The Children’s Defense Fund website provides a plethora of information that is particularly relevant to my current professional development, as there is an entire section under the Policy Priorities link, called Early Childhood Education and Care. Within that section is information about Home Visiting Programs, Head Start and Early Head Start, Child Care and Development Block Grant, Quality Rating and Improvement Systems, Early Learning Challenge Fund, Advocate & Family Resources, Legislative Update, and Promising Approaches.
While none of the information was controversial or made me think about an issue in a new way, the information in the section Legislative Update exemplified our readings and discussion this week and added to my understanding of politician’s support of the field of early childhood. Within the page for Legislative Update, was a link to an article about a bill introduced earlier this month, designed to provide support to states to aid in funding high quality early learning programs for low-income children. The article continues to describe the benefits of investing in early childhood, stating, “Investing in early learning pays off. Economists have estimated a return on investment for early childhood education programs of approximately 16 percent,’ said Senator Casey. `This legislation will establish a one-time investment to help states raise the bar on program quality and provide more children with early access to high-quality education.’” (Children's Defense Fund, 2011) .
While I did not gain any new information, I did find several reminders throughout the website, such as the ratio of children who are Hispanic or Black living in poverty is 1 to 3 while the ratio for Caucasian children is 1 to 10, and 8.1 million children are uninsured. (Children's Defense Fund, 2011) The astounding statistics reiterate the importance of advocating for the needs and rights of children and families.
Children's Defense Fund. (2011, March 3). Casey Introduces Bill to Help States Invest in Early Learning. Retrieved March 25, 2011, from Children's Defense Fund: http://casey.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=63d1e85f-e3db-4ad5-9b4a-23afad9b6142
Children's Defense Fund. (2011). Policy Priorities. Retrieved March 25, 2011, from Children's Defense Fund: http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/
Sondi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this information because it definitely does contain a great amount of helpful information. I have shared this information with several workers because as a Head Start worker, we often find out incomplete details about policies that affect the program. This is definitely a website that I have added to my favorites page. Thanks for sharing, Sondi!