International Early Childhood Field

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for your professional and personal development:

• In countries that have a high-population living in poverty, international agencies are working with families to help improved child development.  For example, Saving Brains uses a curriculum that promotes responsive parenting through appropriate developmental interactions between children and parents.  A home visitor may demonstrate the use inexpensive learning materials, such as homemade toys, and developmental activities to the child and mother.

• Development of understanding of varying expectations of early childhood education for children under the age of five.  In the United States, children are typically expected to be able to read and write by the age of five.  High-quality early childhood programs are typically expensive.  In Sweden, preschool programs focus on basic values such as playing together, tolerance and consideration for others. Outdoor play and activities are essential elements of the early childhood experiences.  Swedish childcare has a maximum-fee policy, which makes childcare affordable for everyone. Fees are calculated according to income with low-income families paying nothing while the costs for more affluent parents are capped at about €139 ($158) per month. (Swedish preschool, 2018).

• I believe every child has the right to an education.  Many countries share the same belief.  In some countries, the government oversees and funds the education of the children and mandates the age that children enter early childhood programs.  While the United States spends majority of its federal funds on early childhood programs, like Head Start and subsidized child care programs for families listing in poverty, Hong Kong offers all families free child care or kindergarten for children ages 3 to 6. "The system is entirely private, though heavily regulated and subsidized by government. Many parents supplement the free care provided with paid care to cover all of their working hours. Low-income families receive proportionally more assistance than higher income families" (Hechinger Reports, 2018).  

My goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends.

As I travel along my path towards earning a master's degree in early childhood with the focus on teaching adults in early childhood education, I will continue to explore and expand my understanding and knowledge of the variations of early childhood education internationally.  This knowledge does not just benefit my understanding of the importance of early childhood worldwide; it is knowledge that will be shared with my future students.

In the spirit of collegial relations...

As we continue our journey to earning our master's degree in early childhood at Walden University, I would like to wish my professors and colleagues well.  

References:

Hechinger Reports. (2018). Time to change how we think about early education, international study finds. Retrieved December 22, 2018 from https://hechingerreport.org/time-to-change-how-we-think-about-early-education-international-study-finds/

Swedish preschool. (2018). Retrieved December 22, 2018 from https://sweden.se/collection/from-preschool-to-university-in-sweden/article/play-is-key-in-preschool/

Professional Goals, Hopes and Dreams

Professional Goals, Hopes and Dreams

High-quality prekindergarten is the hot topic in Texas.  As the early childhood special education specialist at one of the twenty regional education service centers, I partner with the general education early childhood specialist to provide guidance, resources, and information of state policies and procedures.  The Texas Education Agency (TEA) intends to “partner with families, schools and communities, TEA provides support for effective and aligned early learning opportunities, policies and programs that support a highly-skilled early learning workforce, provide resources that engage and support development of young children, and provide access to high-quality 3- and 4-year-old prekindergarten” (TEA, n.d.).

In 2017, the Texas Legislature passed Rider 78 which requires state-funded prekindergarten programs to provide high-quality early childhood education that is consistent with the High-Quality Prekindergarten program requirements per the Texas Education Codes.  “These requirements include use of a curriculum aligned with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, increased prekindergarten teacher training and/or qualifications, implementation of student progress monitoring, program evaluation and development of a family engagement plan” (TEA, n.d.).  Even though, districts and charter schools that offer prekindergarten programs are not currently required to comply with the High-Quality Prekindergarten requirements, many are choosing to.

To meet the teacher requirements of the High-Quality Prekindergarten program, teachers must be certified, and have a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, Montessori certification, 8 years teaching experience at an accredited child care program, completed at least 150 cumulative hours of documented professional development, or a graduate or undergraduate degree in early childhood education or early childhood special education.  Sadly, there are more teachers teaching in prekindergarten that do not meet these requirements.  For teachers who do not meet these requirements and not completed at least 150 cumulative hours, they will be required to complete the 150 cumulative professional development hours within a five-year-period.  These teachers must complete “the first 30 hours of 150 cumulative hours of documented professional development before the end of the school year. The professional development shall address topics relevant to high-quality prekindergarten including, but not limited to: 1. The revised 2015 Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines; 2. The use of student progress monitoring results to inform classroom instruction; 3. Improving the prekindergarten classroom environment to enhance student outcomes; and 4. Improving the effectiveness of teacher interaction with students as determined by an evaluation tool and the additional hours in the subsequent four years in order to continue providing instruction in a high-quality prekindergarten classroom; and at least half of the hours required shall include experiential learning, practical application, and direction interaction with specialists in early childhood education, mentors or instructional coaches” (TEA, n.d.).

At the education service center, my early childhood counterpart and I provide a wide range of professional development opportunities to teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals that meet the High-Quality Prekindergarten requirements.  We visit schools and their prekindergarten classrooms in our regional area to provide guidance, instructional and environmental coaching.  While she focuses her coaching and mentoring on curriculum aligned instruction, progress monitoring, and family engagement plans, I prefer to focus on the classroom environment becoming a safe, nurturing learning environment that provides a classroom arrangement, management system, visual supports, structures, and materials that are developmentally appropriate for all students.  We encourage teachers to attend workshops and training sessions at the educational service center or around the state of Texas.

As a special education specialist, I primarily focus on meeting the social-emotional, physical, linguistic, and cognitive needs of children with special needs receiving special education services in a self-contained special education classroom or in a general education prekindergarten classroom.  There are children in prekindergarten classrooms that may not have been identified as having a disability or needing special education services.  These children may need modifications and accommodations to meet their social-emotional, linguistic, and cognitive needs, too.  If a learning environment is set up to meet the developmental needs of three-, four-, and five-year-old children, then there is a greater chance that all children, no matter their abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and culture will attain a high-quality early childhood education experience.

As a specialist at the educational service center, I can provide recommendations, resources, and guidance.  I am non-regulatory, which means I cannot enforce policies, procedures, or regulations.  At times this is very frustrating.  At times, I leave schools and classrooms feeling deflated and powerless.  At this time, reentering the classroom as an early childhood educator is not an option, so after I complete my coursework and earn my master’s degree in Early Childhood, I am thinking about focusing my professional energy and knowledge and passion for high-quality early childhood towards preparing future educators at the college level.  I may not be able to change the habits, beliefs, perspectives, and practices of the teachers currently teaching three- and four-year-olds, but maybe I can share my knowledge, skills, and beliefs with future early childhood educators and guide their paths and assist them in becoming the highly-qualified, high-quality early childhood teachers all children need and deserve.

Reference:

Texas Education Agency (TEA). (n.d.) Early Childhood Education in Texas.  Retrieved December 15, 2018 from https://tea.texas.gov/earlychildhoodeducation.aspx.

Texas Education Agency (TEA). (n.d.) High-Quality Prekindergarten Program.  Retrieved December 15, 2018 from https://tea.texas.gov/earlychildhoodeducation.aspx.

Continuing to Share Web Resources

https://www.gettingsmart.com/

I regularly review multiple early childhood websites for new information to improve my knowledge and resource bank as an early childhood special education specialist.  At the beginning of the Walden course Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field, I chose three different early childhood organizational websites to follow: 1. Division of Early Childhood of the Council of Exceptional Children (DEC-SPED), 2. National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).  All three organizations’ websites chocked full of information and resources that benefit educators, administrators, and families.  To me, these sites are like Pinterest, in that I can go looking for one topic or resources and can get lost for hours reading and exploring new topics and resources.

Typically, DEC-SPED and NAEYC share links and resources within their organization.  NIEER, however, shares links and resources from other agencies and organizations.  This past week, I ventured on all three organization’s webpages searching for new information on high-quality early childhood, equity, and inequities.  When I entered the keyword equity in NIEER’s search tool, I found myself on the Getting Smart Services website.  Getting Smart is learning design firm that provides services in advocacy for educational foundations, advisory for educational organizations, and coaching to school districts.  They “partner with education focused foundations, learning organizations, schools and districts to invent the future of learning” (Innovations in Learning, n.d.).  Just this statement on their website was enough to hook me.  The following articles can be located on their website: “Inequity in Education is Your (and My) Responsibility” (February 2018), “Why True Equity in Learning Depends on Proactive, not Reactive, Design” (February 2018), “Quality Early Learning Makes Tulsa a Great Place to Grow Up” (May 2018), “Early Childhood: What We Know, and What’s Possible” (January 2018), and “Why Early Childhood Education Matters Now More than Ever” (January 2017).

Even though I am not a big advocate of technology devices, such as iPads, touch screen devices, et.al., being a key element in early childhood classrooms, Tammy Kwan’s article about using AI-powered technology can be beneficial to young learners.  In her article, she shared a quote from a White House report on AI and the U.S. economy.  “All children [need to] get off to the right start with access to high-quality early education. In a world of AI-driven skill-biased technological change, people with low levels of even basic skill such as reading and math are at higher risk of displacement” (Kwan, 2017). She continued to explain that digital media can be a tool used to close the language gap for children by using video chat, screen media, and video trainings.  As today’s society is becoming more and more technology based, evidence-based digital programs and apps are being developed and are more accessible for educators and parents.  While I will continue to advocate for hands-on, interactive learning experiences in early childhood education programs, I do understand that technology can be a tool used in the classroom to supplement the learning experiences for children who are English language learners or identified with a physical or intellectual disability.

Emily Liebtag and Janice Walton wrote an article that shared information obtained through research referencing early learning experiences and existing and emerging practices in early childhood programs.  They identified five findings about early learning that correlate with what we have been learning and discussing throughout this course: “ECCE promotes brain development and has positive long-term economic benefits. Developing 21st Century Skills in early learners helps prepare them for success in school and life. ECCE can make a positive difference in the lives of young children. Age-appropriate use of technology can enhance learning. Uneven access.” (Liebtag & Walton, 2018).  In this article, they shared the video from Dr. Patricia Kuhl and Dr. Andrew Meltzoff’s presentation the Education Nation Summit describing how a child's first years impact their academic achievement.  Below is the 22-minute video.

 https://youtu.be/pWJ_Z1Qwhnk

I could continue to break down what I learned from each article, but I might run out of space on my blog.  I highly encourage you to explore the Getting Smart website and read the articles that I have mentioned throughout this blog post.  Check out the article about Tulsa, Oklahoma's early childhood programs.  In Oklahoma passed a law in 1998 that provides free access to prekindergarten, and Tulsa is has programs that supported by different foundations to increase the potential of high-quality early childhood programs supporting families and children.  Two summers ago, I had the opportunity to tour one of the early childhood programs located in Tulsa.  I was overwhelmed by the structures established throughout the classrooms and overall building that nurtured family-child-school relationships, the social-emotional, physical, language, and cognitive develop of the children.  I have included these articles in the reference section.

Resources:

Fisher, J.F. & Parsi, A. (2018, February 14). Why True Equity in Learning Depends on Proactive, not Reactive, Design. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/02/why-true-equity-in-learning-depends-on-proactive-not-reactive-design/.

Gerson, K. (2018, February 26). Inequity in Education is Your (and My) Responsibility. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/02/inequity-in-education-is-your-and-my-responsibility/?platform=hootsuite.

Innovations in Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.gettingsmart.com/

Kwan, T. (2017, January 20). Why Early Education Matters Now More than Ever. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/01/why-early-childhood-education-matters-now-more-than-ever/.

Liebtag, E. (2018, January 30). Early Childhood: What We Know, and What's Possible. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/01/early-learning-what-we-know-and-where-we-are-headed/.

Saorín, J. L. (2015, September 25). Dr. Patricia Kuhl and Dr. Andrew Meltzoff on Brain Power: Why Early Learning Matters. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=93&v=pWJ_Z1Qwhnk.

Staff, G. S. (2018, May 11). Quality Early Learning Makes Tulsa a Great Place to Grow Up. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/05/quality-early-learning-makes-tulsa-a-great-place-to-grow-up/.

Excellence and Equity in the Early Childhood Field

The “Excellence and Equity of Care and Education for Children and Families Part 1” podcast was an interview with Ms. Delila Vasquez, the Director of Program Services for the Los Angeles Universal Preschool, in reference to early childhood education standards, curriculum assessment, and the achievement gaps that affect both young children and their families.  During the interview, Ms. Vasquez described standards as being a set pattern or goal for educators to know where, how, and what children will acquire their knowledge and skills as they progress through an early childhood program. She, also, describes a downside to having standards.  That is, they do not “take account where the children are coming from, and how much do they know before they enter the preschool programs, and how much they have learned.  It only tells you what they need to have, but it doesn’t’ take into account the whole child as we are used in our field” (Laureate Education, 2011).  In other words, standards are good at telling you what to teach, when to teach it, and how to teach it, but they do not take in consideration an individual child’s previous knowledge and experiences or the child’s learning needs.  The assessments help the educator know what the child has learned; however, as soon as a child passes the assessment, it is time to move on to more knowledge.  This is all seen as preparing a child for school-readiness.

Towards the end of the interview, Ms. Vasquez touches on the most important topic for me.  By focusing on the standards, curriculum, and assessment, we lose focus on the essential school-readiness skill…social skills.  She stated that “we don’t give children the tools that they need to cope, to survive, to communicate, to ask for help, to maneuver everything else that we put in front of them through the K-12 system and beyond” (Laureate Education, 2011).  Classrooms and schools are a place of education.  We need to help develop the cognitive and physical skills, but more importantly we need to help nurture and enhance the social and emotional skills of children.  Social and emotional skills development is not just a school-readiness skill; it is a life skill necessary for success in the community, career, and family life.

Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child focuses on programs that support child development in the United States and globally, in countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Canada.  They provide a variety of professional development platforms for educators, policy makers, and families to encourage educational equity for children and their families.  As I explored the Center on the Developing Child: Working Globally webpage, I came across the Saving Brains program that is led by Grand Challenges Canada.  The Saving Brains focuses on improving nutritional, educational, and overall life outcomes for children living in poverty through “interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life” (Partnerships with Global Early Childhood Organizations, n.d.). 

Saving Brains focuses on three primary area of healthy child development – health & nutrition, enrichment, and protection.  During the first 1,000 days, is when the child’s brain is developing rapidly and learning from experiences.  The early experiences of stable and supportive relationships in a child’s life can help develop healthy responses to stress, adversity, and failure.  If a child has protective relationships when experience extraordinary stress, there is chance that the children will have a “sense of control and adaptive coping” abilities (Evans, 2014).  The video on the webpage on the Center on the Developing Child about the Saving Brains project shared that there are two primary ways to help children living in adverse situations, such as poverty, are to provide a platform for health and nutrition along with creating a focus on play-based responsive stimulation between children and their parents or caregivers.  It focused on the research program in which children were either provided healthy nutrition, playful stimulation, or both extra nutrition and stimulation.  During a 2-year followed, it was discovered that the children that received extra nutrition or the playful stimulation improved their child development scores.  The children that received both extra nutrition and playful stimulation had significantly improved their child development scores and had caught up to their typically developing peers.  The playful stimulation, which involved caretaker and/or parents being responsive to a child’s needs, contributes to the child feeling loved and secure. 

Mike Evans’ statement “making some early investments in nutrition and stimulation to children can lead to less impoverished brains and hopefully break the complex cascades that lead to impoverished brains and hopefully break the complex cascades that lead to impoverished communities…This may require some courage from policy-makers as the return on investment tend to be farther down the road after they have left office” (Evans, 2014).  As educators, policy makers, parents, and society-overall, we need to focus on the nutritional welfare and play for children not only in the first years but also when they enter early childhood education.  Both Delila Vasquez and Mike Evans emphasized that it is about the children – building relationships through play and responsive interactions.  If the children are not getting what they need to nurture their development, then it is up to the educators to provide what they need in the classrooms.

I highly encourage you to watch Mike Evan’s Saving Brains, A Grand Challenge video.

References:

Evans, M.. (2014). Saving Brains, A Grand Challenge. Retrieved December 1, 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw0TkwjjpZU.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Issues and trends in the early childhood field: Excellence and equity of care and education for children and families—Part 1. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Partnerships with Global Early Childhood Organizations. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2018 from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/.