Living in South Carolina, I notice how deplorably we serve our poor children. Many live in downtrodden areas, live in dilapidated homes, and--most importantly--attend schools or child care centers that are underfunded and lacking in professionalism.
Many states--including mine--should investigate Oklahoma City's Educare system. As a network focused on providing early childhood care and development to disadvantaged families, it tackles the most pressing problem facing schools today: insufficiency of quality resources and educational availability.
I think it's highly unlikly a government-sponsored program like this will every make its way here in South Carolina. We are far to polarized politically on the issue of early childhood.
We'll see, though, what happens once Governor Sanford has finished his term--he never was a big fan of public education let alone publically expanded early childhood education for poverty stricken children.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Still Waiting On Obama To Focus On Early Childhood
Obama made several pledges to make early childhood education a top priority in his administration. I just hope he comes through with those promises. Education for young children is a mess in many states.
Among some top priorities that the President needs to focus on are:
1. a uniformed career ladder for early childhood professionals who are trying to gain a better footing in the industry.
2. more funding for Head Start and Early Head Start, especially in poor, rural locations where a large portion of the families who speak English as a second language.
3. more mixed-study research opportunities for early childhood experts stemming more from locations like the Administration for Children and Youth and the Department of Education rather than the National Science Foundation.
Among some top priorities that the President needs to focus on are:
1. a uniformed career ladder for early childhood professionals who are trying to gain a better footing in the industry.
2. more funding for Head Start and Early Head Start, especially in poor, rural locations where a large portion of the families who speak English as a second language.
3. more mixed-study research opportunities for early childhood experts stemming more from locations like the Administration for Children and Youth and the Department of Education rather than the National Science Foundation.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Reggio Emilia in the Middle East
Reggio Emilia is often considered the premire early childhood education program....and now it's in the middle east (the UAE to be exact). I'm not sure how successful it will be though. A hallmark of this program is its interdependence with the culture and city of Reggio Emilia, Italy (Brewer, 2007). Read more about it here.
References:
Brewer, J.A. (2007). Introduction to early childhood education: From preschool to primary. Uppder Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Allyn Bacon.
References:
Brewer, J.A. (2007). Introduction to early childhood education: From preschool to primary. Uppder Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Allyn Bacon.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Reginald's Blog: The Return (January 1, 2009)
Hey folks,
It's been quite a while since I've updated my blog. Starting next year, though, I will start updating this almost weekly.
Stay tuned!
R:)
It's been quite a while since I've updated my blog. Starting next year, though, I will start updating this almost weekly.
Stay tuned!
R:)
Friday, August 29, 2008
Is Full Day Kindergarten Bad?
This is an intriguing article because of its black/white dichotomy. The superiority of full-day or half day kindergarten has not been fully established especially in light of the many different kinds of Kindergartens existing in the US today (Graue, 2006 in Gullo, 2006).
Reserach shows that although children in full day kindergartens out perform those in half day programs in terms of reading and mathematics, those advantages begin to fade right after they leave for first grade (Votruba-Drzal, La-Grining, & Maldonado-Carreno, 2008). In fact, by the time third grade rolls around, both types of children do about the same scholastically, socially, emotionally, and physically. Ready for some more confusing info? Children in half-day programs do better than full-day children when you look at the whole rainbow of performance from First Grade all the way to Fifth Grade when children submerge deeper into academics.
It's not so clear cut.
Reserach shows that although children in full day kindergartens out perform those in half day programs in terms of reading and mathematics, those advantages begin to fade right after they leave for first grade (Votruba-Drzal, La-Grining, & Maldonado-Carreno, 2008). In fact, by the time third grade rolls around, both types of children do about the same scholastically, socially, emotionally, and physically. Ready for some more confusing info? Children in half-day programs do better than full-day children when you look at the whole rainbow of performance from First Grade all the way to Fifth Grade when children submerge deeper into academics.
It's not so clear cut.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Baby's First Words
This article reflected on why babies say the classic "mama" and "dada" as their first words.
Most parents do not realize that a child uses consonant sounds before vowels because the later requires more mouth manipulation in order to make the phoneme come out right and because consonants are more pleasurable for infants to say.
Check out this article. It's pretty informative.
Most parents do not realize that a child uses consonant sounds before vowels because the later requires more mouth manipulation in order to make the phoneme come out right and because consonants are more pleasurable for infants to say.
Check out this article. It's pretty informative.
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