Zero to Three Newsletter: A New Resource

I finally received my first subscription to the Zero to Three Newsletter via email, so I wanted to review some of the topics covered in this month's edition. Ironically, the first topic of discussion is about the recent budget cuts to Head Start program funding by about a quarter. McCartney states in her article Cutting Head Start is bad fiscal policy that 218,000 poor children will be dropped from the program and 55,000 Head Start program workers will lose their job (2011). I thought this tied back to the discussions we’ve been posting this week in regards to the need to provide financial support to early childhood education.

In 2010, the country invested more than $7 billion to prepare poor preschoolers for school success. This is a lot of money, but there is ample evidence that early childhood education more than pays for itself (McCartney, 2011).

James Heckman’s research through the University of Chicago shows evidence that "waiting until age 5 to begin formal education is too late for disadvantaged children as we miss the opportunity to build on success" (McCartney, 2011). Although I am not directly involved in a Head Start program in my professional role in education, I do feel like the challenges of funding cuts are affecting more programs and I should be aware of ongoing trends throughout the field of education.

Another topic in the Zero to Three Newsletter discussed one particular effect of cutting was discussed in an article titled Cutting Kindergarten. There are approximately 85,000 students enrolled in kindergarten in the state of Pennsylvania and 75 percent are in full-day programs funded by ABG grants, according to Kathy Geller Myers, communication director for PA Promise for Children (Alexander, 2011). With talk of eliminating the ABG grants, it’s quite possible that these programs are at risk of being cut as a result of funding losses. Considering the number of students this full-day kindergarten program serves alone is a significant piece of care lost in the PA schools. Our facility happens to have a full-day kindergarten class as well as a PM enrichment class for those kindergartners that attend an AM program at the public schools. The fact that the state is considering cutting grant funding that support other full-day programs indicates a trend of less kindergarten opportunities available and parents will begin to look toward other program options. The political and economic force behind this decision to remove ABG grants for full-day kindergarten in PA schools certainly displays the power that government law has on education at the early childhood level.

References

Alexander, Amanda. (2011). Cutting Kindergarten. Sun Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/561624/Cutting-kindergarten.html

McCartney, Kathleen. (2011). Cutting Head Start is bad fiscal policy. CNN. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-14/opinion/mccartney.head.start_1_early-childhood-education-poor-children-single-best-investment?_s=PM:OPINION

Getting to Know My Contact: Mother Earth's Children's Cahrter School, Stony Plain, AB, Canada

This week I was finally able to get in touch with one contact from the Mother Earth's Children's Charter School in Canada that I found listed on the list of podcasts on the World Forum Radio. Jessica Liddell is a Kindergarten Teacher and coordinator of the Special Education program at MECCS. Since it doesn't seem that I will receive her response with any more information about the program, her position in the center, and poverty in the area, I decided to review the podcast on the World Forum Foundation Radio as well as the program's website and statistics on poverty in Stony Plain, Alberta from the official municipal website. 

Mother Earth's Children's Charter School believes that there are four needs for every child to have to succeed - belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. They offer programs for children from Pre-Kindergarten through grade 8 (MECCS, 2011). Their goal is to provide support to children and guide them to discover their personal talents, responsibility, potential, and purpose in their lives. The MECCS program focuses on holistic nurturing, guidance, and challenging each child’s spiritual, intellectual, physical and emotional self through traditional Indigenous teachings. Their educators target each child's development and educate each child as they have been given created by a higher being (MECCS, 2011). The culture in Stony Plain, AB has become a huge part of the MECCS program. The core of the program is structured around the native Aboriginal spirituality and Elders that pass on the traditions of their culture. They also incorporate smudging into the curriculum which children learn about self-care and personal development through daily prayer and positive energy. MECCS also introduces children to the Indigenous language, celebrations, and natural land to solidify lessons and learning (2011). Although the MECCS website does not provide information about poverty in their region, I did find their mention about the adversity that many of the children MECCS serves suffer from. "Resilience is the innate human ability to rebound from adversity with even greater strength to face future obstacles" (MECCS, 2011). While so many families face poverty as we have also been discussing, many families also face the hardship of adversity. Families that immigrate to the U.S. from different areas of the world may struggle with learning a second language, being accepted into a new community, etc. 

The World Forum Radio provided a podcast with the principal of MECCS, TJ Skalski. She discusses her role as the principal in the MECCS program and the unique qualities of the Canadian school. She came to Mother Earth's Children's Charter School through a personal calling and the inspiration from her grandmother that she would one day become a teacher. She became the fifth principal since the school's opening and faced many challenges in learning about the school and working among the administrators also changing over. She discovered that the main goal of the MECCS program and her personalis to reinvest in children and provide children with the opportunities to succeed in their personal goals and ambitions. "Many children come damaged, wounded, scarred, hungry, depressed, not feeling of any worth" (Skalski, 2011). TJ Skalski's depiction of the children that come into her care at MECCS shows that poverty and adversity take a huge role in the lives of these children and families. It seems that a big part of the MECCS mission is to provide support for these children and families and guide them grow into the strong people they are. 

I was able to find the municipal website for Stony Plain, Alberta for information about the region. Stony Plain services a population of about 60,000 people. Families and children in Stony Plain are provided with support through Family and Community Support Services (FCSS). The goals of the FCSS group is to aid families with financial aid, community participation, self-help, counseling, and education classes. 

I hope to hear more from Mother Earth's Children's Charter School teacher, Jessica Liddell, within the next weeks to share some new information about this Canadian school for children.

References

Mother Earth's Children's Charter School (MECCS). (2011). Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://www.meccs.org/

Skalski, TJ. (Speaker). (2011). Episode 7: TJ Skalski [Podcast]. Stony Plain, AB: World Forum Foundation. Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://www.worldforumfoundation.org

Town of Stony Plain. (2011). Town of Stony Plain. Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://www.stonyplain.com/

Sharing Resources

I actually ended up signing up for a few e-newsletters and reviewed the website information from a few of the organizations listed, including the National Institute for Early Education Research and National Association for the Education of Young Children. However, the organization I initially chose to research further is Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Although I have yet to receive a newsletter called "From Baby to Big Kid" from Zero to Three, as it is supposed to be sent the first of April, I did spend time reviewing the goals and policies from their site. The Zero to Three mission as a national, nonprofit organization is to inform, train, and support professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve and promoting the health, development, and lives of infants and toddlers (Zero to Three, 2011).  

Overall, Zero to Three is extremely informative about the developmental stages from birth through age three, providing concepts for parents and caretakers to consider as their infant grows into a toddler. They thoroughly discuss brain development, challenging behaviors, mental health, screening and assessment, health and growth, play, social and emotional development, sleep, and more. For an upcoming first time parent, it really gives a lot of perspectives and statistics on these and other topics of development in those first few years. Additionally, while they introduce many positive learning, they also talk about the effects of maltreatment, trauma, and stressful environments for children both in the home and at school. Zero to Three also discusses how early childhood care for children at these ages can play a role in their growth and development in a variety of different child care arrangements, including family-based, center-based, or care from a friend or neighbor.

I have already learned a lot from their site in regards to, not only child care, but also the importance of their policies to advocate on the unique developmental needs of children to the age of 3 through research-based resources and federal and state policymakers (Zero to Three, 2011). They provide a ton of information through a variety of medias, such as articles, webinars, videos, and books, for review and keeping up to date with new research and policies. It's important to understand and be aware of the policies and issues that govern early childhood education standards and Zero to Three really provides a variety of resources that discuss these topics, and even provides tools to help educators advocate for infants, toddlers, and families in their facility through the Policy Network (Zero to Three, 2011). 

I have yet to find information that discuss specific topics in diversity and changing demographics, but instead encompasses infants, toddlers, and their families as a whole. I feel that they could certainly incorporate more about diversity and the policies and challenges that changing demographics can have on a growing family.
Reference List
Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2011). http://www.zerotothree.org/

Professional Contacts

Part1
This is my first experience reaching out to professionals in early childhood education around the world. I still feel a bit intimidated about reaching out to someone in another country due to differences in language, but I have a feeling that it will be a positive experience in all and will give me a better understanding of ECE programs and organizations conducting care for young children in other areas of the world. I did attempt to contact about 7 professionals listed on the Global Alliance for NAEYC website, including programs in South Africa, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Hungary, and Georgia. However I have yet to hear back from any of them. With that in mind, I began taking a look at the alternate assignment to review and listen to episodes on the World Forum Foundation Radio. After listening to a few episodes, I feel that the information about programs and administrators in various areas is really thorough and provides examples of diversity in ECE. I am looking forward reviewing more episodes in the future.

Part 2
After reviewing the list of ECE websites for this week's assignment, I decided to choose the Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families for a few reasons. The first being that the program that I direct supports infants and toddlers, and even through kindergarten and school age as well. Since this young age is such a huge part of what we do, I wanted to become more familiar with organizations that "informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers" (ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, 2011). Their goals to promote healthy development of infants and toddlers would definitely offer new and beneficial suggestions for our program to consider for the children we serve. In addition, I also chose this site for the personal reason that I will soon become a first-time parent and I think this information could also provide me with some fantastic suggestions for my own child.