Saturday, September 29, 2012

NIEER

National Institute For Early Education Research

1.What specific information or section that is relevant to my current professional development.

NIEER Research Section

2. Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

Learning and Play

Monday, September 10, 2012

(U.S. News & World Report)

This is one of the findings emerging from Amy Parks’ ongoing research of young children in a public school setting: that children lose valuable learning opportunities when unstructured play is reduced or eliminated in favor of more time in the classroom. She is following the same group of 14 young minority children for three years, starting in pre-school, to see how they learn mathematics, both in the formal classroom setting as well as informally in school, and at home.

3. What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

Early education - It’s key to economic development, says Suitts

Thursday, September 20, 2012

(Northeast Mississippi Daily News)

The best way to get more students on a college-bound track, [Steve] Suitts said, is to equip them with high-quality learning during the first five years of their life, a period experts say is a critical one to brain development

Editorial: Early-education programs have broad benefit

Centre Daily Times, State College, PA

September 23, 2012

What government should do is strive to invest its limited resources in areas where positive results can be seen, in areas where the investment could generate a ripple of savings elsewhere. One of those areas is education, including early-childhood education.

Lawmaker pitches state-funded preschool proposal

The Salt Lake Tribune

September 19, 2012

Many conservative Utah lawmakers have long resisted the idea of state-funded preschool for financial, ideological and social reasons. But one Republican lawmaker plans to challenge that attitude this coming legislative session with plans to run a bill to create a preschool program aimed at students at risk of academic failure.

Column: Regardless of political views, early childhood education is an issue all should agree on

The Indianapolis Star

September 19, 2012

Indiana is one of only 11 states that haven't seen fit to invest state money in early childhood education programs. It's the most important educational tool available to those seeking to close the brutal achievement gap that exists between children of poverty and children of means, but it's also the educational tool that state policymakers have ignored and neglected the most.

4. What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

Kindergarten absences: Some Bay Area school districts are uncovering a hidden problem

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Katy Murphy

Oakland Tribune

A report published in 2008 by Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty found that children who missed 10 percent or more of their kindergarten year were the lowest-achieving group in first grade. A 2011 Applied Survey Research study of 600 children in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties found that poor attendance in kindergarten and first grade may erase many of the benefits of preschool, even among those who started kindergarten with strong skills.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Getting To Know Your International Contact

My professional contact is from NEER - National Institute For Early Education Research, she is Professor Kimberly Brenneman, Assistant Research Professor National Institute for Early Education Research and the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science. My question to her was "What does research say about the effect of Poverty on Early Childhood Education? Professor Brenneman responded by sending me the following:

1. Statistics on Poverty and Its Effects:

Childhood poverty is associated with higher rates of academic failure or grade retention and higher incidences of school dropout

Adolescent parenthood is higher among poor teenagers

children raised in poverty have poorer employment records as adults

an increased likelihood of smoking and illegal drug use is associated with poverty
Within the US, poverty and minority status are confounded such that African American
children are at increased risk on two fronts. They are confronted with racism in many aspects of
their lives, and African Americans have lower incomes, about 60% of that of the country as a
whole and 33% of African-American children under the age of 18
lived in households below the poverty level compared to 10% of White children.

Not only are African American children more likely to experience poverty at some point while growing up,
they are also more likely than White children to experience long-term poverty.

This information confirmed to me based on research, what I always believed African Americans are more vulnerable to poverty.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Sharing Web Resources

The Harlem Children's Zone "HCZ" offers innovative, efficiently run programs that are aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.

http://www.hcz.org/home

The current issue that caught my attention and why:

HCZ began managing the Harlem Armory, creating a 50,000-square-foot fitness center where 1,000 kids each week get exposure to new sports and activities -- in a neighborhood where sports facilities for children are almost nonexistent.

This caught my attention because the staff of HCZ see it as a foundation for healthy early childhood development as well as bring the diversity of culture into their neighborhood. You can view what they have to say at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v2FDoSXAjk&lr=1&feature=mhee

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Establishing Professional Contacts

I CHOSE OMEP

World Organization for Early Childhood Education

OMEP is an international, non-governmental and non-profit organization concerned with all aspects of early childhood education and care (ECEC).
OMEP defends and promotes the rights of the child to education and care worldwide and supports activities which improve accessibility to high quality education and care.
OMEP is currently established in over 60 countries and is represented at meetings of UNESCO, UNICEF, and other international organizations with similar aims.
WORKING for CHILDREN WORLDWIDE - ACTIVITIES of OMEP

Promotes study and research related to ECEC;
Organizes international and regional conferences and symposia;
Disseminates information about ECEC all over the world through the publication of the International Journal of Early Childhood;
Encourages the training of personnel for ECEC;
Encourages family education in connection with ECEC.

You can link below to find out more about the organization below:

http://www.omep.org.gu.se/about_OMEP/

I have tried to contact the Regional Vice President for Africa Mrs. Abimbola ARE by e-mail with an introduction of myself and my reason for contacting her. I have not received a reply from her at this time. I have also tried to contact Mr. Eric Atmore of The National Early Childhood Development Alliance by e-mail also I have not received a reply from him.

Expanding Resources

I chose National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) and Harlem Children's Zone. I chose these two organizations by reviewing all the websites presented in our resources. I analyzed which I was most interested and would help make me a better educator. I read the mission and the history of the organizations. I also reviewed if the sites were user friendly.

http://www.hcz.org/
http://nieer.org/