I chose to research school readiness skills across the country and what different organizations are doing to help increase the number the number of children entering kindergarten is fully ready to learn. Two local organizations that I have been following are Ready at Five, www.readyatfive.org and the Maryland Family Network, www.marylandfamilynetwork.org
Both of these organizations are very well known in Maryland and are involved with Public Policy on the local and National level. They are involved in tracking school readiness scores and providing the assistance needed for child care providers to build the quality of the education they provide, and are huge advocates for Early Childhood Education.
School readiness scores not only show the percentage of children ready to enter kindergarten but they also show where skills need to be improved. Many child care training organizations look at these scores to determine the training they provide in different areas.
I am looking forward to doing more research on this subject and finding other organizations across the country that tracks these scores and what they are doing to help improve them.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
International Resources
I tried several times over the past 8 weeks to make contact with some of my international colleagues and was unsuccessful. Since I was unable to make contact with them I began to research the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Centers (NACCRRA) website and subscribed to their e-newsletter. By familiarizing myself with their website I learned about all of the resource available to parents and providers, as well as their Public Policy Agenda. I have referred to them several times throughout this course as well as in courses in the past. I have recommended, and will continue to recommend this site. It is full of useful and important information regarding early childhood education.
International Resources
I tried several times over the past 8 weeks to make contact with some of my international colleagues and was unsuccessful. Since I was unable to make contact with them I began to research the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Centers (NACCRRA) website and subscribed to their e-newsletter. By familiarizing myself with their website I learned about all of the resource available to parents and providers, as well as their Public Policy Agenda. I have referred to them several times throughout this course as well as in courses in the past. I have recommended, and will continue to recommend this site. It is full of useful and important information regarding early childhood education.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Sharing Web Resources
The Website I chose to follow is National Association for Child Care Resource and referral Agencies (NACCRRA). Their Vision and Mission statement is: “NACCRRA, the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, is our nation’s leading voice for child care. We work with more than 600 state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies to ensure that families in every local community have access to quality, affordable child care. To achieve our mission, we lead projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake groundbreaking research, and advocate for child care policies that positively impact the lives of children and families” (www.naccrra.org).
While browsing through their website I found links too many different information portals on Early Childhood Education (ECE). They provide information on Public Policy issues and ECE Advocacy Campaigns, conferences and trainings for providers and parents, and State rankings and statistics on licensing regulations, cost, availability, of ECE programs. They also provide links to educational materials for parents guiding them on indicators to help determine a high quality program and an online child care searches, among much more.
Under the news tab I found links to articles from several different states addressing issues and challenges in ECE. There were several articles about children who died or were severly injured while in child care, parents and community members learning about child care providers criminal back grounds, and the differences in licensing standards across the country. As I stated before NACCRRA has a link dedicated to every states licensing regulations showing where they comply fully to NACCRA’s standards, where they fall short, and recommendations made to help improve licensing standards in each state. I found that Maryland ranked 11th in the country according to NACCRRA’s standards.
Their e-newsletter covers public Policy Issues, Articles and Links to what is happening in the Federal Government regarding issues on ECE. They also offer a variety of webinars for parents, and ECE professionals. I just attended one on Lobbying vs. Advocacy.
It is an interesting and very informative site for both ECE educators and parents. I highly recommend it.
References
www.naccrra.org. Retrieved from the World Wide Web.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
W5blog Assgin2SnyderL
I reviewed the Harvard website for this assignment. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University was founded in 2006 on the belief that the vitality and sustainability of any society depend on the extent to which it expands opportunities early in life for all children to achieve their full potential and engage in responsible and productive citizenship. We view healthy child development as the foundation of economic prosperity, strong communities, and a just society,and our mission is to advance that vision by using science to enhance child well-being through innovations in policy and practice. (Global Children's initiative). They have variety of resources available to faculty and parents. They have working papers on a variety of topics they support; welfare reform, workforce development and child well-being, Young Children Development in an environment of relationships, excessive Stress disrupts the Developing brain, Maternal Depression can Undermine the Development of young children, along with many more!(Center of the Developing Child). They also have books articles, and video segments available. This is defiantly I site will refer to my fellow educators.
Reference:
http//developingchild.harvard.edu/global_initiative/
I reviewed the Harvard website for this assignment. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University was founded in 2006 on the belief that the vitality and sustainability of any society depend on the extent to which it expands opportunities early in life for all children to achieve their full potential and engage in responsible and productive citizenship. We view healthy child development as the foundation of economic prosperity, strong communities, and a just society,and our mission is to advance that vision by using science to enhance child well-being through innovations in policy and practice. (Global Children's initiative). They have variety of resources available to faculty and parents. They have working papers on a variety of topics they support; welfare reform, workforce development and child well-being, Young Children Development in an environment of relationships, excessive Stress disrupts the Developing brain, Maternal Depression can Undermine the Development of young children, along with many more!(Center of the Developing Child). They also have books articles, and video segments available. This is defiantly I site will refer to my fellow educators.
Reference:
http//developingchild.harvard.edu/global_initiative/
Sunday, May 27, 2012
One of the things I am planning to do is to become a child care trainer. National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Centers (NACCRRA) has several online trainings that would benefit me. Smart Horizons is an online training provider that offers courseware development by experienced Instructional Designers, custom offerings, Learning Management services and superior media design (www.naccra.org, 2012).
NACCRA posted an article about over crowed child cares. Beverly Greenagel was supervising 18 children -- six more than the law allowed -- on the day that Dane Ableidinger died in her care. She watched from her kitchen window as some of the kids hurled water balloons in the back yard. Her assistant, an untrained 12-year-old, played video games with other children in a downstairs room next to where Dane slept. Neither one saw the 3-month-old struggling to lift his head from the folded blanket on the floor where he had been placed on his stomach for a nap. An hour passed before the helper peeked in and saw the infant's face embedded in the flannel blanket. She rolled him on his side and screamed. "Oh, um," the panicked girl said in a 911 call. "There's a baby dead." (www.naccra.org, 2012). It is disturbing to me that licensed providers can get away with going over capacity and having untrained, not to mention way to young people, helping in their child care. In my past experiences I have seen situations like this and they are not caught because of under staffing due to budget cuts. What will it take for politicians to realize that early childhood education is an important part of raising a successful child and building our future?
NACCRA is a key player to help Resource and Referral Centers learn how to educate parents on what to look for in quality child care, as well as being a strong voice in politics. If you are not familiar with them I strongly recommend that you look at the website as well as getting to know your local Resource and Referral Center.
I hear more and more that Mom’s cannot work because of the cost of child care. I know in Maryland they are constantly cutting funds from child care subsidy for families that are struggling. On NACCRRA’s website I did not see anything about what economists and politicians are doing in Maryland to support early childhood education. I am a member of Maryland’s Public Policy Committee, which where I receive the information about financial cuts to child care.
NACCRA posted an article about over crowed child cares. Beverly Greenagel was supervising 18 children -- six more than the law allowed -- on the day that Dane Ableidinger died in her care. She watched from her kitchen window as some of the kids hurled water balloons in the back yard. Her assistant, an untrained 12-year-old, played video games with other children in a downstairs room next to where Dane slept. Neither one saw the 3-month-old struggling to lift his head from the folded blanket on the floor where he had been placed on his stomach for a nap. An hour passed before the helper peeked in and saw the infant's face embedded in the flannel blanket. She rolled him on his side and screamed. "Oh, um," the panicked girl said in a 911 call. "There's a baby dead." (www.naccra.org, 2012). It is disturbing to me that licensed providers can get away with going over capacity and having untrained, not to mention way to young people, helping in their child care. In my past experiences I have seen situations like this and they are not caught because of under staffing due to budget cuts. What will it take for politicians to realize that early childhood education is an important part of raising a successful child and building our future?
NACCRA is a key player to help Resource and Referral Centers learn how to educate parents on what to look for in quality child care, as well as being a strong voice in politics. If you are not familiar with them I strongly recommend that you look at the website as well as getting to know your local Resource and Referral Center.
I hear more and more that Mom’s cannot work because of the cost of child care. I know in Maryland they are constantly cutting funds from child care subsidy for families that are struggling. On NACCRRA’s website I did not see anything about what economists and politicians are doing in Maryland to support early childhood education. I am a member of Maryland’s Public Policy Committee, which where I receive the information about financial cuts to child care.
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