When I began my career as a preschool teacher in 1991, I had
no idea of the necessity or importance of policies and systems. Also I did not consider how they affect the
day to day operations of school program. However as I matured in my career, I
developed an understanding of having policies and procedures to ensure quality
programs. Over the last decade, my lens
of policies and systems have become somewhat clearer of how the education field
is effected by the political climate.
However as I progress through this class the three specific goals I
would like to accomplish are:
1.
Better understanding the connection between
learning outcomes and federal funding.
2.
How the federal political figures determine
initiatives that will be introduced in the early childhood field
3.
What elements in early childhood systems aid in
determining the need/requirement educational credentials for early childhood
care and education teacher.
These three goals will help me to understanding how research
results of learning outcomes impact laws that are passed at the federal
government level. As the decisions to
pursue new initiatives such as Race to the Top are presented, understanding how
the benchmarks are developed. These goals
will help me in under subsystems and areas I want to focus on to support social
change in the early childhood care and education field.
Hi Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the video! I will pass that one on to others.
It always amazed me, too, about the power of systems thinking. Hopefully your goals will be reached through this class.
Hi Dr. Callahan,
DeletePlease the video, "Change the First Five Years, You Change Everything." I think it is so powerful and speaks to the positive work we do in the early care and education field. Thanks.
Vanessa
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI agree that educational policies are influenced by the current political climate. I agree that the teacher preparatory program does not effectively prepare oneself for the political aspect of education decisions. Dr. Callahan posted about a video on your post. I did not see the video. Is it still on your post and I missed it?
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteIf you scroll down on my blog, I have included the video "Changed the First Five Years, You Change Everything. It is a very powerful video. I cry every time I view it. I think it represents the work we do in working toward social change in education for better outcomes.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post. One of the goals you mentioned was to have a better understanding of how federal political figures determine initiatives that will be introduced in the early childhood field. I believe this goal is very important because federal political figures have so much impact on early childhood education and if we as educators have a better understanding of how they operate then, maybe we can have a bigger voice in the decision making. From your experience in early childhood education, what are some major positive and negative changes that you have seen over the past five years?
Jessica Beal
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteResearching how funding is linked to learning can provide information about how programs function. Each year as state school report card inform stakeholders of success and failures, governing bodies examine the data and decide which schools deserve second chances to improve scores. This type of pressure can be intense enough to cause seasoned teachers to abandon their beloved profession. Some may feel the need to abandon their local school system for a better performing school or system. We must examine what works best for our school or center to make sure goals are met and polices support the families in the best manner possible.
Cynthia Thralls
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteThat is a wonderful video. I believe this would be powerful for legislators to view. I believe in the "ounce of prevention" and I hope the message can be given to the policy makers. This is one area I want to grow in- advocacy for quality care for children birth to five. Thanks for sharing the video!
Laurel
Vanessa, I am very interested in many of your interest especially understanding more in depth about policies and procedures within the early childhood field. I feel like there is more to learn as new policies in regards to standards and practices continue to surface to better prepare children within the zero to three programs. I look forward to your insights.
ReplyDeleteHi Vanessa. I am also interested in the Federal aspect of early education and funding it provides to each state. I feel that the political aspect of early education has lacked in some many ways. Now in politics they are starting to understand the importance of early childhood education but they are not doing enough to help children in low income communities. They do not take Head Start as a major contributor in helping children from low income families be prepared for primary education as their peers from middle and upper class communities. I am interested on the impact we will make on policies in early education systems in our community, city, state,and nation.
ReplyDeleteHi Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteYour goals are well thought out! I never thought about the first goal you mentioned. I always have separated learning outcomes and federal funding. However, I see your idea of understanding the connection between them. How are federal funds distributed? Are they given to low performing schools? If so, then why do I still see several schools in my local school district still considered low performing year after year? I would like to know where the federal funds go once they are given to the state.
Hello all
ReplyDeleteI think this class on policies and systems will be very challenging with a great end result. The state I live in Georgia has just received the Race to the Top funds from the federal government. It seems it came at the same time the QRIS (Quality Rated) was introduced or before. This leads me to believe there is a connection between the two. During the this I will be definitely researching the initiatives the state has introduced and the rationale. Thanks.
Vanessa
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteYou talk about federal funding and federal policies, I should have made that one of my goals...to learn more about the federal government! I am not a person who follows politics and I am sure I should be because many political decisions affect education. I feel very out of the loop so to speak about federal funding and federal polices and decisions. I hope to gain more knowledge in this area throughout this course also.