Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Three new ideas I gained about issues related to international early childhood education UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage...

 1. The Roma (aka: gypsies) are the largest ethnic minority in Europe with over 10 million residents. Sadly, over 50% of Roma Children do no finish primary school, even with efforts to expand and improve education.

2. The Roma are at greatest risk of being poor, uneducated and unemployed. It points to European and national opinion surveys that show many European citizens have negative views about this group that are often based on stereotypes and prejudice dating back several centuries.

3. To meet the challenge of Roma exclusion and continuing deprivation, the Governments need to employ upstream financial, social and work policies to reduce family poverty and give young children a fair start in life. UNESCO and the Council of Europe are working to improving access to early childhood educational opportunities and the Roma’s transition to quality primary education.

This week I listened to the podcast that interviewed TJ Skalski. TJ is the Principal of The Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School (MECCS), the first and only Indigenous charter school in Canada. Her first year at MECCS was very unpleasant. She was the 5th principal in 5 years and the school had only been open for 5 years. In her first year, she had gone through 2 superintendents. She is the first principal to stay for the 2nd consecutive year. Now she’s on her 6th superintendent and there is a whole new board of directors. She has had 2 years to learn about the evolution of the school. Her focus is investing into the kids. She focuses on creating a community where culture is put as a priority and culture and language is on the forefront. She feels that so many students are caught and trapped in this cycle of depression, poverty and hurt. When thinking about her own life and how she avoided those feelings, she realized that it was b/c of her family values, having grandparents who were very strong and a mother who had a strong work ethic and wanted to provide for her family. She notes that the kids who she serves are lacking that at home. Students are coming to her school feeling damaged, hungry, wounded, scarred, depressed, and not feeling of any worth. So being at the school for her is about building dreams and inspiring kids to do something with their life. She wants them to realize that there is something beyond the walls of the school. She shares her story with the kids and how she grew up living between 2 worlds to inspire them and give them hope. I found her story inspiring and I could definitely connect with her. I have made these same realizations with her. I was a very blessed child and was lucky enough to grow up in a home where I was raised healthy, loved, and cared for daily. Not all children are as lucky, especially ones where I teach. We have social service workers in our school and a guidance counselor to work with our children with mental and emotional problems. I have the same hopes at TJ for my own students. I really enjoyed listening to her podcast and making some personal connections with someone in the field outside of our country.

Sharing Web Resources

Pre-Now is an organization that was based under the Pew Research Center. I was interesting in finding more information about the center. I found out that the Pew Research Center works on developing reports, data trends, quizzes and graphics, which inform the public about issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The Pew Charitable Trusts funded the 10-year campaign to develop high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds in 2011. Through its accomplishments, Pre-K Now reformed the national conversation about pre-k education, and in its final report, challenged the nation’s policy makers to transform public education by moving away from the current K-12 system to pre-K-12. The pre-k now website has a lot of links to articles, videos and reports relevant to the Pre-K Now organization’s research and studies.

While continuing my search through the Pre-K Now website, I found some very interesting articles that apply to what we are learning this week in class. The first article I came across was called Tapping Title I: What Every School Administrator Should Know about Title I, Pre-K and School Reform. The article discussed how several school districts have difficulty discovering resources to provide needed early childhood programs for families in their communities. One largely available funding source that can be utilized more to fund pre-k is Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Title 1 is the biggest source of federal funding for public schools that ensures all children living in high-poverty areas receive an effective and high-quality education.  Title 1 and Pre-K both have similar goals: “to help reduce achievement gaps and improve academic performance among students living in poverty.” The article also gave strategies that are pre-k related to complement Title 1 school reform:

·      Increase pre-k access for at risk children

·      Align pre-k through 3rd learning goals and standards

·      Establish common standards and expectations across all Pre-K programs

·      Extend pre-k program hours and/or school years

·      Offer additional literacy instruction for ELLs

·      Provide joint professional development opportunities

·      Implement age-appropriate screenings and assessment tools

·      Provide comprehensive services (i.e. health, nutrition, social services)

·      Hold parent-education seminars

The next article I read was titled Meeting the Challenge of Rural Pre-K. The article stated that accessibility to pre-k in rural areas are lower than urban and suburban school districts. Low accessibility for pre-k in rural areas translates into low school readiness for those children. To be more specific, research found that children in rural areas are 15% LESS likely to start kindergarten with important early literacy skills and 50% LESS likely to know beginning sounds than children in urban and suburban areas. They are also 60% MORE likely to need special education versus children raised in non-rural areas.

The following article titled The Pre-K Pinch: Early Education and the Middle Class discussed how middle-class families earn too much to qualify for state pre-kindergarten programs, so private early education and care is among the most burdensome expenses. They went onto say how by providing high-quality pre-k to all, policymakers can help these strapped families while enhancing children’s school readiness and our nation’s human capital. Only eight states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation to extend eligibility for pre-k to all children whose families want to enroll them, and only Oklahoma has achieved an enrollment rate greater

than 60 percent of four year olds. For the remaining 30 states with pre-k programs, 20 use family income on its own or with other “risk factors” to determine eligibility. In the majority of these states, a family of four earning a little more than $40,000 a year would not be able to enroll their children in pre-k.

The website has many more interesting articles I look forward to reading as the year goes on. These were just a few that stood out to me that I believe appli

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I watched the podcast about Maysoun Chehab. She works with early childhood practitioners, policy makers and the Arab Resource Collective (ARC) community. ARC is a not-for profit non-governmental organization based in Beirut, Lebanon. She helps raise awareness about early childhood care, early childhood development, and child rights. She also trains early chidhood caregivers on best practices and produces Arabic resources for parents and teachers on issues related to early childhood.

According to Maysoun, her most rewarding project she worked on was a psychosocial support project that took place in July 2006. A lot of young children were affected by the war that lasted for 30 days. 126 primary schools were destroyed. Families, teachers and young children needed support. After the war, they went into the affected villages and implemented psychosocial projects where trained parents and teachers emotional and social reactions that children would have in post conflict situations. The most successful part was targeting parents and teachers to help support children by training them for 6 days on coping techniques and strategies that supported themselves and children. Afterwards the parents and teachers were more confident in dealing with young children.

I have yet to hear back from Maysoun, so I researched information regarding equity and excellence from Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website. In association with the Global Children’s Initiative, the Center on the Developing Child is beginning the Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância. This is the center’s first major program outside the boundaries of the U.S. In partnership with native experts, this project targets child health and development to assist in the development of greater policies and bigger investments that can help benefit young Brazilian children and their families. The organization aims to construct a program full of Early childhood development scholars as well as translate and communicate the organization’s goals and resources to a Brazilian audience. They also hope to build leaders in the field by providing training for policy makers.

While knowledge and research has been developed in many developing countries, there has been little evidence that is made available on early childhood development in sub-Saharan Africa. In response to this, a combined effort to evaluate the outcomes of an continuous anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in Zambia. It is believed that their work will not only improve comprehension of child development in this context but also help develop necessary interventions towards improved outcomes in a rapidly changing developing world.

The last insight I have gained would be how science research is showing that investments in early childhood and in healthy life course for young people in hardship have a social and an economic impact. Theresa Betancourt, a Center-affiliated faculty member designs invertventions for parents and children in Rwanda. For example, even with strong antiretroviral therapy made available to them, many HIV-infected parents in Rwanda see their diagnosis as a death sentence rather than a chronic illness, like diabetes, that they could live with and still be great parents. She encourages outside interest in doing family-based interventions with groups experiencing other forms of adversity, such as extreme poverty or communal violence.

All three of these programs not only work with young children, but they also include the child’s families.

References

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/applying_the_science_of_early_childhood_in_brazi/

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

Lawton, M. (n.d.) Studying the Effects of Global Adversity, Two Generations at a Time. Center of Developing Child. Harvard University.

Sharing Web Resources

First off, I want to apologize for my late posting this evening! I usually try to get my work done in the morning, but found out yesterday afternoon that my Grandpappy passed away so I've had a hard time concentrating on my school work. But I finally got some motivation to finish it tonight, so here we go! 

While searching through the Pre-K website, I found an article that was relevant to looking through an economists eyes at the benefits of early childhood education. According to Albert Wat (2007), the Pre-K now’s research on several high-quality pre-k programs (for children ages 3 to 4) have confirmed that children who attend high-quality pre-k are more likely to graduate from high school and acquire secondary education. Pre-K now’s research also validates that a more educated workforce increases a nation’s productivity. Pre-K Now’s research concentrated on early childhood education’s impact on the nation’s macroeconomic growth and provides reasoning for growth in investing in nationwide Pre-K programs.  Through studying the research done by Pre-K Now and really focusing on how economists view the importance and value of Pre-K programs, I just wonder what it will take for our society and government to take action and make it available for ALL children. Also in the article by Wat (2007) he mapped out the lifetime benefits of Pre-K.

Some examples are:

Education Impacts

• Lower special education
• Lower grade retention
• Increased high school completion
• Increased test scores

Social & Emotional Impacts

• Fewer behavioral problems
• More self control
• Improved peer relationships

Economy Impacts

• Increased Earnings & Tax Revenues
• Decreased Reliance on Social Services/Welfare
• Decreased Criminal Activity

Child Well Being

• Less child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment 

Improved Health Behaviors

• Less Reliance on Health Services
• Better Health Outcomes

More Skilled Workforce

• Increased Productivity
• Higher employment
• Higher earnings

A new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field that I have gained from exploring the Pre-K website is that with the ongoing research and studies being done in our field, other professionals in varying fields are starting to see the importance and value of what we do. It makes me feel proud to be part of something that even thought we don’t get the recognition and appreciation we deserve, that I know I am doing something important and making a different for every child that walks into my classroom door.

References:

Wat, A. (2007). Dollars and Sense: A Review of Economic Analyses of Pre-K. Pre-K Now.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

Delfena Mitchell 

Delfena Mitchell is Director of the Liberty Children’s Home, on the outskirts of Belize City. This program opened in the summer of 2005 and is licensed to house up to 40 children, predominantly between birth to 5 years of age. However, older children who have younger siblings in care are and will always be accommodated. All of the children at the care center have been abandoned, abused or orphaned and many have disabilities, special needs.

From the podcast I learned that the Liberty Children's home is located in Central America. Belize City, unfortunately has the number 1 incidents of child abuse in the Caribbean. There are 42 children in Liberty Children’s Home. Children come to the Home because they have been physically or sexually abused, neglected or abandoned. When the children arrive, they are really broken down and need time to heal. So the workers there will give the children time to transition and get them back into school. They get to the know the child and let them open up when the are ready.

She gave an example of one young boy who came to them at 9 years old with 6 other brothers and sisters. He had not spoken in over a year because he came from a home where he was physically abused and observed his sister suffering the same. They started off homeschooling him because he wasn't ready to be in a normal classroom. When they did enroll him in school, he was kicked out in the first week. She took him horseback riding, and in that 30 minutes he began to talk about his abuse from his grandmother and how she would beat him with a stick and he'd take his food under his bed to eat so no one would take it away. Delfana had trouble understanding him at times because he had regressed in language development because of the abuse he suffered. He began to say a couple words as the weeks went on. They would give him informal sessions of school for a few hours a day and let him spend most of his time in the gardens because he loved it. With the combination of his meds and going back to school, he began to change and talk more as the weeks went on.

I have not heard back from Delfena yet, so I read information on childhood poverty and here are my 3 New Insights Regarding Poverty from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php

1. There is a crisis of childhood poverty is heartwrenching. An estimated 1 in 4 children (that's over 600 million kids) worldwide are living in poverty. In many countries there are over 60% of children whose family are living in poverty.
2. One of the effects of poverty is that over 10 million children under 5 years of age are dying from diseases that can be prevented. I believe that children, especially in developing countries that are bearing these effects, should have more advocates because these children are bearing both the physical and emotional costs of poverty such as death, malnutrition, poor health, life-long learning difficulties and lost opportunities.
3. Poverty tends to be passed on to children from their parents. This is why I love my job teaching in a Title 1 school. At my school 90% of our students are on free/reduced lunch (living below the poverty line) and 220 children out of about 500 benefit from our FUEL program. (FUEL program is through Kroger stores.... people buy FUEL bags of snacks for our students in the program to take home every Friday for days they can not benefit from food at school. I believe teaching my kindergarteners and giving them a good start to their education is the first step in tackling childhood poverty. To give them the necessary tools (to read, write, and do math) they will need to become whatever they dream to be.

Sharing Web Resources

Pre-K Now believes that the success of public education begins in Pre-K.  In 2001, they began a campaign to encourage more states to invest in high-quality Pre-K programs. In 10 years, the amount of state investment has increased over 50%. The Pre-K Now campaign ended in 2011, but left with a challenge for all policy makers to move away from our current K-12 public school system to a Pre-K-12 one. 

Here is a short video giving an overview of their campaign...

 

 There are two current issues in the field that I am facing in my own career that has been unintentionally left out of our course due to the time constraints. As a kindergarten teacher, I am implementing the new Common Core standards this year. These standards have changed the expectations for what children must know when entering and "graduating" kindergarten. This means, that the early learning standards must change to align with our new common core standards. I also believe with the amount of knowledge my students must know before leaving, they would be more successful if they had exposure to letters, numbers, reading, cooperating with others, following directions, and listening to a teacher in a pre-k class. This is why I chose the Pre-K now campaign because I am a huge advocate for their focus and goals.

Looking at a graphic of data that shows the increase of investments in Pre-K by state, I was disappointed in Tennessee's growth (my home state). Click HERE to see the visual and see how your home state has grown. I was happy to see that they more than doubled their investments, but I don't feel that it's where it needs to be. For example, in my school district, ONLY qualifying families (low-income) may enter the public school pre-k system. It is my belief that EVERY child should be given the opportunity for public school pre-k. Our pre-k teacher at my school is WONDERFUL and prepares her students for kindergarten. Every year they are my highest students and are reading. Imagine how far I could take my students if they ALL came prepared to kindergarten! The possibilities are endless! 

Every being in my body wishes that this campaign was still alive so that I could become a Pre-K now advocate! I love everything I have read about this campaign and it is my hope that I can aid in the education to the country that Pre-K is as important as Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade when it comes to education!

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I emailed 8 different professionals off of the Global Alliance website and 5 emails were immediately sent back saying that the email addresses did not exist or they were not accepting emails for some reason. The 5th email was from Africa and I got a response today! She let me know that someone had already approached them about our assignment, and that it may be better (and more interesting for my peers and professor for our assignments) to contact a different organization. So she asked if I would like some other contacts. I emailed her back immediately to let her know I would LOVE some recommendations of Early Childhood professionals to contact. I am looking forward to her response! As for the other contacts, I have yet to hear back from them.

If I do not hear back from any of the contacts and continue to have no luck in contacting early childhood professionals (I'm not giving up yet!) I believe I may need to choose the alternate assignment for Part 1.

 I chose to follow the Pre-K Now website and I signed up for their newsletters as well. As a kindergarten teacher in a high-poverty area (and as a pre-K teacher at heart), I truly believe the Pre-K should be required before a child enters kindergarten. So when I read Pre-K Now's overview, knew I would be interested! The Pre-K Now website states:
"Through its successes, Pre-K Now changed the national conversation about pre-k education, and in its final report, challenged the nation’s policy makers to transform public education by moving away from the current K-12 system to pre-K-12."

 I look forward to browsing the website throughout this course and reading up on how the organization is working on their goal of requiring Pre-K for all students.