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
Carmen,
ReplyDeleteI think that Head Start is a great program as well. Evidently it is doing something, it has been funded for many years. However as we have entered into so many changes economically, Head Start is being challenged to show some results. The studies are interesting, some showing that it is making a difference, while others say that it does not. I do like the idea of Head Start being made more accountable and programs that are not functioning and not meeting standards being de-funded.
Carmen, I believe that Head Starts are great programs but have not seen any where I live. I believe for us in our county it is the quality of teachers hired that is an issue. We have parents constantly coming to our program trying to take their children out of our local headstart because they say their children are not learning and they do not like the atmosphere. I can understand where they are coming from because a lot of the schools are saying these kids coming from head start have not learned much at all it is sad!
ReplyDeleteCarmen,
ReplyDeleteHead Start/Early Head Start programs are important and believe they can have an enormous impact on young children and fammilies. I also believe that the quality of teachers, the program, and accountability are important. Like any other program you will have good ones and bad ones and with accountability in place we can improve the programs that need to improve and allow to learn from successful programs. The downside to Head Start / Early Head Start programs is that it cannot meet the needs of all children due to funding issues.
Carmen,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you wholeheartedly that the public's opinion needs to change if we want to see programs such as Head Start continue. That is the reason we need advocates such as ourselves all over the country to speak up for these programs and show their value. If children from impoverished families are denied access to quality early education than it is likely the cycle of poverty will continue. We need to break the cycle!