Spring Blossoms

I have a huge apricot tree in my yard. This past week blossoms began appearing, a little early but just as beautiful as they are each year. Of course, the big worry in our area is whether they will survive a late spring freeze which often comes in April. As I was looking at the blossom-covered tree it reminded me of the children in our early childhood classrooms. With the right nourishment and weather conditions they grow and develop and eventually bear fruit. That is, unless a nasty freeze appears and stops the development. In early childhood settings that nasty freeze could come in the form of untrained teachers, watered-down programs and unsupportive parents. Are there other forms of freezes that threaten a child's normal development?

Professional Development

Last week I presented at the Indiana AEYC and the Utah AEYC Conferences. I am always amazed at the effort that many early childhood professionals make to improve their teaching skills. Yes, there were a few participants wandering the halls, spending the entire day in the exhibit hall and talking non-stop on the cell phone. However, these people are the exceptions. I was again impressed with the majority eager learners that were in my workshops. These people do not make much money, but still want to be the best possible influence in a child's life. I recently read an article in the "Principal" magazine which implored principals to put nurturing teachers in early childhood classrooms. The article quoted research that states children in nurturing classrooms achieve more academic successes and have a positive attitude toward school. We all hope that our own children and grandchildren have nurturing teachers who are constantly working toward improving as teachers. I think all parents, even the ones with questionable parenting skills, want to have quality teachers for their child.

It's a Wrap!

The Utah Legislature will finish up their session for the year tonight (yeah!). Another year of struggling to fund everything and decide where the money is to be spent. Even though our state has a surplus of money, it is still push and shove to get funding for education, although it will get a financial boost this year. However, there is also talk about funding teacher raises according to how their students are performing. In a perfect world, that may work. But most of us in education know that teachers in at-risk schools work very hard, often without parental support, to help the children make small gains. There are also many more affluent schools who have students that will achieve (because of status and parental support) regardless of how good the teacher teaches. It is irresponsible to decide that the teacher in the affluent school should get a bigger raise.
Our governor is also talking all-day kindergarten for at-risk children. A good idea for helping the disadvantaged. At-risk children always need more support, which not only includes opportunity, but also well-trained teachers. At-risk children should have the best teachers, not the left-over teachers and they need to be compensated appropriately.

Are We Improving?

Yesterday I got a new grandson. A cute little guy who will come home to two older sisters. As I was holding him in the hospital, I was thinking about how early childhood has evolved since my own children were infants. I wondered if we are improving as a nation in caring for our most active learners. Having worked in early childhood for almost 30 years, I have definitely seen highs and lows. There have been times that I have been encouraged by the promised commitment to early childhood only to be disappointed when the support wanes after a few years. I do, however, think that we are improving. Early childhood educators are getting the word out and studies are showing that investments in early childhood do pay off. I think that good parents nowadays are very good parents. There are a lot of resources for them that were unavailable to me. The mothers of my grandchildren know so much more than I did as a new parent. As I held that little guy yesterday, I was thinking how lucky he is to have caring, nurturing parents that have a solid knowledge of early childhood development. I wish all kids were that lucky.

Road Map to Success

I have been writing an article for the magazine, "Early Childhood News." The article is about using preschool state standards, as well as Head Start Outcome indicators, to create a road map for the success of preschool children. While researching the article, I was again reminded why many early childhood teachers fear standards. Their fear comes from believing that they cannot create a developmentally appropriate classroom when there is a prescribed plan. I appreciated the new book by Carol Copple and Sue Bredekamp (2006), published by NAEYC, called, "Basics of Developmentally Appropriate Practice." I was happy that the authors explained that if the teacher is not following an organized plan of skills, the classroom is not developmentally appropriate. We must have a plan to help children grow developmentally. Following standards does not mean that every child is at the same point at the same time. As long as the approach to learning is developmentally appropriate, having a road map of skills will help a teacher create activities that support development. As mentioned in an earlier post, skills in developmental order create a great support for the classroom.

Is funding the issue?

Whenever I have spoken with legislators and other government officials, I always get the story that funding is the reason that they do not invest in early childhood services. While I know that money is big part of the equation, I don't think it is the driving reason in many cases. In almost 30 years in the early childhood field, I have seen first-hand that most lawmakers lack the understanding and commitment to really invest in early childhood. It doesn't seem to matter that virtually all research studies indicate that in the long run we will save money by investing in early education. Unfortunately, in my state, there is still the mentality that if they don't fund early childhood services, mothers will be forced to "stay home and care for their own children, which is where they belong". Every year my state fails to qualify for millions of dollars in child care subsidies because they won't fund the matching small percent. While I think it is a richly rewarding experience for a child to be able to stay home with a parent, in 2006 it is an unrealistic expectation for many families. When early childhood services are not funded many children go without good early childhood training and support. Then when the child is in school, everyone cries "foul" because the child can't pass academic tests. Everyone cries even louder when the child can't control his/her behavior long enough to learn and allow others to learn. Everyone, especially lawmakers, need to understand how critical those early years are to the development of the person.

Funding, Funding.....

Numerous studies continue to show how important it is to invest in early childhood. Study and study has shown that the investment of resources in early childhood actually saves money on future support and intervention. Although behind the early childhood programs U.S. for many years, Great Britain has recent made grand steps to investing in children. Check out the article recently published in the New York Times: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0112preschool-ON.html
Bravo to Great Britain for making a financial investment in the future. It is a bit disheartening when at this moment our government is cutting funding to early childhood.