Sharing Web Resources

The section of information that is relevant to my professional development is the articles under the projects tab.  Listed there are topics that outline projects that of interest to me as an educator.  The project that resonated with me is Pathways to Early School Success which is known as Pathways it was designed to help community based early care programs to support young children and their families.  Its premise is to give children a solid foundation in school that will help them to succeed in the early grades and beyond.  It is relevant to me because one our child care sites is situated in a community that has seen its share of violence.  The children that attend have experienced various amounts of trauma along with emotional challenges.  Pathways framework has six area that have been shown to increase rates of school readiness and success by third grade that includes healthy births, health and development support for families, high quality child care and early education, continuity in early childhood experiences, and effective teaching and learning in K-3 classrooms.  The page also includes a video by Lisbeth B. Schorr who discusses some important points about Pathways project. 

The resource that has made me think more in depth on the issue of poverty is information under the state profile tab in early childhood.  In this section you can research the status of poverty in your own state.  I found detailed information about the level of poverty in my state 36% of families are considered low-income; 10% of the children in Virginia have no health insurance.  I was not aware of these statistics until I viewed this web page.  Any number when speaking of poverty children and families is too high.  I know there is election of Senate house seats coming up soon.  I must have a look at each constituent and vote accordingly.  I hope these legislators have some view about education in their campaign because it is imperative that children get the early education needed to establish a learning foundation. 

The article “Education and health have improve for US children, says annual report” adds to my understanding of how economist support the early childhood field.  In this article the economist states the increase is poverty is closely tied to the housing issue.  Skinner indicated the increase in housing cost and decline in affordable housing cause the increase of children living in poverty.  Economist suggest that there are differences in genes, culture, and effort that has cause an achievement gap; a solution to decrease the gap is to fight student hunger, adjustments to income and provision of health care for students( Kelly, 2014).

The most recent insight about the issue of poverty according to research indicates a two percent drop in the poverty rate.  The article mentioned there is a decline in three of the four Census regions, but there is no change in the South.  Any decrease in number related to poverty is worth it.  I am looking forward to the day where poverty no longer exists in the world not just in this country (U.S. child poverty rate falls, 2014). 

 

References:

Kelly, C. (2014, September 4). Education and health have improved for us children, says annual report. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0904/Education-and-health-have-improved-for-US-children-says-annual-report

National Center for Children in Poverty. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/

U.s. child poverty rate falls . (2014, September 16). Retrieved from http://nccp.org/media/releases/release_158.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 1

 

Blog update:  I have not had a response from an early childhood professional of the podcast I watched in week one.  The countries I have chosen to share insight involving poverty is Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 

The information I found interesting is it is focused on economic reform yet they paid less attention to monitoring and addressing social cost that affect children (Child poverty and, 2014).  Second, UNICEF created a monitoring project to gather and analyze data of the changes that were taking place since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 their interest was in the social conditions of the public and how it is affecting families (Child poverty and, 2014). UNICEF created a monitoring project at Innocenti Research Center called MONEE that is designed to serve as a database that obtains statistical data through direct collaboration with the National Statistical Offices of the countries in Central Europe and Asia(Child poverty and, 2014). 

Early on the changes in Europe caused political, economic and social reform (Child poverty and, 2014).  Leaders expected a transformation of economic prosperity but it was met with a decline in GDP, employment and family incomes along with deterioration of social indicators (Child poverty and, 2014). After a decade of economic growth and global improvements has brought about indicators of average well-being of children; the stark contrast emerged from those who have benefited and the children who were left behind (Child poverty and, 2014). To assess the situation and vulnerabilities of children in during the transition process UNICEF instituted the monitoring project (Child poverty and, 2014).  

 

Reference

Child poverty and child well-being in Eastern Europe and central Asia. (2014, September 20). Retrieved from https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/

Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I chose in Week 1 is The National Center for Children in Poverty.  This organization is a leading public policy center dedicated to promoting the economic security, health and well being of America (National Center for Children in Poverty, n.d.).  Research is used to inform policy and practice with the intended goal to ensure positive outcomes for the next generation (National Center for Children in Poverty, n.d.).  NCCP states 32 million children in United States are living in families who struggle to make ends meet; about forty-five percent of these children are living at the edge (National Center for Children in Poverty, n.d.).  The vision for the organization is to promote family-oriented solutions at the state and national levels therefore families will have economic security, strong, nurturing families, and healthy development (National Center for Children in Poverty, n.d.). 

http://www.nccp.org/

The current issue that caught my attention is the information about immigrant families that indicates seventeen million of this nation’s children have at least one foreign-born parent.  The other issue this organization provides information about is the poverty levels among families in the US.  Information on this site will allow you to research immigration and poverty statistics for each individual state in the union. 

I learned there is steady rise of the demographics in this country.  I think officials must take action now towards increasing dual language educators in all school systems or an unknown percentage of children will not get fair properly educated.  The NCCP director states that children do better when their families do better.  The director contents that research has shown that a family’s low income can impede a child’s cognitive development and the ability to learn which could contribute to another host of problems for a child that includes behavioral, social and emotional problems.  So the NCCP next phase is to mutually reinforce relationship between family economic security and health child development.  They plan to accomplish this by helping policy makers understand and adopt evidence-based programs; reducing economic hardship and negative poverty on children, assisting service providers, supporting advocates to develop and implement plans that influence public policy and resource allocation, collaborating with researchers to deepen the understanding of impact on the health of a child, and aiding the media in telling the story of poor children and families living in America; yet shining the light on the power of prevention. 

 

 Reference

National Center for Children in Poverty. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/

Establishing Professional Contacts

I like completing my blog assignment before either of the other two assignments.  At the beginning of the week I visited the World Forum Foundation website and sent emails out to six individuals within several minutes they were return to sender showing up in my email from the address I used.  It was too far into the week to wait for a response from the other emails.  I chose to do the alternate to part I using the podcast I listened to Susan Lyons podcast.  I found it challenging to access the audio because I had to initially subscribe to the digital downloads. Lyons stated she created a program called Innovative Teacher Project which is inspired by Reggio Emilia.  The projects mantra is quality work can happen in center based child care.  The program has weekly roundtable discussion Seminars and other resources that are related to children.  My suggestion to my colleagues is to allow enough time to explore the whole web site and make contact with early childhood professionals. 

The early childhood organization I chose to study is The National Center for Children and Poverty.  I am interested in how the organization uses young child risk calculator offering information about each state.  The site provides a demographic profile by each state; my state demographic indicates that there are 33% of the children living in poverty.  The information show that 55% of African American children live in low-income families in state of Virginia where I live.  This organization is interesting because I did not realize the circumstance surrounding poverty in my local.  I plan to return to this organizations site to find out what more I can find out involving Virginia. 

 

Reference:

Demographics of Low-Income Children. (2014, May 2). Retrieved September 6, 2014, from http://www.nccp.org/profiles/state_profile.php?state=VA&id=6