As you know I originally chose to explore WACAP.org because of my personal ties to it. However after reading this weeks assignment and realizing I couldn't answer all the questions I decided to switch websites.
The first question about professional development I was able to use WACAP. I loved reading about all the volunteer opportunities. They had two opportunities that spoke to me - Outreach and Advocacy and Family Support. Both of these are things that relate to me personally and professionally. I could utilize my professional and personal contacts doing advocacy. I could employ my passion for children and families doing Family Support. But as I said.I needed a new site....so I picked
http://nieer.org/ - stands for National Institute for Early Education Research.
Browsing through their website (my newsletter subscription is being processed, whatever that means) I found an abundance of resources including professional papers. I decided to check out a paper on improving public financing of preschool programs.
it can be found here: http://www.nieer.org/resources/factsheets/26.pdf
Basically its about the funding for programs being decreased but really it breaks down how and why the money needs to be increased.
this website definitely opened my eyes to all the research being done for early childhood. I am a geek for research (it's the Soc major in me). There is an entire section dedicated to economics and finance. It is both good and bad that economists are getting involved in early childhood education. Good because it validates our field to those outside it bad because it reduces children to things.
Koni,
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful program and I checked out some of the research from the links you shared, very informative. Being a head start teacher the following under the policy recommendations makes me what to do more research on this: Provide Head Start, child care, and education programs with regulatory relief to facilitate coordination and collaboration
across ECE programs receiving federal and state funds. Allow states and Head Start agencies to jointly apply for waivers based on Early Learning Council plans for systems integration and improvement.
I find it very interesting that you chose to research something with your personal ties, thank you for sharing this with us.
Koni,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you continue to follow the website that you have ties with. I choose NIEER myself and I found that it has an abundance of research and resources. The newsletter is biweekly and I got mine on July 13th so once they accept you, you should receive one around July 27th. You might be able to find it in the archives. Good luck with future exploration and advocacy.
Lucinda