about critical issues affecting young children and their families. It has a large networks to distribute its work to many originations such as, child care centers, home visiting programs, clinics and hospitals. ZERO TO THREE has provided reliable, science based resources on how to promote young children’s health and development. It seems ZERO TO THREE has become the go-to source for professionals and parents alike.

Resource

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
http://www.zerotothree.org/. Retrieved on September 13, 2012.

Exchanging Thoughts and Ideas

I have decided to communicate through other Blogs, it was very hard getting someone to respond to me from other countries and it seems everyone has a blog. I can communicate with many people via Blog, and from many different countries. We all have a common goal and that is the children.

Contact 1. http://blogs.worldbank.org/education/blogs/emiliana-vegas

Emiliana Vegas's blog

Should developing countries shift from focusing on improving schools to improving parents?

Submitted by Emiliana Vegas on Thu, 2011-12-08 19:34

I travel to many developing countries in the context of my work for The World Bank. I visit schools that receive financial support and technical assistance from the Bank to improve the learning experiences and outcomes of students. Each time, I ask teachers in these schools what they think would make the biggest difference in the learning outcomes of their students. The most common answer is “better parents.” I often wonder if this response is, in some conscious or unconscious way, an excuse to help teachers explain the poor outcomes of their students (especially those from the poorest households) and their low expectations of what their students can achieve. However, both common sense and solid research indicate that parents matter.

Reply: I also think that if education was more accessible and affordable to adults it might make a difference in their children’s lives. I am 43 years of age, the youngest of ten and the only girl. I am the youngest of all my cousins too. I am the only one in my family that had graduated from college; this is a very sad situation. I am currently working on my Master’s in Early Childhood Studies, this is a topic that is very important to me, and we are educating the future of our existence. Education has not been easy and I have many student loans, however, I will continue to be a positive role model in a world full of negatives. It is very easy to blame parents, but we have to take into consideration the community as a whole.