PARENT, FAMILY, AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

• The value that hearing such stories has for early childhood professionals, for the public, and for policymakers and government officials.  Listening to the stories by parents gives those teachers and professionals that are working in field the added push to continue the great work of passionate teaching, advocacy and involvement in the Head Start programs.

• Your opinion regarding why or why not parent/family involvement is an essential system element for all strands of service in the early childhood field.  Parent/family involvement is so important to the as the first educators of children are their families.  When the family becomes a partner with the teachers the child develops great relationships in their education.  When teachers develop those partnerships they are also able to understand the child in a different way by understanding the uniqueness of each family.

QUALITY PROGRAMS FOR ALL CHILDREN

From your perspective, what is current public opinion in the United States with regard to the value and importance of providing quality services (including early care and education) for young children and families?  In an article entitled “Why Obama’s Plan to fix Head Start is Not Enough” by Kayla Webley it states that in Forty Years there is still the question of the effectiveness of the preschool program Head Start (National Institute for Early Education Research, 2011). What indicators and other information have influenced and are influencing your thinking? I think that the Head Start program is great but the continual discussions from the public to determine its effectiveness leads me to believe that statistics from the program and college graduates are not sufficient. 

Over the next five years, I hope that the public’s opinion would change and they would see the validity in offering early childhood education not only to those in poverty, but to everyone.  There are many aspects of early care that children need to foster positive outcomes in their education journey.  How do you hope this change in public opinion will influence early childhood education strands of service, systems, policies, and advocacy?  Should the public’s opinion change and the need to have education for all is enforced overall we will be a stronger society with well education citizens. What then do you imagine will be the related implications for young children, families, and the early childhood field? I can imagine stronger families which will produce stronger leaders and educators and the day when early education is seen as EDUCATION and not as an alternative to babysitting.

References

National Institute for Early Education Research, (2011). Retrieved November 9, 2011 from http://nieer.org/news/index.php?NewsID=3205

CHILDHOOD ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY

Part 1: Why did you choose this specialization? I chose the specialization of Advocacy and Public Policy because while working in the early childhood field my passion to help families and to make them aware of available resources to them grew stronger and stronger.  In order to grasp and understanding of what was available to the families it was also important to me to be aware of new policies and how they make affect the families.

Part 2: Why are advocates essential in the early childhood field? Advocates are important because I believe our job entails seeking out what is in the best interests of families and young children.  Without advocacy there would be a disconnection between the early childhood field and what is available to assist families and young children.

Part 3: What do you hope to learn about public policy and advocacy? 1. How can I advocate for families on the local as well as the world level. 2. How efficient is advocacy? How to stay abreast of new policies being introduced how to be instrumental in helping families to understand how policies will affect them and their families should they become law.