International Research

For this assignment, I took a look at the international website called Early Childhood Australia: A Voice for Young Children, on this particular website  they offer numerous resources and links to information that is relevant to parents, early childhood professionals, and anyone interested about the field of early childhood. I particular chose this website, because it is deemed to be the equivalent of the American known organization NAEYC, which stands for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. NAEYC is the leading organization in support of earlychildhood education and child advocacy. So I figure if the Australian website was just like it why not take a look a it. In regards to research, this website has research and it is called Research in Practice Series. In the Research in Practice Series, provides early childhood professionals insights as to how to put into practice evidence based research that has been proven to work well with young children. Some of the topics covered in the series are assessments, bullying, resilience, the early years learning framework, and diversity just to name a few.

I think the thing that I found that was interesting was the whole idea of knowing that this website was closely matched to being like our beloved NAEYC. Which is great to know that there is an organization somewhere else in the world advocating on the behalf of young children and early childhood professionals. One thing that I thought was noteworthy was that they have a statement of regret that attempts to express regret as it relates to the numerous loss of life, cultural identity, way of life, land, language, and communities  of the Aboriginals and the Torres Straight Islander people. These individuals were the original inhabitants of Australia and were invaded upon by other cultures that soon came to inhabit the Aboriginals and Torres Straight Islander peoples land.

An Example of the benefits of Research for children and families

A positive example of research is the Perry Preschool Study. In 1962, David Weikart and his colleagues set out to prove just how beneficial quality early childhood programs are to children, families, and society. In his research, Weikart followed  123 preschool age children some went to a quality preschool and others did not attend preschool. The children participating in this study were all African American and from low-income and were all considered at-risk. The study tracked the children through-out their entire academy career, professional, and personal life. What the study found was that the children that attended the quality programs scored exceptionally well on standardized testing, had a higher high school graduation rate, low teenage pregnacy rate, earned more money, and were less likely to have a criminal background. They also married, became homeowners, and were overall productive citizens. This study has had great influence on helping others to understand the importance of children attending early childhood programs.

This program has influenced the program that I had previously worked at for the past eight years. The whole basis of this particular program was based around the High Scope curriculum, which was the same curriculum the children in the study were taught with. Having to use the curriculum myself with preschool age children, I can say that it works and it does gives children power and support and helps to set them up for success. High Scope uses the plan-do- review, which teaches children how to think, follow through, and to reflect. This is an awesome curriculum and this study should be read by the many nay-sayers that might not believe that early childhood can make a difference in the lives of young children.

The objective of this blog is to tell my colleagues about a topic I have chosen to research and why I have chosen this particular topic. The topic I chose to research is poverty. I chose this particular topic, because it affects so many children and their families. So many children in the United States live in poverty and are not being able to get the necessary basic life necessities needed to survive on a day to day basis. This is also a topic that is close and personal to me. It is close and personal to me, because I spent many years when I was growing up in a housing project, I became a single mother at the age of 18. By age 23, I was the single mother of 3 children. I struggled for many years only making pennies about minimum wage. However, education and faith were the two driving forces that helped me to make it to wear I am now. I think that if provisions are made to help and inform families, then many of young children can be helped out of poverty. As I continue to build on this topic through out this course, I have chosen subtopics such as what are the causes of poverty, poverty's affect on young children, and how do we help children and families overcome poverty. As early childhood educators understanding poverty helps to make us prepared and knowledgeable. We need to be prepared and knowledgeable because it helps us to know how to better help these children and families and to teach them as well.