Sharing Web Resources

In exploring the Children’s Defense Fund website, I explored they link CDF in the News, which provided a variety of current news articles pertaining to early childhood. I thoroughly explored two articles, Law of Unintended Consequences and Investing In and Not Cutting Programs for Children is Key to Our Economic Future. Both articles were informative and provided information for though about current budget issues and the need for political support of early childhood policies and programs. According to the article Investing In and Not cutting Programs for Children is Key to Our Economic Future, Marian Wright Edelman states, “We need to get our priorities right: to invest in babies ahead of bankers and to make tough choices based on real national security needs—our human capital” (Children's Defense Fund, 2011)

The importance of changing our education system and ensuring high quality learning for all children was made paramount by the article, Law of Unintended Consequences, which discusses the unintended consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act. While the NCLB act intended to ensure America’s children were exceeding academically outshining the children of other countries has had the opposite effect, and it is now clear that should the NCLB act remain as it is, the majority of America’s children will be left behind. Marian Wright Edelman describes a few of the unintended consequences in her statement,

• NCLB's narrow focus on "high stakes" testing and its overreliance on sanctions that punish struggling schools encouraged states to lower standards, districts to narrow the curriculum, schools to push at-risk children out of school by suspending or expelling them prior to test day, and teachers to teach to the test. No child—regardless of background—benefits from mindless test preparation day in and day out at the hands of often overwhelmed, underprepared, and poorly supported teachers. (Edelman, 2011)

Both articles contributed to my understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education as they both discussed current statistics defining the effectiveness of America’s education system, including the fact that 60% of America’s children cannot perform at grade level. Additionally both discussed the current budget suggestions of cutting funding to programs that provide services to children of low-income families.

• …congress will need to go beyond the Blueprint and include provisions for education excellence our most vulnerable children: children in concentrated poverty, children in need of full-day kindergarten, children at risk of dropping out or being pushed out of school, children in juvenile detention, and children in foster care. (Edelman, 2011)

The Children’s Defense Fund March eNewsletter also discussed ensuring that the budget supports early childhood education and programs designed to help those suffering from poverty. “Children of all ages remain in danger, as some lawmakers continue to set their sights on drastic cuts to Head Start, Community Health Centers, Pell Grants, and other lifelines for poor children and families.” (Children's Defense Fund, 2011).

While I did not gain any new insights, I did get a better understanding of the inequity of funding and high quality programs, as well as a better understanding of the effect of lack of political support. Additionally, I was shocked at the amount of programs and support some politicians wish to cut from children and families, as I see investments into America’s children as investments into our nation’s future, and providing for children who cannot provide form themselves just basic humanity.

“Giving children their basic human rights to adequate nutrition, health care, and education should be a no brainer” (Children's Defense Fund, 2011).

References:

Children's Defense Fund. (2011, February 14). Investing In and Not Cutting Programs for Children is Key to Our Economic Future. Retrieved April 9, 2011, from Children's Defense Fund: http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/cdf-in-the-news/press-releases/2011/investing-in-and-not-cutting.html

Children's Defense Fund. (2011, March). Monthly Newletter March 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2011, from Children's Defense Fund: http://cdf.childrensdefense.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=23121.0&dlv_id=0

Edelman, M. W. (2011, February 11). Law of Unintended Consequences. Retrieved April 9, 2011, from HUFFPOST EDUCATION: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/law-of-unintended-consequ_b_821819.html

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

This week, I was fortunate to communicate my contact that is stationed in Italy. In my conversations, I learned that Italy provides a 3-year preschool program free of charge called The Scuola Materna. It is clear according to my contact, that Italy and perhaps most of Europe, places high priority on early childhood education and that early childhood is viewed as a way to reduce poverty, foster development, and academic skills, and increase the quality of life, even by parents. This is a stark differences to what many parents view early childhood as in North America, childcare. Yet, while there is a lot importance place on early childhood, many feel the same inequities as we do in North America, not enough funding, lack of appreciation, and lack of qualified staff. Lack of funding often means long hours and volunteers who are not as qualified, lack of materials and supplies, and inability to provide professional development for staff.

My contact in Japan revealed the same feelings of inequity, which has provided me with the understanding of why there is need for universal standards, a global approach perhaps. Most countries understand the importance of early childhood and many support such endeavors, the support is simply not enough and the expectations inconsistent.

I was left with this quote, “It is sad that we, early childhood professionals, are at the forefront of our worlds future, holding future leaders in the palms of our hands, but we are the first to be forgotten, the first to be cut, the first to go unnoticed and the first to be blamed when generations do not succeed” (anonymous).

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

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/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

I have been communicating with Rebecca White from Aviano Italy, Carrie Manning from Incirlik Turkey, and Lisa Parsons from Kadena Japan. I have particularly enjoyed my conversations with Ms. Manning, who has not only described her personal perspective on poverty affecting her surrounding communities, but has also enlisted the help of a coworker, who speaks the language, to gain a perspective from the Turkish people. In my communications with Ms. Manning explains that the families serving in the military are screened for financial soundness prior to being able to move overseas. However, families do occasionally have financial difficulty and are then provided supports from the base.

Poverty in the surrounding towns is a different story, according to Ms. Manning, as children are frequently found begging in the market, and teen boys often seek work from the military members, to help support their families. Most interesting to me, is that she emphasized boys, in her email, and went on to explain that Turkey has extensive gender disparities, and it is rare to see a teen girl working. She is currently conducting research about early childhood programs in the area and will provide information as she finds it.

In communicating with Ms. Parson, I did not learn much about poverty, except that while it is well hidden, there are people in Japan who live in poverty. According to Ms. Parson, who will provide more information when things in her area of Japan have slowed, said the Japanese are very proud people. I am still waiting from information from Ms. White.

I have found the information about the issue of poverty in other countries very interesting. I was saddened to hear of children begging in the market and the inequities towards gender in Turkey. I look forward to learning more, as the knowing the struggles of other countries can help to indicate a global problem and learning the attempts to diminish poverty by other countries can provide means to success.

Sharing Web Resources

Throughout the past week, I have been focusing on the Children’s Defense Fund website, at http://www.childrensdefense.org// . The focus of this organization is to ensure that all children are provided with a great start to life and to strive for equity for all children. Their mission, according to the website, states

"The Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family breakdown.” (Children's Defense Fund, 2011)

The organizations current focus is on policies that support the following.

• End child poverty;
• Guarantee every child and pregnant woman comprehensive health and mental health coverage and services;
• Protect every child from abuse and neglect and connect them to caring permanent families;
• Provide high quality early childhood care and development programs for all children;
• Ensure every child can read at grade level by fourth grade and guarantee quality education through high school graduation; and
• Stop the criminalization of children at increasingly younger ages and invest in prevention and early intervention. (Children's Defense Fund, 2011)

It was difficult for me to pick one that was of particular interest, as all have such relevance to the field of early childhood. What I did enjoy, was that the website provided a brief overview of each of their most urgent missions, complete with statistics. I was amazed to learn just how many children, 8.1million children are uninsured and well over 500,000 pregnant women.
Additionally, I found the article, Homeless children: The Hard Times Generation, a news story about homeless children, focusing on a family living not more than 2 hours from me. The article was very heart wrenching, as the interviewed family, and other children openly discussed living in cars, their hunger, and their embarrassment. (CBS Interactive, 2011) The article definitely inspired me to investigate further, not only for additional information on the trend in my state, but is being done and can be done.

CBS Interactive. (2011, March 6). Homeless children: the hard times generation. Retrieved March 11, 2011, from 60 Minutes: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/06/60minutes/main20038927_page2.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Children's Defense Fund. (2011). About Us. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from Children's Defense Fund: http://www.childrensdefense.org/about-us/

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Military life, is a culture all its own, a culture that is extremely close knit and supportive, which made it easy to locate and contact early childhood professionals in other countries for part one of this blog assignment. I was able to make email contact with many early childhood professionals stationed in other countries, but have chosen to communicate with an early childhood professional stationed at Aviano Air Base in Italy, one at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, and one at Kadena Air Base in Japan. I am very grateful that all three professionals were eager to support my continuing education and professional development.

For part two of the blog assignment, I have decided to study the website Children’s Defense Fund at http://www.childrensdefense.org/ After viewing several early childhood related websites, I decided that the Children’s Defense Fund as it’s goals included addressing current issues in the field of early childhood, as well as promoting quality care, increasing academic access, and reduce family violence.

MY SUPPORTS

I feel quite fortunate, as my daily environment is full of support, emotional, practical and physical. First, I have a very supportive family, both immediate and extended, who provide emotional support through unconditional love, acceptance, and understanding. This has been especially evident recently, as they have been both accepting and supporting of my internship, which has caused us to live thousands of miles apart. My immediate family also provides practical support, as we work together to maintain the house, and complete house chores. I am also very fortunate to have a supportive work environment and supportive friends, who offer any support I should need. The people in my life who provide emotional support are most important, and life without the emotional support would make life empty.

Physical support from people is not something I require much of in either my home life or my work life, but I am hearing impaired and rely heavily on my hearing aids. My hearing aids offer physical support that allows me to hear, which in turn allows me to complete tasks. Additionally, as I am away from my family, and hearing impaired, I rely heavily on texting and email to communicate, and receive support from both my cell phone and computer. While I could survive without both, I believe we all rely on objects and tools to support everyday life, such as mops, pens, computers, phones, etc., and those things make life more functional.

As a hearing-impaired person, it is easy for me to sympathize with and imagine the hardships faced by someone who faces a challenge. Because I rely so heavily on my sight, I would imagine being blind would require substantial support, including materials, training, and assistance to be able to function and participate without injury to one’s self. Adaptations would need to be made to everyday objects so that sound or feeling would allow operation rather than visual cues, adaptations and accommodations would need to be made to living and working areas and emotional support from family and friends would be essential. I believe it would be quite difficult to function in a world where most things depend on site, without the aid of supports.