Early Childhood Education

The Common Core and Early Childhood Education

2011-12-02T08:33:00.005-05:00

A recent Washington Post article speaks on this here and now subject. So what of these "national standards"? Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Like many informed issues in education: It depends on what the state's culture wants. Notice what I said? "The State's Culture" In other words, the decision to adopt these standards (like educational issues in general) should be a domain of states' rights and duties.

Are these standards so bad? No, of course not, but they are standards and--like many state wide standards--they are not always developmentally appropriate and equivalent when comparing states (Schickedanz, 2004; Neuman & Roskos, 2005). There is also the ever present issue of using standards of all types (academic, early learning, and these common cores) to create environments that produce measurable learning improvements while balancing the use of teaching strategies that are age appropriate (Feldman, 2010). On the other hand, there is evidence of a need for universiality in systematic student acquisition of basic concepts ("alphabetic knowledge," "counting," "knowledge of fundamental shapes," etc.) that states--when examining their standards side-by-side--can agree are pretty much common in their curricular expectations for young children (Bracken & Crawford, 2010). Standard-based accountability reform for Early Childhood has been steaming ahead for the past decade or so (Brown, 2007). So we may have to deal with these standards. Here's some ideas to consider:

1. Having national standards COULD potentially keep standards from being "culturally tailored and inclusive." In other words, a national perception of what children should know should not overshadow what children typically are expected and historically shown to know throughout your local county. Just because the "national trend" tells you that ALL Kindergarten children should be able to read does not mean that your children in your county are expected to do that. The culture of your local community may see children who read by the end of first as adequate. On the other hand, just because your local community children read by First Grade does not mean that it should be the rock solid standard for the whole country. If national standards are implemented, this flex is necessary.

2. Having the buy-in from the collective of early childhood professionals may be daunting. Ireleand recently began testing the waters in using national early childhood standards for its child care profession (Doyle, Logue, and McNamara, 2011). An individual survey of child care beliefs about national standards uncovered some intersting ideas. First, many child care workers were not totally enthusiastic about national standards dictating their classrooms. Even more interesting is that the more satisfied child care workers were with their job and abilities, the more they viewed the implementation of national standards with skepticism. So, why would we want to implement a system here analogously if the those teachers in the possibly best work environments see it as a threat?

3. National standards mean a national standard assessment. We see the controversary that comes with that across-the-boards assessment whenever we breath the word SAT or ACT. We may be a union of states here in the US, but peoples are different depending on where you live. They have different ideas on what demonstrates competency and mastery. Folks in the ivory towers of Boston might see a test as an adequate assessment. On the other hand, if you are accustomed to growing up in Oklahoma or Kansas where you learned to prove you mastery through hands-on activities on the farm, a test seems somewhat shallow. I would advocate a nice continuum of assessments if we must use common core standards. Here's the catch: parents would have a mandatory choice. They could either allow their children to be assessed using a test (inauthentically) or assessed using a portfolio or work-sample approach (authentic and performance-based).

Just something to think about. This issue is FAR from over or settled.

Q&A With Developmentally Appropriate Practice Authors!

2011-10-03T06:57:00.003-05:00

Calling on early childhood "people"!

I invited you to participate in this once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity to talk about Developmentally Appropriate Practice straight from the horses' mouths.

This Q & A will occur October 10-14, 2011.

Regardless of who you talk to in early childhood education, Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) remains a debatable subject, especially among predominantly minority children who are taught using more Behaviorist (i.e. Direction Instruction) teaching strategies rather than the more constructivist-based strategies that make up a large portion the continuum of teaching that exemplary teachers should have. No technique is more controversial than play.

Please share your thoughts with the authors themselves. Knowledge is power...when it is used to disern right choices and right paths. Then it becomes wisdom.

Walden's Early Childhood Nationally Recognized By NCATE

2011-08-08T11:15:00.002-05:00

I'm a gigantic advocate for E-Learning, though I am disheartened by how many people in my field see them as "lesser degrees" with a bit too much harshness. Perception is changing, though.

In connection with the continued recognized integrity of E-Learning degrees. I learned earlier this year that Walden University's Early Childhood Master of Arts Teaching (MAT) degree program was one of the five programs to be nationally recognized by NCATE. This is a FIRST step, though, for the main goal is for the entire School of Education to be recognized as NCATE-accredited.

NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) is the top standard professional-wise for a School of Education to achieve. Like most accrediting agency, you have to have faith in the process allowing "my colleagues" in education to evaluate how well "me and my colleagues at my school" are preparing teachers for "our field." Few better authorities can best assess quality than those people who are also practicing in the field doing the same thing you do...if you have faith that their system of evaluation is solid. For the record, I am putting forth that NCATE has a solid peer-evaluation process.

With that being said, Walden U's School of Education has been successful in partially putting their "Education Unit" (as NCATE calls it) on equal ground with places like the University of Wisconsin-Maidson, University of South Carolina, and thousands of other "brick and mortar" schools of education. That first step is getting one's degree programs nationally recognized by the recognized specialized professional association (SPA).

Just about every specific sub-field of education is known as having a nationally recognized organization of associated professionals in that field. Early childhood education, of course, has this in the form of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (Naeyc). NCATE works with Naeyc as it does with other SPAs in allowing them to first review a School of Education's Early Childhood Degree Programs (BA/BS or MAT's that prepare teachers for initial certification and M.Eds/Ed.S/Ph.D./Ed.D that prepare teachers for advanced early childhood education competencies...but not certification). NAEYC has established a set of standards that (if met) qualifies an early childhood degree program as sufficiently preparing an early childhood teacher for the field. If NAEYC (through its own chosen early childhood expert volunteer reviewers and comparable processes) recognizes a degree program as upholding its standards, then NCATE most likely will recognizes it, too. This gives the degree program the designation of being "nationally recognized."

In NCATE accreditation's highest level of quality, a School of Education itself can be "NCATE accredited" (through a more general process) or the school itself can be "NCATE accredited" with all of its degree programs being "nationally recognized." For many Schools of Education, either one or both approaches can be made if the State's Department of Education designates so. Many states only require the School of Education to be "NCATE accredited" with no rock-solid requirement for haivng it to have nationally recognized programs. On the other hand, states like SC require all of its Education Unit's degree programs to be nationally recognized before it will be allowed to recognize "NCATE accreditation" as a satisfactory standard for ensuring that these schools can prepare teachers to be state licensed teachers. This is a bit higher on the scale of quality than for a school to just get by being generally "NCATE accredited." There is some wiggle room in between done on the state level, but we will stay focused on NCATE accreditation.

Since Walden U's early childhood program is nationally recognized, it actually is on the standard of quality as any other brick and mortar early childhood program according to NCATE. Here's the rub: why attend a brick and mortar school when you can just attend places like Walden U from the comfort of your own home and community elementary/primary school that are supposed to now be recognized as having the highest quality early childhood prep program that the field can endorse?

Well...E-Learning and NCATE accreditation (nationally recognized programs or not) are not quite on the same level of respect as "brick and mortar" and NCATE accrediation (even those without nationally recognized programs). Is there some hypocrisy here? Is there some academic prejudice here?

Interesting discussion over a nice steak dinner:)

Budget Crunch Should Not Affect These Children At Crucial Age

2011-08-08T10:08:00.005-05:00

As a former prekindergarten teacher, I find this article troubling. It does not surprise me, though. When I taught 4K (not CD-4 which has a different philosophy) in my local elementary school, I never had any money available to me really. There were three preK classrooms, but only one was funded mostly by the local school district. The other two (including mine) were funded largely by local funds.

Let me make it clear: many school districts have no line item money budgeted for preK because little money is available for those areas since a lot of it nowadays is connected to unapproved or underfunded federal fundstreams (like the Early Learing Challenge Funds)(Electronic Education Report, 2009). That means that if you were to look at the budget, there would be a fixed catetory for "First Grade," "Second Grade," even "Kindergarten,"...but no preK. This is not because district administrators do not care about preK. Many of them not only have children (or grandchildren) in such programs, but also they were products of preK themselves. No, it all boils down to priority. Investing line-item wise in early childhood's youngest years has not always been something that the powers that be have put the confidence in even today (Kelleher, 2011). What determines how a school is viewed concerning its ability to provide quality education? What determines where school-wise some essential federal and state go? What often influences the value of real estate around a school? You can put it in three words: HIGH STAKES TESTING.

There is no high stakes testing in public school preK even though there is much pressure on them to accelerate learning to prepare for it (Persellin, 2007). The issue is fraught with hypocrisy and contradiction. High stakes testing begins in Grade 3 and the often unsettling compromise between early childhood professionals and other stake holders is to see Kindergarten (namely 5-K in many areas)as Stage One in prepping children for the high stakes (Miller and Almon, 2009) testing that will assault them beginning in third grade.

Here's the irony, though. thirty years after the ground breaking Perry Preschool, Carolina Abecedarian, and Chicago Longitudinal Study, many school districts still do not get it: (1) preparing a child educationally begins before Kindergarten even before PreK, (2) preparing a child educationally does not happen automatically when you plop a child in an educational setting whether it's infant/toddler care, PreK or what have you; it depends on whether the teacher is basing his/her practice on integrity-based research....and (3) THIS COSTS LOTS MONEY!!!

I think this last point relates best to the article I posted. You cannot educate children on "exceptions." I hear too much blather about "teachers should not work for money." "Teaching should be more about the money." This is hogwash, folks. Every industry thrives on investment. For those of us who are Christians, please refer to Matthew 25:14-30. You cannot reap success unless you take chances, sow and invest. The same goes pretty much with education. It's not a direct proportion--nothing is in social science. We cannot, however, expect our children to prosper unless we are willing to invest in our teachers. We must advocate much more social investment welfare principles into early childhood (Conley, 2010).

As painful as it is for me to say this: you reap what you sow in education...and we are not reaping as much as we should :( If you invest to pay teachers only about $30K a year (which is ridiculous to live on when you have to pay for a car, housing, and other daily amenities), then you will gain many medicore teachers and medicore educational results. The exemplary high school/soon to be college students will continue to go to more lucrative fields like medicine, law, and engineering. Now, if teachers started off making $40-45K, then education (as cliche as it sounds) will reap better raw product (more blue chip scholars) to innovate the field and catalyze more difference-making in the classroom as the standard...not the expection.

Again, this is all affected when you invest smallar and smaller amounts into early childhood education. The less you invest per young child, the less money eventually teachers will be paid. The less money you invest per teacher, the less attractive the job will be (when you add in the hard work that goes along with the job). A less attractive job will attract relatively less blue chip teachers. The top teachers go to other states/districts with higher paying jobs while these low paying districts must scramble with the "leftovers" hoping they will will be able to find a "diamond in the rough"....or an "exceptional teacher" for a budget price.

What's the result? Inconsistent education during the early years. Inconsisten, inefficient teaching because of poorly trained teachers exacerbate children to be less prepared overall when they approach high stakes testing years. Seeing children who are on the whole behind, districts have to scramble to sure up student performance in an unorthodox/budget-minded (READ: often against best practices) way which would have been automatically neutralized if the district had invested the lion's share of their money hiring the best of the best infant/toddler, preK, and primary school teachers from the get-go.

As an early childhood professional, I may see more in this article than most people. It's a sad state of affairs that I pray gets better. I think it may get worst, though, before it gets better. Just ask some of student teachers from the last three years. Several of them still can't find jobs:(

Tot Seizure Free...But Half of Brain Gone

2011-01-31T12:38:00.002-05:00

Check this out, everyone. Kudos to 21st Century Medicine...or an unsettling example?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Key to Beating Child Obesity: Parent Modeling

2010-11-10T10:44:00.001-05:00

Today, USA Today published an article expounding on the need for parents to role-model good wellness for their children as a preventive measure against childhood obesity. This is a well known approach to this problem, but more and more empirical evidence is being uncovered to support this idea as a unavoidable approach.

The American Medical Association found that between adolescence and 30 years old, heavy boys and girls are very likely to become morbidly (i.e. a key contributor to death) obese. What does this have to do with parents? Well, mainly, if a child is heavy as an adolescence, this weight accumulated during the elementary school years. Consequently, the problem started sometime during the early childhood (0-Age 8) years. Who’s introduced the child to food? the parents/guardians. Who’s responsible for feeding the child? The parents/guardians. Who’s responsible for primarily monitoring and educating the child about their eating habits? Guess who? The parents/guardians. If the parents eat McDonald’s everyday, then guess who also picks up that habit? If the parents munch of chips and candy in between meals, then…well, you get the idea. We grown folks who have children have to do better.

33% of children between the ages of 0 and 8 are overweight (Lee, Lim, Zoellner, Bert, Sandretto, Sohn, Ismail, 2010). That’s frightening. If we combine this idea with the USA Today article, a very large portion of those children are in danger of digging part of their grave BEFORE they reach the age of 30. None of us want that, right?

All of us need to make better health choices. Let’s be realistic now. Everyone is not going to (or need to) run a marathon and be a triathlete. My grandparents just lived well and clean. They ate as healthy as they could, did whatever exercising that they could, and did not abuse drugs. Both lived into their 90’s. We can teach our children to do that, too.

In terms of our nutrition, above all else, we MUST teach children that they cannot eat anything that they want as much as they want. I have learned over the past 12 or so months to watch my carbohydrate (among other things) intake. Too many carbs is the culprit. We eat too much pasta, refined bread, refined rice, cookies, cakes, and starches (that includes our beloved baked potatoes). It is ok to have some of that stuff, but if we do not eat them in moderation (i.e. “maybe this week, but not next week” for example) then how can we expect our children to do so?

In terms of exercise, do your best. So many people and experts that I know tell me “people make excuses that they do not have any time.” Here’s some front page news: SOME PEOPLE TRULY DO NOT HAVE TIME. I know some friends who have to get up 4am in the morning to drive three hours to get to their 7am teaching jobs. They work until 4pm (on the clock), then have to stay after school for other necessary obligations. They hopefully leave work at 5pm to try to beat it back home at 8:00 pm…so they can stay up another two hours to make sure lesson plans, etc. are straight for the next day. This happens five days a week? When can they exercise? Well, one friend tries to walk as much as she can, especially on Saturday and Sunday. That may be all she can do. This is just one story, everyone. I myself try to run every morning at 5:30 am-6:00 am, but it can be tough because I have to be out the door for my job at 6:30 am if I am to get there on time.

The take home message to parents/guardians about modeling wellness to prevent obesity in their children: do the best you can today, then get up each day trying to do better than the previous day. Make sure, though, that you are honestly and truly doing your best.

References:

Lee, J., Lim, S., Zoellner, J., Burt, B., Sandretto, A., Sohn, W., et al. (2010). Don't Children Grow Out of Their Obesity? Weight Transitions in Early Childhood. Clinical Pediatrics, 49(5), 466-469. doi:10.1177/0009922809356466.

Warning: “Baby Reading” May Be Misleading

2010-11-02T08:42:00.002-05:00

I’m sure some of you have heard of the Your Baby Can Read program offered by Your Baby Can LLC. The Today Show did an intriguing piece on how this program can mislead parents focused on doing all they can to ensure that their child grows up to be an exemplary reader. If you go to the website, it offers NO scholarly support for its alleged results. Robert Titzer, the program’s founder/creator, does not offer any type of credible rationale for this program. He’s not the only one, though. Selected other infant initiatives (Baby TV and Babyfirsttv, and Baby Einstein to name a few other examples) cannot explain the superlatives of their programs by linking it to early childhood/child development theory. I am stating this as my own professional opinion as an early childhood education expert.

No, ladies and gentlemen, infants CANNOT read. They “read.” If they can sound out words that they “see” in front of them, then they are simply repeating what has been repetitiously repeated to them (Machado, 2009). In other words, they are mostly just sounding out memorized sounds (Berk, 2009; Charlesworth, 2010). Infants really cannot see well enough to read because their visual acuity is still maturing (Santrock, 2008). Babies until the age of two are mostly “thinking” with their senses (eyes, ears, hands, noses, mouths). The center of reading is within the mind. Children ages 0-2 cannot yet carry out many activities inside their heads (like reading) (Berk, 2009; Charlesworth, 2010). Reading is a complex process that integrates eye coordination, eye movement, alphabetical knowledge, phonological knowledge, phonemic awareness, and phonics into a smooth operation. Just sounding out words that children have seen over and over again (like in the above named programs) is not reading. In fact, besides doing a bit of harm to the baby by overexposing him/her to television at that young age, such programs are actually stifling these children’s growth by focusing narrowly (and improperly) on one developmental domain rather than guiding the child to development physically, socially, emotionally, as well as cognitively (Brewer, 2006)

There are some programs that are VERY credible (WestEd’s Program for Infant and Toddler Caregiving, High Scope’s Infant Toddler Curriculum) because they focus on the developing exploratory nature of the child as he/she transitions from a sensorimotor viewpoint of the world to a more “operational” (mental schematic processes) viewpoint of the world conducive and palatable for early literacy development (which includes writing and talking as well as reading) (NAEYC, 2009). This usually emerges between 2-4 yeas of age.

Please be cautious of these “baby learning programs.” The best way to nurture your child’s development (not just reading) is to interactive with him/her positively, consistently, and lovingly with a conversational bent (Gonzalez-Mena & Eyer, 2008; Gerber & Weaver, 2003)…and please turn the TV off

The Development of Infant Visual Acuity...and Robots?

2010-10-18T07:12:00.004-05:00

Here's a USA Today review article of an intriguing child development study about infant visual acuity. I find this study puzzling because the ability of infants and toddlers to "track" moving objects (whether they look like people or not) is something that they naturally develop as they move from the sensorimotor cognitive stage to the preoperational stage. If anything, this research give credence to the connection humans have with each other as interactive objectives because of our characteristics. If an object (like a robot) bears human characteristics, people (especially very young, impressionable ones) may find themselves developing an affinity toward them. For more information, please see this citation link to find information on how to obtain the full original research article.

Check out this great MSN Video: 'The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon?'

2010-09-28T17:49:00.000-05:00

Check out this great MSN Video: 'The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon?'

Zais on Early Childhood Education (Part 2)

2010-08-18T20:41:00.003-05:00

REGGIE'S QUESTION ASKED TO MICK ZAIS:

Dr. Zais,

The educational expectations for grade-school students continue to rise almost every year or every few years. These increased thresholds have a tendency to cause school districts to push down academic standards into the younger grades (like pre-kindergarten). Much research has shown that "hurrying" the child academically like that is not developmentally appropriate for them and does not most consistently ensure later school success for all types of children.

If elected as SC Superintendent of Education, what is your plan to increase the level of developmentally appropriate instruction and curriculum implementation in pre kindergarten and Kindergarten to ensure that students are being held only to goals and experiences that are suited to their learning and development and challenging enough to promote their progress and interest?

Dear Dr. Williams,

Thank you for contacting me and your wishes
for my success in my campaign for State Superintendent of Education. I
apologize
for not responding sooner; my campaign schedule and family
schedule have been
very full, so I haven’t had a good opportunity to pen a
thoughtful
response.

In regards to your question: I
think it is
critical that every child receive instruction that is both
developmentally and
academically appropriate for them. This is
especially true for preschool
children. You have rightly pointed
out that sooner isn’t always
better for children. I have spoken
repeatedly about how setting up a
system that all children enter at the same
time and are expected to exit at the
same time is unrealistic and
detrimental to our students. Students grow
and mature at varying
rates. Artificially holding some students back and
hurrying others is
bad for the students and bad for our
state.

Mandating a
statewide full-day kindergarten program
for all four year olds would
exacerbate a problem you are already observing.
Any statewide
education program will be pushed to have statewide, academic
standards based
assessment. The majority of a young child’s day should not
be driven
by the institutional testing goals of the K-12 system. Children
need a
sense of security and self at these youngest ages. These are
developed
in relationships, not institutions, in my opinion.

At the
same
time, and has been noted by the courts, that some students come into their
formal school years with significant cognitive development deficits that can
be
linked to a lack of exposure to language, print, time concepts and number
concepts. Frequently, these children also lack consistent nutrition
and
health care. Our state developed First Steps in order to
holistically
address these needs of pre-kindergarten children. Local
boards assess the
local needs and resources and then develop plans to meet
the needs of the
communities they serve. In my opinion, this is the
appropriate way to
manage meeting the needs of our youngest children who are
not receiving basic
needs.

I support the current
structure of separation between
pre-K and k-12 standards and
oversight. K-12 should not have mission
creep that extends its
master plan from the cradle through
college.

Thank you for
writing and for all you do for the children
under your
care.

Sincerely,

Mick Zais

So what do you think?

President's Early Learning Council Created?

2010-08-18T06:33:00.003-05:00

Here's an intriguing announcement from the US Department of Health and Human Services. Is this President Obama's long awaited "Early Learning Council" ? Let's hope so:)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETuesday, August 3, 2010
Contact: Elaine Quesinberry
at ED (202) 401-1576Kenneth Wolfe at HHS (202) 401-9215

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Secretary of Health and
Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to Announce Formation of Interagency Policy
Board on Early Learning
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius today announced the
formation of the Early Learning Interagency Policy Board to improve the quality
of early learning programs and outcomes for young children; increase the
coordination of research, technical assistance and data systems; and advance the
effectiveness of the early learning workforce among the major federally funded
early learning programs across the two departments.

"This marks an important step in our effort to help eliminate silos at the
federal level," said Secretary Duncan. "We want to ensure that
collaboration at the federal level mirrors the integration you're striving to
achieve at the state and local levels."

"Providing strong support for this country's children during their earliest
years is one of the most important investments we can make," said Secretary
Sebelius. "This effort will rely on strong federal partnerships,
integrated policy development, and continued innovation from our partners in the
Early Learning field."

They made the announcement at the Early Childhood 2010: Innovation for the
Next Generation meeting at the Hilton Washington in Washington, D.C. The
Early Childhood 2010 meeting brought together state and local partners from a
range of early childhood programs across ED and HHS, key stakeholders and
federal staff to improve collaboration and partnerships at the Federal, state
and community levels in support of integrated early childhood systems.
Through plenary sessions, workshops, state team meetings, and networking
opportunities, participants discussed innovative, evidence-based practices and
their vision for creating a high-quality coordinated early learning and
development system.

Zais on Early Childhood Education

2010-08-14T09:30:00.004-05:00

I wrote the Zais campaign a month before the primary but did not receive a response back. I wrote them again today and will post their response (if I get one).

In the meantime, I have uncovered some interesting ideas about Dr. Zais in connection with early childhood education:

First, He is skeptical of expanding 4 year old kindergarten (4K). This type of kindergarten is supposedly a synonym for pre kindergarten even though in reality the teaching approach can be drastically different. Pre kindergarten is the public school version of preschools [which are comprehensive private/non-profit/for-profit education programs geared to give children ehanced experiences before they enter formal education in the form of Kindergarten (5K or 5 year old Kindergarten)]. If a pre kindergarten is true to its intent, it is focused squarely on holistic education--social, emotional, and physical education as well as developmentally appropriate academics. Many pre kindegarten programs, though, have morphed to focus almost exclusively on academics at the expensive of nurturing children's other domains. Because of the academic focus, many districts choose to follow their states' leads by creating pre kindergarten "curriculum standards" that are tied directly to the accountability expectations expected in K-12 classrooms. To show this distinct connection, the name 4-year-old kindergarten is used as a replacement for the more generic pre kindergarten. Those districts that wish to preserve the original holistic developmentally focused intent of pre kindergarten have had a tendency to call rename pre-kindergarten as Child Development-Four (CD-4). Zais is opposed to expanding 4 year old kindergartens.

Why am I mentioning all of this? Because I would oppose expanding 4-year old kindergarten, too if it means increasing the number of academic intensive classrooms for four year olds throughout the state. Unfortunately, the original legislative intent (also see here in Subdivision B, Subpart 3, Section 1) for establishing "4 year old programs" (which was an extremely generous term) in South Carolina was to prepare children for Kindergarten. This is come to result in "4-year-old programs" in public schools of various types, preschool special education, and South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness. Even though the legislation allowed for the creation of such an academic-focused system as we see today, research in early chlidhood education education in South Carolina and other places has shed better light on what type of program is most effective for children at this age. A high quality early childhood education at this age should not be just focused on reading, writing, math, and academic subjects. They will have plenty of time to focus on those when they get to Kindergarten and the Primary Grades. Instead, any expanded pre kindergarten (I prefer the generic concept) program needs "whole child" nurturing because many children's minds at this age are not prepared for the type of formal academic learning that is being pushed down each successive year. That's why many children are "flunking" Kindergarten--the expectations are too developmentally inappropriate for a large majority of the children.

Again, this is my first posting on Zais. I'll post more on him as soons as I can uncover it.

Holleman On Early Childhood

2010-08-12T16:26:00.003-05:00

Frank Holleman, the Democratic Nominee for SC State Superintendent, actually has a very strong connection to early childhood education. I'm just hoping that he will make a concerted effort to create and lobby for policies that will make early childhood in South Carolina more developmentally focused. There is still a strong streak of focusing too heavily on academics (especially in low-income areas) through arbitrary standards rather than bolstering the emotional, physical, and social sides of the child as well.

I wrote the Holleman campaign asking them about his plans for bolstering early childhood education in a developmentally appropriate way. This is the response:

Mr. Holleman believes that we need to expand access to high
quality early childhood education to ensure that all children come to school
ready to succeed, to raise academic achievement, to improve life outcomes for
all students, and to obtain a significant return for the state. Part of high
quality early childhood education is providing appropriate training and
professional development for early childhood educators, so that all children
receive developmentally appropriate instruction and programming.

I applaud him for focusing on providing appropriate training and professional development(PD) for early childhood educators. Teachers cannot know how to teach in a developmentally appropriate way unless they receive new knowledge and skills pertaining to using those types of strategies. Even though there is no peer-reviewed research on this for SC early childhood teachers, I know from personal experience, student accounts, and many teacher colleagues that early childhood professional training is (1) too intermixed with elementary education PD, (2) labelled as too expensive to completely implement, or (3) is practically nontexistent in a continuous, consistent delivery. I'm looking forward to hearing some specifics about this. Specific trainings in well-respected curriculums [Creative Curriculum, HighScope, Montessori, Program for Infant and Toddler Care (PITC), and The Bank Street Approach] should be readily available to teachers across the state, especially for those in rural districts that are struggling financially and have had to cut these types of expensives extensively. This is how he can fulfill his goal of providing appropriate training and professional development.

I shall post more on Holleman as it comes and will soon post insight on his Republican opponent Mick Zais.

Progress on Presidential Early Learning Policy

2010-06-15T07:19:00.002-05:00

Here's an interesting opinion on the progress of our President's appointment of a Presidential Early Learing Council.

A Presidential Early Learning Council?

2010-06-08T14:43:00.002-05:00

I'm still waiting for this to materialize. President Obama stated here (and here as a video excerpt), that he would create such a council in order combat the growing number of students (especially those coming from low income homes) who are not ready on grade level by Fourth Grade. This Kids Count study shows that the degrading level of student proficiency in literacy by this time in children's academic career is one of many crucial concerns for children from birth to age eight. Where's the initiative though on this aspect?

I'm hoping that he puts this together because "launching a children's first agenda" is going to take more than a few years. Using this council to coordinate all of his ideas about improving early childhood forces him to wade into a very disjointed arena that takes a number of stakeholders and blending of philosophies.

First, Obama has to deal with the fractured system made up of child care, Head Start, public school prekindergarten, Kindergarten, and primary school learning. Head Start (the Federal side) has its own philosophies and standards. Child care (often the domain of state social services divisions) has its own set of philosopies, licensure standards, and approaches. Kindergarten and primary school (often the domain of state departments of education) have their own accountability, standards, and philosophies. Somewhere in there, public school kindergarten is caught bouncing from social services accountability to educational accountability. This first charge of the council is to bring these desparete areas under one mission.

Second, the President must work on establishing a proper career ladder for early childhood professionals who often enter the field as teacher assistants and ascend to the level of teachers, directors, and teacher educators. The system is non-existent in a universal sense. prospective teachers who are teacher assistants often have trouble getting their CDA's to translate into community college early childhood degree credits which consequently are looked on with suspicion by four year colleges. The Presidential Council needs to tackle this part so that early childhood can be assured of having enough QUALITY professionals to have the ability to take on the challenge fo finding solutions to improve learning and developmental outcomes for EACH CHILD as our President wants.

Third,...a big one: the President must use some serious elbow grease and develop a vigorous Council that will push, push, and push more for Congress to stablize and increase funding on several early childhood-related initiatives: The Child Cared Development Blog Grants (CCDBG) program, Head Start, Early Head Start (which he alluded to trying to tackle toward the front end of his ECE agenda), early childhood nutrition policy, and child health care policies. If you have ambitious plans that are so vital to the future of our country in competing with other nations, a substantial dollar investment in the right places must be made from the very top.

Is the Presidential Council up to the challenge. We'll find out once the President gets around to creating it...which I'm optimistic he will. I just hope it's not too little too late.

The State of Preschool 2009

2010-05-18T10:00:00.003-05:00

Check it Out...

Babies Learn While Sleeping? Most Likely...

2010-05-18T09:42:00.004-05:00

William Fifer and his team from Columbia University recently used 26 sleeping infants with electrodes stuck to their scalps and faces to gain valuable data in support of the conclusion that babies learn while they are sleeping. Their data mainly consisted of increased brain wave activity occurring at the front of the babies' brains (the place most associated with memory) over a 30 minute span of listening to a musical piece.

I'm still waiting to read the actual research report and paper, but I can see the validity of their results if the research was done with high quality control. Infants motor and cognitive development often occur in relation to one another because they are in the sensorimotor stage of mind development. This when they learn through their senses (hearing, seeing, toching, etc.) which are still working while they are asleep.

Again, I need to read the actual study, but it gives further empirical support for parents to read to their babies, sing to their babies, and expose to lots of wonderful sensory experiences...even while they are snoring away.

Child Care Eventually Leads To Great Grades In High School?

2010-05-14T06:55:00.003-05:00

A recent longitudinal study (and here for more detail) led by Deborah Lowell Vandell gives FURTHER (see here, here, and here) credible evidence that children between the ages of 0-5 who experience consistent HIGH QUALITY child care with a nurturing, interactive adult care giver eventually perform siginificantly better in academics on a long term basis. This study began with 1,364 children when they were babies. Now they are 15 years old, and the results support and help evaluate their successes in high school in connection with their child care experiences.

Other results (which I still haven't seen the study for), though, show that children in extended high quality child care are more "impulsive" and "take more risks." I need the read this part of the study to get a better of idea of what these ideas exactly mean in context. The nurturing that comes with child care should promote better thought, not errode it, so there may be some extenuating circumstances surrounding why children would end up more impulsive and less thoughtful.

What new implications does this have for parents raising children? Nothing really. Just the same great ideas:

(1) interact positively with your children right out of the womb by talking, singing, cuddling, laughing, exposing them to new places/sounds/smells.

(2) expose them to a HIGH QUALITY child care center while they are infants (under a year) where care givers interact with your children with love and respect (not with harshness and overrestrictiveness) and where your children are moving around for most of the day not trapped in a crib. Even if you don't (or can't afford it like a lot of us...high quality infant child care is astronomically expensive) have your child in child care as an infant, ANY consistent child care instituted during Ages 0-5 will benefit the child academically to some degree.

(3) model the type of behaviors in your home that you want you children to display at 18 years old. If you want the kid to read for enjoyment and enrichment, then you need to develop a love to read for enjoyment and enrichment. If you watch television most of the time, what do you think you child will very likely end up doing? If you eat fast food and junk food on a regular basis, what do you think your child will see as the norm for a typical meal? If conversations are not the norm for your house, then kids might not grow up seeking out such discourse when problem arise.

(4) Did I mention to TURN OFF THE TV? Few things hurt children's holistic development (see here, here) than television. It is much healthier for your children to not watch any TV until they are 2.5 or 3...but television watching should be heavily restricted until they are 18.

NAEYC's 111th Congressional Call To Action

2010-04-30T15:51:00.001-05:00

Not sure if I ever posted this, but here is NAEYC's recommendations for Congress (circa 2009):
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/policy/federal/Calltoaction111th.pdf

The State of Child Care

2010-04-28T10:58:00.002-05:00

This discussion might be around 3 years old, but it still is the best one that I've heard on the impact of child care on children in the US. I even called in:)

http://www.onpointradio.org/2007/03/tough-report-card-on-day-care

Effectively Supporting Early Childhood Student Teachers

2010-04-15T13:18:00.004-05:00

As the year closes on yet another batch of student teachers, I am reflecting on the bitter and sweet parts that my students must endure as student teachers. There will always be some bitter and sweet sections of one's teaching internship and apprenticeship, but it should rarely orignate from the lack of support from cooperating teachers.

I feel fortunate to have been a university supervisor for two years, so I constantly try to stay aware of the need to consistently communicate with my cooperating teachers. In doing so, I keep them informed of all that they need to do in giving the student teachers the support that he needs.

Alas, it does not always work out so well for the entire process. Often, this comes from a lack of experience. Being a cooperating or coach teacher requires more organization (on top of the heap that the teachers already have to do in the classroom) and a constant awareness of "best practices" in concert with their own teaching styles. Sometimes, it can leave the cooperating teacher feeling a bit "undertrained" compared to the more knowledge and skills that the student teacher brings. I tell the coop teachers, though, no one needs to be threatening. This is a partnership learning experience...a true sociocultural, constructivist arrange in which both the student teacher and the coop teacher co-construct what "effective teaching" looks like.

So....ends another year. I will continue to pray to do my best to help every (both student teachers and coop teachers) focus on creating sweetness rather than any bitterness:)

Steady and Serene Is The Ticket

2010-04-02T14:40:00.004-05:00

This is an example of a teacher who needs to practice controlling her temper. Working with children tests your nerves and patience. I know this. You get aggravated. You get flustered. They push your buttons. I know, know, and know this,...but you have to remain poised. These are children, and they are SUPPOSED to do this. It's in their nature to test the limits of their environment to see how much and how often they can get their way psychologically, physically, academically, and emotionally. When teachers fail to keep these ideas front and center in their minds, things like this happen.

Teachers...be like a pool of still water...steady and serene...

Childhood Obesity

2010-02-11T18:54:00.002-05:00

Now, this is a HUGE topic in the early childhood discipline, everyone. 33% of children under the age of 8 are obese. When I mean obese, I don't mean a few pounds overweight; I'm referring to children being 10-20 pounds to heavy!

Of course, many parents feel that a child's extra weight might not cause much trouble. Many often remember while growing up that many kids--including themselves--had some "baby fat" on them that eventually melted off as they grew up and as the metabolism revved up. Keep in mind, though, that the extra weight can cause a number of other problems. Kids could develop diabetes early. Cholesterol could turn into a problem earlier than expected, and the extra weight on young frames could cause spinal, hip, and knee erosion much earlier than possible.

Early childhood teachers can do little to help except to educate, educate, educate the children and especially their parents. The parents are often the biggest culprits because they put unhealthy choices (like fast food) before the child way too often. This was a pattern that for many parents started not long after the baby began to eat solid food. Moms and Dads often continue this cycle of unhealthy menu choice offerings because THEY themselves eat the wrong things.

I tell all my teachers that I train to model healthy living for these children. That's all you can do. YOU exercise. YOU avoid bringing sodas and other unhealthy drinks in the classroom--Bring water, 100% juice, or milk instead. A big issue for a lot of teachers seeking to model healthy choices in terms of food comes from the fact that so many cafeterias serve horrible food. It's full of fat, oil, sugar, starch, and other baddies that have fair to middling nutrition. The teacher is caught in the middle: should I bring my own healthy food or should I model eating the cafeteria food? Either way, they make a statement validating or rejecting what's served in the lunchroom.

I applaud First Lady Obama for taking up this very difficult issue on a national leel.

I just hope she focuses on the real problem: the adults...not the children.

A Change In Career Direction

2010-01-30T13:13:00.002-05:00

I turn 33 this year, and I started this blog a few years ago. Much has happened since then. I finished gradeuate school and began teaching at South Carolina State University. I still hold to my research agenda--homeless families--,but now I am starting to see the need to serve more in a leadership capacity for young early childhood professionals throughout the state.

Consequently, I'm going to add much more of my time to advocating and lobbying for better early childhood in our state. Certainly, I should have been doing this more already; however, it's quite amazing how many hats you have to wear in you job and how much time it takes to complete the multiude of roles you have been given.

Hopefully, I can get the student early childhood organization re-started at my school. It's a challenge because many of my students are first-time college kids who have their hands full just trying to graduate. They often have little time left over to devote to organizational work.

We'll see what happens....

Oklahoma Is A Leader in Early Care For Disadvantaged Children

2009-09-18T10:23:00.003-05:00

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.

Still Waiting On Obama To Focus On Early Childhood

2009-08-11T15:46:00.002-05:00

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.

Reggio Emilia in the Middle East

2009-05-27T09:34:00.004-05:00

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.

Obama Aiming To Increase Early Education Funding?

2008-12-22T12:04:00.001-05:00

We'll See..

New DAP To Be Released This Month BY NAEYC!

2008-12-22T11:59:00.002-05:00

A Pioneer in LA County Head Start Dies

2008-12-22T11:58:00.001-05:00

I've actually heard of this guy...quite the trailblazer, especially for a Black ma in the mid 60's

Reginald's Blog: The Return (January 1, 2009)

2008-12-19T13:32:00.002-05:00

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:)

Is Full Day Kindergarten Bad?

2008-08-29T09:20:00.002-05:00

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.

Baby's First Words

2008-08-27T18:10:00.000-05:00

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.

State of Preschool 2007...

2008-06-27T11:12:00.000-05:00

...has finally been released. Check it out...

...

Universal PreKs Do Better

2008-06-26T21:14:00.000-05:00

Check it out for yourself...

...as well as the research article itself.

What Barack Obama Has To Say About Early Childhood Education

2008-03-11T10:22:00.001-05:00

"We've got to invest in our education system, early childhood education, increasing our teacher salaries and giving them more support."

This isn't much, just a general statement. What is his opinion about the importance of early childhood education? Are ceritification standards throughout the nation conducivie to creating a quality teaching force? What is his idea of a uniformed early childhood career ladder?

He leaves a lot of questions to be answered.

Draft of Revised NAEYC Statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practice

2008-03-04T14:45:00.000-05:00

I'm still alive everyone...but mad busy. I'm just starting to get back on the wagon after a grueling February of midterms, comprehensive exams, and other out of state commitments.

Here's something to chew on: NAEYC's 2008 Draft of their Revision of DAP.

Check it out.

2008-02-14T17:54:00.000-05:00

It's been a long layoff (thank to comps), but I'm back....and mad about breastfeeding pressure.

Take a look a this!

Child Care Crisis?

2008-01-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

In an interesting article today, child care is framed as a struggle for families everywhere. A question to consider when looking at child care is: How is the quality rather than the cost?

SCECA 2008

2008-01-14T13:22:00.000-05:00

For more information go here.

Reaction To Slain Children in DC

2008-01-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

An update of a worldwide story...tragic...very tragic...

Head Start Authorization Bill Goes To Bush

2008-01-07T16:30:00.000-05:00

(from the NAEYC)

Notice the the CC&DB Grants and the Infant and Toddler initiatives were among the big losers:(

FINAL FUNDING BILL GOES TO PRESIDENT FOR SIGNATURE

The First Session of the 110th Congress is drawing to a close. The President has signed the Head Start reauthorization bill. The Higher Education Act reauthorization bills in the House and Senate are moving forward, hopefully to be completed early in the Second Session, with important provisions to help improve early childhood educator preparation, compensation, loan forgiveness for higher education, and state early childhood professional development and career systems in states. In addition, the WIC program received a funding increase.

Your calls and emails helped keep the importance of early childhood education visible.

However, the President vetoed the first bill that Congress sent to him that had increases for several early childhood education programs. After two Continuing Resolutions, Congress reached an agreement on a bill that the President was willing to sign. To reach those numbers, Congress made a 1.747% cut across all programs.

Starting with the opening of the Second Session in January 2008, it will be important for members of Congress to hear often about the importance of high quality early childhood education programs.

Here are highlights in the final spending bill compared to last year's funding levels:

Title I of No Child Left Behind - $1.6 billion increase
IDEA Part B - $259 million increase
21st Century Community Learning Centers - $100 million increase
Child Care & Development Block Grant - no increase
Head Start - reduced by $10.58 million
Early Reading First - reduced by $5 million
Even Start - reduced by $15.8 million
Reading First - reduced by $636 million
IDEA 619 Preschool - reduced by $6.65 million
IDEA Part C Infants and Toddlers - reduced by $746,000
CAMPIS - reduced by $276,000

A New Early Childhood Publication From NAEYC!

2007-12-13T16:36:00.000-05:00

I think it's a pretty good idea...but it needs to be a benefit for comprehensive members like moi who pay $85/year. At least it should be at a discounted rate.

Check it out!

"Taking Stock: Assessing and Improving Early Childhood Learning and Program Quality"

2007-12-13T16:28:00.000-05:00

The call for a uniform system of early childhood education continues to gain new support.

Check out this report from yet another heavyweight, the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force.

New Report on Infant-Kindegarten State Systems

2007-12-13T16:23:00.000-05:00

You can read the report here: http://www.preknow.org/documents/CommonVision_Dec2007.pdf

A organization that I have never heard of called PreK Now has some interesting discussion on the matter as well.

One thing I know from my experience in the field: every state utilizes a different system of accountability, staffing, child care regulatory standards, and career ladder.

Which works best? Is a individualized state system better than something uniform accross the nation? Check out the report to find out.

I would say that we need an individualized system with parts that are familiar enough to be seen in other state systems albeit possibly under a different name.

Head Start, Other Child Related Bills At Standstill

2007-12-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

From the NAEYC...Call your congressman!

FEDERAL FUNDING STANDOFF
The Congressional leadership and the White House are in a stand-off on funding levels for the remaining eleven funding bills for fiscal year 2008 - including the bill that funds Head Start, child care, K-12 and higher education, health care and research, and job training programs. Much of the federal government is currently operating under a stopgap funding measure that expires December 14. The President has said he will veto spending bills above his budget request. Congressional leaders are working on a new bill, but the total amount and program-by-program levels were in flux as of last night. Congress is likely to pass another Continuing Resolution to keep federal funds flowing past December 14.

STATE DEVELOPMENTS - ALABAMA EXPANDS ITS INVESTMENT IN YOUNG CHILDREN
There has been a lot of press in Alabama about the state's expansion of its preschool investments. Alabama's state legislature approved $10 million for the state's prekindergarten program, which was an increase of almost $5 million over last year's allocation. The additional funding will pay for a total of 133 pre-k classrooms in the state, up from the 59 classrooms that were funded last year.

The money goes hand in hand with allocations that support the development and learning of young children including:$1.7 million for HIPPY, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters$1.27 million to the Alabama Child Care Subsidy program to increase the number of available slots$950,000 for the state's Head Start supplement.

In addition, the state's governor, Bob Riley, has announced his plan to expand prekindergarten for four-year-olds throughout the state. The plan, called First Class, would increase the number of children served by pre-k in the state to 21,000 by 2011. The Governor will propose allocating $30 million to First Class in its first year. The program will use a combination of state funding, grants and State Supported Slots to keep costs affordable for families. Pre-K Excellence Grants of up to $45,000 will be awarded to public school systems, Head Start centers and child care centers to help them achieve and maintain program standards. Each classroom will be able to charge up to $300 per child per month but there will be a sliding fee scale for families, dependent on income. Under the program, a family making up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level (about $40,000 for a family of four) will pay $40 per month. A family of four with income between 201-300 percent of the federal poverty level (between $40,000-$60,000) will pay $100 per month, and those making between 301-400 percent of the federal poverty level will pay $200 per month. Those making above $80,000 will pay $300 per month.

Teddy Bear Naming Update

2007-12-03T10:37:00.000-05:00

I'm sure many have heard about the teacher in Sudan who allowed her children to name a class Teaddy Bear Muhammed causing Muslims to ask for her execution.

Fortunately, she was pardoned...but it should let us know as teachers that we must always keep in mind multiculturalism, the family, and the children's background when creating learning opportunities. We cannot eschew these.

Early Childhood Book Recommendation

2007-12-03T10:33:00.000-05:00

Charner, K., Murphy, M., & Clark, C. (2006). The encyclopedia of infant and toddler activities: For children birth to 3. NY: Gryphon House.

Early Childhood Book Recommendation

2007-12-03T10:26:00.000-05:00

Paciorek, K.M. (2007). Taking Sides: Clashing Views In Early Childhood Education. New York: Dunskin/McGraw-Hill.

Early Childhood Book Recommendation

2007-12-03T10:24:00.000-05:00

Annual Editions: Child Growth and Development (2008-2009)

Babies Picking Out "Naughty" or "Nice"

2007-11-21T19:04:00.000-05:00

Check it Out.

Early Childhood Book Recommendation

2007-11-21T18:37:00.000-05:00

Baptiste, N. & Reyes, L. (2008). Understanding ethinics in early care and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Early Childhood Book Recommendation

2007-11-21T18:34:00.000-05:00

Jalongo, M.R. & Isenberg, J.P. (2008). Exploring your role: An introduction to early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Early Childhood Book Recommendation

2007-11-21T18:25:00.000-05:00

Riley, D., San Jaun, R.R., Klinkner, J., & Ramminger, A. (2008). Social & emotional development. Redleaf Press: St. Paul, MN.

A Toddler With 8 Limbs

2007-11-07T11:58:00.000-05:00

Juan's Law Leads To Boatwright Act Which Passes US House

2007-11-02T23:20:00.000-05:00

This is a startling story....

Charging Parents For Kindergarten???

2007-10-31T10:42:00.000-05:00

What is this???

Forcing parents to pay for all-day kindergarten may serve as a compromise that allows full-day kindergarten to be more widespread, but what about those parents who cannot AFFORD such a bill?

Ohio is pretty middling at best--their in the twenties or early thirties among all fifty states in access and allocated resources for early childhood. On top of that, the state legislature is trying to add another barrier to quality early childhood education by putting a price that parents must chip in to pay for Kindergarten...a compulsary grade level.

I think they need to re-think other funding alternatives...

A History of Head Start Legislation

2007-10-29T13:40:00.000-05:00

A superb overview of the Head Start Act and legislation changes...superb....

The "Improving Head Start Act" of 2007 (H.R. 1429)

2007-10-29T12:55:00.000-05:00

What: House Resolution 1429 (or here). Formerly known as the Head Start Readiness Act. It aligns Head Start more with NCLB than with "preparing disadvantageous children for first grade." The Senate has its own version.

What Is Being Changed? This is the Education Committee's take on the changes.

What's Wrong With The Bill?

The NAEYC has written for years on the problems with recent re-form in Head Start.

My only worry is that it is quite wordy and that they DO NOT try to put the National Head Start Reporting System back in.

The Early Childhood Subcommitte: Ever Heard Of It?

2007-10-29T12:45:00.000-05:00

Check out this link and learn all about them.

"Creative Curriculum" Co-sponsors Democratic Prez Debate...

2007-10-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

...or rather its makers are doing it.

Just today, Teaching Strategies, Inc. has thrown its hat into the sponsorship pile. Early childhood is a huge issue, especially with the recent news that Rep. Hirono will presenting a bill on creating a fund for state early childhood professional development systems to tap into. Co-sponsors are long-time early childhood support Senator George Voinovich (R) and Senator Sherrod Brown(D). What can early childhood professionals expect from the future president if he/she is a Democrat?

Autism Testing For Toddlers Recommended

2007-10-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

Check out this article.

Herein lies a oft missed part of assessment for early childhood: detecting special needs.

Early Childhood Quote of the Week: Tuesday, October 23, 2007

2007-10-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.

Jean Piaget

What's Going On With Early Childhood In Your State?

2007-10-24T09:39:00.000-05:00

Check it out!

South Carolina is doing nothing....:(....at least according to this list.

Who's Who In Early Childhood Education: Gunilla Dahlberg

2007-10-22T09:37:00.000-05:00

Who?: Gunilla (or Gunill) Dahlberg

Education:
Graduate Education, Institute of of Education (Teachers College in Stockholm)
Ph.D., Social Science, Stockholm University

What Is She Known For?
Probably for her book Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care which spotlighted the unnavigated territory of how post-modernism affects early care and development. .

What Is She Doing Now?
Since that time, she has focused on a diverse set of projects many of which are specifically focused on the municipal schools of Reggio Emilia.

Who's Who In Early Childhood Education: Valerie Polakow

2007-10-18T17:07:00.000-05:00

Who: Valerie Polakow

Education:
M.A., Educational Psychology, University of Michigan
Ph.D. Educational Psychology, University of Michigan

What Is She Known For?
Women and children in poverty--which is part of my area of interest(homeless young single mothers with young children. She researches how to best design better policy measures for families and children. Her latest book is Who Cares For Our Children: The Child Care Crisis In The Other America.

What Is She Doing Now?
Serving as a Professor of Educational Psychology and Early Childhood Education at Eastern Michigan along with another well know professor of early childhood education, Karen Paciorek.

Early Childhood Quote of the Week: Tuesday, October 16, 2007

2007-10-18T17:01:00.000-05:00

"Our children share [the] right of self-determination and make considerable use of it, frequently to the bewilderment and embarressment of parents and teachers who discover that they can no longer impose their will."

--Don Dinkmeye & Rudolf Dreikurs
(from Encouraging Children to Learn: The Encouragement Process)

Early Childhood Quote of the Week: October 9, 2007

2007-10-18T16:57:00.000-05:00

Lots of problems with the blog last week, so I'm going to do two quotes for this week:

"While advocacy is a worthwhile pursuit for early childhood education professionals, there appears to be some contradiction between what early childhood educators are urged to do as advocates, and the way in which developmentally appropriate practice positions early childhood professionals in their daily work with young children."

---Susan Grieshaber
("Advocacy and Early Childhood Educators: Identity and Cultural Conflicts" in Engaging Identities in Early Childhood Education: Diversity and Possibilities)

Who's Who In Early Childhood Education: Glenda May MacNaughton

2007-10-16T10:53:00.000-05:00

Who: Glenda M. MacNaughton

Education:

B.A. Deakin University (Melbourne, Austrailia)

Diploma of Teaching, Melbourne Kindergarten Teachers College

Ph.D., Deakin University

What Is She Known For?
Her HIGHLY trendsetting work on social justice and feminist post-structuralism in early childhood education. She focuses on using the work of Michel Foucault and other post-modern theorists' perspectives to inform her work in deconstructing the institutions of early childhood that are so seemly indestructible (i.e. developmentally appropriate practice). One of her most recent and well-known books on the subject is Doing Foucault in Early Childhood Studies.

What Is She Doing Now?
She is a full professor at the University of Melbourne.

Nancy Freeman Voted President of NAECTE

2007-10-16T10:48:00.000-05:00

Nancy Freeman, an associate professor or early childhood education at the University of South Carolina known for her ethics work in the field, was recently elected president of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE). The professional organization represents thousands of early childhood scholars working in higher education in the United States and abroad.

She will take office on November 7.

Britney Spears: How Not To Model Socialization

2007-10-03T09:34:00.000-05:00

I tried my best to stay away from this topic, but when Britney's former bodyguard, Tony Barretto came forward, he made a superb statement

I'm not here to destroy Britney. I'm here for the kids.

Think about that for a second. Do we as adults--especially those who are parents--keep this in mind when we go about our lives? For the non-parents who aspire to one day have children...do you live your life for the sake of your future children? Barretto's idea about proper parenting models should hit us with a strong epiphany-like force.

We as parents cannot do anything that we want to around our children. Britney's toddlers are at the core part of the critical years of a human's life. Everything they smell, hear, taste, see, touch will affect their brain development. When Spears curses, smokes cigarettes, walks around naked in front of her boys, and takes them to her favorite night spots late at night, possible shearing of brain cells and brain cell connections are taking place. Any possible negative stimuli is adversely affecting them. It may even be happening at an incalcuable rate which makes it even MORE important to pour on the positive experiences while reducing the negative stuff.

We as parents must make sure to saturate our children's lives with positive, nurturing experiences. These are deliberately done; we cannot leave them to chance. In Spears case, she must deliberate keep positive, warm people around and interacting with her children. If she does not (or cannot possibly) want to give up her habits, she must at least keep them away from her children and keep herself away from them when she's doing them. By doing this, synaptogensis (creation of brain cell connections) will move toward its ultimate fulfillment ensuring that her children's "hardware" is being put together for optimal operation when they get older.

I'm glad the bodyguard spoke up. Spears behavior, unfortunately, has already caused some damage in her kids. Fortunately, their youth makes any damage quite reversable. They, however, need a change in lifestyle as earlier as possible. Once they get past age 5, "a point of no return" in the way they see their world will have come and gone.

Early Childhood Quote of The Week: Tuesday, October 2, 2007

2007-10-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

In recent years, issues and changes affecting kindergarten have stirrred many animated discussions among educators. Standards, packaged curriculum, standardized testing, scientifically-based instruction, computers and other electronic media, changes in families--these and many other topics have churned up plenty of confusion and controversy. We have asked ourselves: What is happening and why? Within this shifting scene, what are the opportunities for making kindergarten education better? And in the transformation of kindergarten, are things of value also being lost? How, we have wondered, can we prepare and support teachers to be effective in today's kindergarten classrooms with today's kindergarteners?

--Dominic F. Gullo
(from K-Today: Teaching and Learning in the Kindergarten Year)

Sex Between Kindergarteners: There's a Bigger Issue

2007-09-28T10:20:00.000-05:00

Recently, a problem has arisen between school and home over how to handle the recent discovery of two five-year old Houston boys who engaging in sexual behavior in their school bathroom. The victim's (the boy who was having the act performed on him) father wants the aggressor (the boy performing the act) moved to another school. The school informed the father that, by law, it cannot do it. I think everyone is missing the point here.

These children are firmly trying to deal with initiative. Somewhere, somehow, these children learned about sex either through TV, the people around them on a daily basis, or (gasp) through exploration of their own bodies. Are the parents watchin what the children are doing? Are the teachers talking to children about such issue if the parent's aren't?

As uncomfy as it sounds, early childhood professionals must dialogue with children about these issues. Without dialogue, these children will begin to feel dangerously guilty for what they have done. From a conservative parent's standpoint it is wrong. From a liberal parent's standpoint, who can stop a person (even a child) from exploring their sexuality?

Moving any of the boys is pointless. What happened between them is a sensitive subject that must be TALKED about with the children with trusting adults. Conversation will help them develop a better mental concept of what they did and will allow them to judge their behavior as constructive or harmful.

Who's Who In Early Childhood Education: Joan Packer Isenberg

2007-09-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

Who: Joan Packer Isenberg

Education:

B.A., Early Childhood Education, Wheelock College

M.Ed, Early Childhood Education, Wheelock College

Ed.D., Elementary Education, Rutgers University

What Is She Known For?

A former preschool, primary, and elemetnary school teacher and administrator in public and private organizations, she's done it all. She's written 12 books, one of which she co-authored with Marly Jalongo. She's been a visiting scholar for the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. She's even been president of the National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE). In 2006, she received the NAECTE Pearson/Allyn & Bacon Outstanding Early Childhood Teacher Eductor Award. Wow.

What Is She Doing Now?

She is Dean and Professor of Education at George Mason University. She continues to study creative expression in young children and teacher quality through narrative inquiry among other research methodologies.

Who's Who In Early Childhood Education: David P. Weikart

2007-09-25T11:37:00.000-05:00

Who: David Weikart

Education:

B.A., Psychology, Oberline College, 1949

Ph.D, Education and Psychology, University of Michigan, 1957

Honorary Doctor of Science, Recognition & Achievement, Oberlin College, 1996

What Is He Known For?:

Creator of the internationally known early childhood model known as Cognitively Oriented Curriculum (or High Scope Research Foundation Curriculum). It is the most well-known early childhood model based almost completely on Jean Piaget's theories on child psychology and cognitive development. It is based on the concepts of (1) Active Learning (learning by doing), (2) having children plan, do, and then review their experiences, and (3) the teacher's deliberate implementation of key developmental indicators as the experiences in the class. Weikart founded the High Scope Research Foundation which serves as the curriculum's base of operations for the training of teachers and the production of curricula materials.

What Is He Doing Now?

Dr. Weikart died on December 9, 2003 from Leukemia.

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS)

2007-09-25T11:35:00.000-05:00

A superb study that is worth reading about. Check it out!

Early Childhood Quote of the Week: Tuesday, Septebmer 25, 2007

2007-09-25T11:31:00.000-05:00

...Sensori-motor structures constitute the source of the later operations of thought. This means that intelligence proceeds from action as a whole, in that it transforms objects and reality, and that knowledge, whose formation can be traced in the child, is essentially an active and operatory assimilation.

Jean Piaget, 1969
(from The Psychology of the Child)

Most Expensive Preschools

2007-09-19T14:31:00.000-05:00

Forbes recently listed preschools with prices greater than some four year institutions.

Check out the article here and see pictures and links to their websites here.

Just to let you know: you don't need this. All of those thousands of dollars can be saved as long as you find a center with a positive, responsive, nurturing, formally trained early childhood teacher. You'll do just as well. Believe it:)

Who's Who In Early Childhood Education: Erik Erikson

2007-09-19T14:04:00.000-05:00

Who: Erik Homburger Erikson

Education:

Never Attained A Formal Degree

Graduate, Montessori Teachers Association

Diploma, Vienna Psychoanalytical Society, 1933

What Is He Known For?

The development of his psychosocial theory of emotional development. He theorized that children must negotiate two extremes at different junctures in their lives. For example, the infant must negotiate the ability to trust. If he does not do this, then he will inevitably develop distrust. Erikson's ideas are the foundation for why early childhood environments should be constructed for maximum opportunities to explore for the child (especially infants). This is how they have opportunities to "trust" their environment and the people in it.

What Is He Doing Now?
Erikson died in 1994 at the ripe old age of 92 and was renowed throughout the early childhood world for his contributions.

Early Childhood Quote of the Week: September 18, 2007

2007-09-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

"Only when we accept those who are younger as equal human beings with agency and power, will we begin to address our colonizing practices over them."
--Radhika Viruru and Gaile Cannella
(from Embracing Identities in Early Childhood Education: Diversity and Possibilities)

Who's Who In Early Childhood Education: Beth Blue Swadener

2007-09-19T13:49:00.000-05:00

Who: Beth Swadener

Education:

B.A., Psychology, Indiana University-South Bend

M.S., Child Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ph.D., Curriculum & Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison

What Is She Known For?

Her post-structuralist reserach in with African children. She seeks to conduct and draw research that emphaize the authentic words and voice of children, rather than the professional voice of the researcher. She focuses on this in the book she well-known for co-editing: Power & Voice in Research With Children.

What Is She Doing Now?

She is a Professor of Early Childhood Education at Arizona State University.

Who's Who In Early Childhood Education: Radhika Viruru

2007-09-18T11:23:00.000-05:00

Who: Radhika Viruru

Education:
B.A., (Honors), English, Banaras Hindu University, Varansi, India, 1985

M.S., Post-Graduate Diploma in Pre-school Education, University of Baroda, Baroda India, 1987

M.S., Eductional Curriculum & Instruction, Texas A&M University, 1990

Ph.D., Educational Curriculum & Instruction, Texas A&M University-College Station, 1998

What Is She Known For?
Groundbreaking stuff!

Her research has focused on global early childhood and how children construct their identities, espeically of children with Indian backgrounds. Dr. Viruru sees qualitative research from a poststructuralist and critical feminist theoretical perspective. She seeks to uncover the authentic "voices" of children. She is very much connected to Gaile Cannella's research and writings on deconstructing the rationale and theoretical base of the early childhood field.

What Is She Doing Now?
She currently serves as an associate professor of early childhood education at Texas A&M University

Child Wisdom, Child Theory, Child Voice

2007-09-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

Child voice, child wisdom, and child theory hold different meanings.

Child voice represents his actual words, feelings, and opinions expressed as accurately as possible even when proper conventions are ignored. For example, a few months ago, a prominent deacon (“Mr. Franklin”) of a church in my community was killed under suspicious circumstances. Many children in the church and around the church knew of this man from their parents and from seeing him around the community. They may express confusion about not seeing Mr. Franklin at cookouts and at football games anymore. Consequently, they ask their parents who may attempt to explain how people die without explanation. Possibly, the child may role-play what it is like for someone to die under mysterious circumstances. The questions and role playing scenarios represent example of a child’s voice.

Child theory refers to how a child himself explains causes of effects that surround him. For example, even though a child in my community may receive an adult explanation of why Mr. Franklin died, the child may come up with his own “theory” highly associated with their cognitive development. Maybe Mr. Franklin went to another world? Maybe Mr. Franklin moved away to heaven? Maybe Mr. Franklin is still alive and in disguise? These are a child’s way of creating a rationale for an impacting event.

Child wisdom refers to how a child uses his insights and voice to deal with future circumstances. For example, after expressing his feels and theorizing in his own way, perhaps children in my community who knew Mr. Franklin may develop an new sensitivity to people that they (or their parents know). Other people may “move away to heaven” like Mr. Franklin, so a child’s wisdom may direct him to spend time with people while they are around. We must always keep in mind that children possess a sophisticated ability to interpret and examine both the geography of their world and the politics that exist within it (Soto & Swadner, 2005). Children in my community, for instance, relate easily to Mr. Franklin’s death because he lived within three miles of many of their homes (geographic understanding). They also see from the look on adults’ faces and from their conversations that he wield solid influence within their ecclesiastical communities (political understanding).

Armed with the above definitions, we must conduct investigations with children without making too many assumptions, for we as early childhood researches may often stereotype and generalize child development across all cultures. A child, for instance, living in a gradual, close-knit, small town community like mine may possess a different depth of psychosocial development than a child living within a more impersonal, faster-paced, urban setting. Early childhood researchers should not assume that all children possess the abilities (or inabilities) to participate in rational problem solving (Soto & Swadner, 2005). We often bring our childhood into our interpretations of other children’s wisdom, theories, and voices by inadvertently projecting our own personalized understandings on other children’s experiences.

References:
Soto, L.D. & Swadener, B.B. (2005). Power & voice in research. New York: Peter Lang.

Early Childhood Quote of the Week: Tuesday, September 4, 2007

2007-09-06T18:42:00.000-05:00

It's not Tuesday, but I just want to keep the continuity alive...lol

The governmental administered diminishment in value of he children of the poor begins even before the age of five or six, when they begin their years of formal education in the public schools. It starts during their infant and toddler years, when hundreds of thousands of children of the very poor in much of the United States are locked out of the opportunity for preschool education for no reason but the accident of birth and budgetary choices of the government, while the children of the privileged are often given vertible feasts of the rich developmental early education

Jonathan Kozol
(Still Separate, Still Equal)

Learning From The Canadians: Infant Schools?

2007-09-06T18:36:00.000-05:00

Take that USA! Vancouver (in Canada for the ungeographical...is that a word?) might have the right idea: why not make a publicly sponsored school include a infant/toddler component. Isn't this where early childhood truly starts.

Are you listening governors? :)

$21,000 for Preschool????

2007-09-01T14:43:00.000-05:00

This is totally insane. $21,000? For Preschool? What will that overpriced program do that your neighborhood preschool wont do? I'm willing to hedge a million dollars that it's very little.

QUALITY preschool hinges on two main things: (1) how involved the parents are and (2) how positive, nurturing, and formally trained the caregivers are. That's it. $21,000 might buy nicer toys, a nicer building, and a nicer neighborhood, but toys, buildings, and neighborhoods do not care for children.

Please...do not buy into this "building a super kid" mentality. A kid will be who he will be. Just love them and spend as much time responding to them postively as you can. That's it.

Who's Who In Early Chidhood Education: Nancy Freeman

2007-08-29T12:45:00.000-05:00

Who: Nancy Freeman

Education:

Bachelor or Arts, Elementary Education, St. Mary's (1968)

Master of Education, Early Childhood Education, University of South Carolina (1984)

Doctor of Philosophy, Early Childhood Education, University of South Carolina (1996)

What Is She Known For?

LOTS of stuff: Co-writing the National Association for the Education of Young Children's internationally known Code of Ethics "User's Manual" with Stephanie Feeney, Helped coordinate the construction/implementation of the University of South Carolina's multi-million dollar child develope research center, chairs the SC Governor's Board of Child Care Regulations, Co-implemented the Program For Infant Toddler Care (PITC) program in South Carolina as part of their initiative to bolster professional development for infant/toddler issues.

What Does She Do Now?

Dr. Freeman currently serves as Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of South Carolina

Early Childhood Quote of The Week: Tuesday, August 28, 2007

2007-08-29T12:39:00.000-05:00

"As an early childhood educator, your work is complex, intense, and intimate. You work closely with children, colleagues, and families. You are expected to meet children's basic needs and nurture their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth, and development.
--Nancy Freeman & Stephanie Feeney
(from Ethics and the Early Childhood Educator)

Diaper-Less Babies?

2007-08-28T10:36:00.000-05:00

Perhaps.

A movement of parents has emerged that believes that infants come out of the womb with the natural ability to control their bowls. Consequently--for them--,what's the use of diapers?

I can somewhat concur with their position. Diapers represent a way to control environment and promote a "healthier" atmosphere in our neighborhoods. Keeping young tots from dropping their excrement as they go on their merry way represents the way Western, industrialized countries do it. Third-world, countries, though, see nothing wrong with allowing infants to...er.."go on the go as they please". Parents in many African and indigenous communities allow their children to run around and go to the bathroom wherever and whenever they wish.

Here's my problem with the movement: I think children can eventually learn to go to the bathroom on their own through social learning and modeling. "Training" a child as an infant to go as a baby is a convenience-based idea, not a necessary idea. I am a little bewildered as to why parents are so eager to get their babies potty trained so early. If the benefit is earlier bathroom independence, I caution them. By watching for subtle signs when they need to go and by whisking them to a location where they can go "on cue", are parents really training children to be control their own bowls? Are they not in danger of setting up a system where children will be DEPENDENT on their parents to help them go when they need to go? Are these children really learning to recognize the sensation of going to the bathroom in such a way where they can give themselves time to get to the potty and go?

One more thing: all children do not learn bowl-control with the same efficiency. Some parents reading this article may automatically think "Hey! If her baby can do it, mine can." That is not how potty-training works. If you force a child to potty-train before you know when he is ready and willing to do it, you are putting expectations on him that he may not be ready (or able) to reach. The result? DELAYED potty training. Warning to parents: all babies can not go diaper-less. It depends on the type of child God has given you.

Early Childhood Quote Of The Week: Tuesday, August 21, 2007

2007-08-21T11:17:00.000-05:00

"Why study children? Our answer: To find out. And to keep finding out, because if we do not find out, someone will make it up. In fact, someone probably has already made it up, and waht they make up affects children's lives; it affects how children are viewed and what decisions are made about them."

M. Elizabeth Graue
(from Studying Children in Context: Theories, Methods, and Ethics)

Books For Early Childhood Professionals

2007-08-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

Harden, B.J. (2007). Infants in the child welfare system: A developmental framework for

policy and practice. Washington, DC: Zero To Three Press.

Books For Early Childhood Professionals

2007-08-21T11:06:00.000-05:00

Soto, L.D. & Swadener, B.B. (2005). Power & voice in research with children. NY: Peter Lang.

Books For Early Childhood Professionals

2007-08-21T11:02:00.000-05:00

Polakow, V. (2007). Who cares for our children. NY: Teachers College Press.

An Angry Mouse

2007-08-14T17:10:00.000-05:00

The Walt Disney company is pretty ticked off by a University of Washington research report that criticizes Baby Einstein as "unhelpful" for infants' development. This an official letter from The Big Mouse requesting that the academics responsible retract their findings and opinions. All I can say right now is "wow!". I'll discuss it tomorrow:

August 13, 2007

Mark A. Emmert, Ph.D.
PresidentUniversity of Washington
301 Gerberding HallBox 351230
Seattle, Washington 98195

Re: University of Washington Press Release Concerning Study on Children's
Language Development and Media Viewing

Dear Dr. Emmert:

On behalf of The Walt Disney Company, and our subsidiary The Baby Einstein
Company LLC, I write to demand the immediate retraction and clarification of a
misleading, irresponsible and derogatory press statement issued by the
University of Washington on Monday, August 6, and thereafter posted on the
University's website, regarding the publication of a study by three University
researchers entitled "Associations Between Media Viewing and Language
Development in Children Under Age 2 Years."

At the outset, let me make clear that we have no quarrel with the notion of
conducting research into how infants respond to media products in general or
"Baby Einstein" videos in particular. We welcome well conceived and well
executed research of all kinds, particularly involving media products and
children. We are always seeking to improve our products as we continue The Walt
Disney Company's proud tradition of providing wholesome and enriching
experiences to children and families.

Nevertheless, one may well question whether the study by Professor
Zimmerman, Dr. Christakis, and Professor Meltzoff was indeed well conceived and
well executed. Our assessment, based on what we have been able to learn thus
far, is that its methodology is doubtful, its data seem anomalous and the
inferences it posits unreliable. To state just a few points:

The study combines very different content into a single category of "Baby
Video", even though the types of videos lumped into this category vary widely.
In effect, the study assumes that neither the specific content nor the manner in
which it is consumed can influence the nature of the experience. The study does
nothing to prove this proposition which is contradicted by other published
studies of infant viewing (not even mentioned in the report) which find that the
specific nature of content and the way it is consumed are vitally
important.
Applying the same misleading standards that the press release used, the
study could be said to advise parents to be sure that infants watch television
-- for the study finds that not watching television is associated with reduced
vocabulary[1] -- but to avoid having infants watch baby videos. That is to say,
watching American Idol is better for infants than no television at all. Of
course, such advice is absurd.
The study fails to account for, let alone assess, the interactive nature of
products such as Baby Einstein, seemingly dismisses the importance of
interactivity as a factor by assuming without proof that interaction is equally
important regardless of content design, and then undermines even that unproven
assumption by conceding that the study "cannot capture the quality of
[parent-child] interactions, which surely vary."
While it is indisputable that children develop at different rates and differ
in their innate abilities, there is no attempt to control for these differences
which are particularly important in the sample of younger babies.
While the press release highlights that the study is based on a survey of
1008 parents of children aged 2 to 24 months, a closer examination shows that
the study based its critical conclusions about the impact of baby videos on
infants 8 to 16 months on a disturbingly smaller sample of just 384 children. Of
this group, 44% watched no television of any kind, leaving a total of 215
infants with some television viewing -- and with no indication whatsoever as to
how many of this smaller number watch any baby videos at all.
Whether your University is comfortable associating its name with analysis of
this quality is, of course, your decision. And I would not be reaching out to
you if all that was at stake was a poorly done academic study. But the actions
of the University have caused much more to be at stake. Wholly apart from the
merits of the study, the press release issued by your University blatantly
misrepresented what the study was about, distorted the actual findings and
conclusions that the study purported to make, and ignored the study's own
explicit acknowledgment of its limitations and shortcomings. And even worse, the
University issued the release and triggered the fully foreseeable press cycle
before the study itself could be analyzed. In short, the University's press
release was grossly unfair, extremely damaging, and, to be blunt, just plain
wrong in every conceivable sense.
The press release begins as follows:
"Despite marketing claims, parents
who want to give their infants a boost in learning language probably should
limit the amount of time they expose their children to DVD's and videos such as
'Baby Einstein' and 'Brainy Baby'. Rather than helping babies, the over-use of
such productions actually may slow down infants eight to 16 months of age when
it comes to acquiring vocabulary, according to a new study by researchers at the
University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital Research
Institute."

There are at least three fundamental problems with these statements.

1. Contrary to the clear and deliberate impression created by the press
release, the researchers did not attempt or purport to study the effect of
watching "Baby Einstein" videos. So far as we can tell from the published study
itself, the researchers asked parents in telephone interviews only to identify
their children's television viewing in broad categories -- one of which was
"Baby DVD's/videos" -- without specifically identifying the particular videos or
video brands they had viewed. Thus, there is no way to know how much -- if any
-- of the viewing reported in this general category was in fact of "Baby
Einstein" videos. The study made no pretense of studying the particular impact
of "Baby Einstein" video watching, the unique attributes of "Baby Einstein"
videos, or the ways in which children and parents use and interact with "Baby
Einstein" videos. By lumping "Baby Einstein" videos with all other "Baby
DVD's/videos" -- including many, such as "Teletubbies," which offer a vastly
different viewing experience -- the study provides absolutely no basis for
making any findings or conclusions about the particular impact that viewing
"Baby Einstein" videos may have on children.[2] Yet, in the very first sentence
of the release, "Baby Einstein" videos are called out by name.

2. Contrary to the clear implication in the first sentence of the press
release, the study did not evaluate the truthfulness or, indeed, address at all
any "marketing claims" made by or on behalf of "Baby Einstein" videos. The study
does not even seek to identify such "claims" or to consider at all whether such
unidentified "claims" might conflict with the study's findings in any fashion.
There simply is no basis in the study for the press release's gratuitous slap at
Baby Einstein's "marketing claims."

3. The press release bluntly states that "parents who want to give their
infants a boost in learning language probably should limit the amount of time
they expose their children to DVD's and videos such as "Baby Einstein." This is
a very serious statement, one which has now been widely picked up in the press.
It is also a statement that grossly misstates the study's extremely limited
findings and conclusions. While the study hypothesizes that "it is possible that
heavy viewing of baby DVDs/videos has a deleterious effect on early language
development," the authors present this as only one of several possible
alternative ways of evaluating the results; other alternatives do not involve
this causal relationship. The authors go on to acknowledge, forthrightly, that
"our study has several major limitations." These include, in the authors' own
words:

"the study's co relational nature precludes drawing causal
inferences."

"we used only 1 developmental measure -- language development, as
defined by vocabulary."
"the sample is not representative of the general population."
Indeed, in conclusion, the authors further acknowledge that,
"The analysis
presented here is not a direct test of the developmental impact of viewing baby
DVDs/videos. We did not test through experimental manipulation whether viewing
baby DVDs/videos has a positive or negative impact on vocabulary
acquisition."

For the University to issue a press release making reckless charges
warning parents to avoid using Baby Einstein products, and post them on its
website, in the face of these clear and explicit disclaimers is totally
irresponsible.

There is no question that the press release is having a broad and
entirely foreseeable impact. Assuming that a press release from a well respected
University would fairly reflect the substance and conclusions of the underlying
study, media outlets are widely citing the study as demonstrating that use of
"Baby Einstein" videos harms infants. This disparaging assessment -- directly
provoked by your University's press release -- is not supported by any credible
study of which we are aware, let alone the flawed study on which the release was
purportedly based.
The cloud cast by the University's actions is truly
regrettable. We strongly believe that our "Baby Einstein" videos provide a
positive experience for children and families, one which encourages parent-child
interaction and provides children with enriching and stimulating images and
sounds drawn from real life. Millions of parents who have shared and enjoyed
"Baby Einstein" videos with their children agree.

The press release unfairly disparaged that product by grossly
misrepresenting the focus and extremely limited findings and conclusions of the
study your University has issued in its name and endorsed. I hope you agree that
as a respected academic institution you cannot allow that situation to continue.
We therefore demand that the University immediately issue a retraction of the
press release, and delete the release from its website, while emphasizing at
least the following points, all of which are clear from the study itself:

1. The study collected no specific data concerning -- and conducted no
specific
evaluation of -- the viewing of "Baby Einstein" videos or their
specific impact on
children, and therefore no valid conclusions can be drawn
from the study about
the impact of the "Baby Einstein" videos on language
acquisition or any other developmental measure;

2. The very limited nature of the study precluded the drawing of any
causal inferences.
We further ask that the retraction and clarification be
disseminated as widely as the original press release.

I look forward to discussing this matter further with you on our
scheduled call.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Iger
cc: Stanley H. Barer
Kristianne Blake

Jeffrey H. Brotman

Craig W. Cole

William H. Gates

Sally Jewell

Frederick C. Kiga

Erin Lennon

Constance L. Proctor

Herb Simon

Preschool For $7,000? Try $10,0000

2007-08-13T12:46:00.000-05:00

A recent article on the price of preschool spoke about how child care prices are skyrocketing. It's just put a spotlight on a foregone idea: quality child care is highly expensive thus explaining the gaps in preparation between SES classes (Berns, 2007).

$7,000 is okay, but high quality early childhood education is more around $10,000 like the article states. Why? Because many of these high quality programs lay on a staff of fully certified teachers--not necessarily the supplies and resources--which are expensive to keep (Morrison, 2008). The schools with $7,000/year fees may employ a mismash of certified teachrs, associate-arts degree teachers, and non-degreed teachers.

The solution to these high costs could lay in universal prekindergarten, but only if it is more along the lines of the $10,000/year private preschools. The fear I have with universal prekindergarten and giving all infants to 4 year olds a chance to go to preschool for free is that it may be a bare minimum program that does not supply all of the children's needs.

References:
Berns, R. (2007). Child, family, school, community: Socialization and support. Austrailia: Thomson.

Morrison, G.S. (2008). Fundamentals of early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Behold The Baby Whisperer

2007-08-11T11:27:00.000-05:00

Here's the face of an early childhood-gifted person who truly understands that dealing with infants is two fold: (1) understanding different temperaments and (2) understanding goodness-of-fit (Berk, 2007; Gonzalez-Mena & Eyer, 2007).

References:

Berk, L. (2007). Infants and children. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Allyn Bacon.

Gonzalez, J. & Eyer, D.M. (2007). Infants, toddlers, and caregivers. NY: McGraw-Hill.

Books For Early Childhood Professionals

2007-08-10T12:07:00.000-05:00

Connolly, P. & Hayden, J. (2007). From conflict to peace building: The power of early childhood initiatives: Lessons from around the world. Redmond, WA: World Forum Foundation.

A slim volume the offers frank critical perspectives on early childhood education from several international lenses. Who said it's the same everywhere? Other places may have it better together in terms of quality early childhood education than the ultra poweful US of A with only a third of the resources.

Books For Early Childhood Professionals

2007-08-10T12:02:00.000-05:00

Cannella, G.S. & Viruru, R. (2004). Childhood and postcolonialism: Power, education, and contemporary practice. NY: RoutledgeFarmer.

The queen of early childhood deconstructionism comes at us from another angle: the many faces of power in a world filled capitalism and hegemonic powers. Deeeep...

Books For Early Childhood Professionals

2007-08-10T11:54:00.000-05:00

Grieshaber, S. & Cannella, G.S. (2001). Embracing identities in early childhood education: Diversity and possibilities. NY: Teachers College Press.

With Cannella as a co-author, you can bet taht this social reconstructionalist look at early childhood will feature the likes of Michel Foucault and Michael Apple.

Early Childhood Quote Of The Week: August 7, 2007

2007-08-07T14:13:00.000-05:00

"Children need environments and learning experiences that are geared to their needs, not highly academic curricula planned around what adults think children ought to be learning and doing."

Claudia Eliason & Loa Jenkins
(from A Practical Guide to Early Childhood Curriculum: Eighth Edition, P. 1)