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