Children’s Defense Fund
Within the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) website there has
been so much information that is valuable to me as an integrated preschool
special education teacher, as I often serve children who do not have a fair,
head start. Typically these children
come from low income families, have limited access to early childhood programs,
and struggle to pay tuition for such programs.
Recently there have been many families that have sadly removed their
children from our center due to cost, even when the Department of Social
Services covers most or a part of the cost.
They are typically very reluctant to pull their children from the
center, but are often faced with the decision of food and shelter versus
another week of schooling for their young children. Though it’s a tough dilemma, many families in
the nation are forced to make the same decision. The CDF is one outlet that provides for
children and their families.
When further examining the CDF website this week to find links
to other wonderful outside sources, I was happy to find more material that will
assist in my studies and teaching of early childhood education. Many of the links were found in the
multimedia and news category. These
current event links related to early children transferred the readers to
different websites such as CNN and the New York Times. This week in particular had articles related
to children and violence, as we continue to hear stories about young children
who are hurt due to weapons in schools. Both
the New York Times and CNN present news information that is beneficial to early
childhood educators, as it is important to be familiar with current events, and
reflect upon these events in our own teaching to improve our classroom and
strategies.
I chose to further examine the category of multimedia and
news to seek other information related to early childhood education. In addition to the news links related to
current events, there are also links listed to other websites with information
related to the current issues within early childhood programs including poverty,
healthcare, and more. One article that I
found particularly interesting was from The Hill entitled “The Affordable Care
Act Helps Our Nation’s Children,” which discussed all that has been
accomplished for children within the act.
Link:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/219003-the-affordable-care-act-helps-our-nations-children
When researching February’s newsletter (the latest edition
on the website) there were many links branching out to additional resources for
early childhood education. The New
America Foundation was included twice for their “10 Hot Spots in Early Ed for
2012” as well as “The ‘Race to the Top’ Winners: How States Plan to Use Quality
Ratings Systems.” Both were informative
articles about current hot topics in early childhood education. The website also directed readers to The
Pre-K-3rd Grade National Work Group, which hosts several webinars
related to early childhood education, important for teachers who are furthering
their education as lifelong learners to better their classroom
environment. There were many great links
found in February’s newsletter alone!
Links:
10 Hot Spots Article:
http://earlyed.newamerica.net/blogposts/2012/10_hot_spots_in_early_ed_for_2012-62352
‘Race to the Top’ Article:
http://earlyed.newamerica.net/blogposts/2012/the_race_to_the_top_winners_how_states_plan_to_use_quality_ratings_systems-63337
The Pre-K-3rd Grade National Work Group:
http://www.prek-3rdgradenationalworkgroup.org/
The CDF and Equity and Excellence in Care and Education
It is clear after taking a short glace at their website that
the CDF greatly values equity in education, as they aim to give all children a
healthy, head, fair, safe, and moral start as they enter into education
systems. In order to do so, it is
imperative for children to have access to an effective, high quality early
childhood program.
The following is an excerpt from the CDF website of their
mission statement:
“The Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission
is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe
Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the
help of caring families and communities.
“CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for
all the children of America
who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to
the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates
the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments
before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family
breakdown.
“CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization
supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations.”
Website: http://www.childrensdefense.org/about-us/
This clearly demonstrates the value of allowing all children
the right to a high quality education that will greatly benefit all children,
as every child deserves access to a quality education. It is apparent that the CDF thrives on
donations and grants from businesses in order to provide their wonderful
services for the children and families they are able to assist.
The February newsletter provides a large amount of
information related to equity and excellence in early childhood education. First, it provides information about budget
and current government proposals to advance early care. The website also comments on budget cuts that
have been made, which typically result in a lower quality education for
children. It also touches upon the
reduced care given to low income families who need the support for their
children due to a lack of funds. After
looking at the newsletter, it is clear that the website informs readers of the
current issues in early childhood education.
The CDF is a great resources for teachers, as it monitors
current events, especially those related to early childhood education. There is a wealth of information included on
the website, and the CDF site also directs readers to additional sites with supplemental
information related to their own articles.
It has been a great resources for me throughout this course and my
teaching at the early childhood level since I discovered it. I hope that it will become a resources for
you all as teachers as well!
Erika,
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to pay attention to what happens outside of our classroom walls. You remind us that economic troubles do not mean that the parent(s) do not care – rather, that they are in the difficult place of making very difficult choices for their family. Also, outside of our walls (and occasionally intruding into our programs), such matters as violence in the community pose very real dangers to families and children that we need to recognize.
I certainly will endeavor to visit the links that you described, as they are unfamiliar to me and I need to learn everything I can if I wish to be able to bring the full range of resources to our families.
Erika,
ReplyDeleteIt is very sad that parents must make the decision to stop sending their child to the high quality program where you work. While necessary, it must be very difficult for parents to make such a decision knowing that it will likely affect their child's future success. Like the CDF website, the NIEER website that I have been researching has many reports about funding cuts for early education. There are also a number of articles focusing on the benefits of early childhood education. One of the reports that I found supported increasing access instead of quality. It is very sad that these kinds of decisions need to be made.
Erika,
ReplyDeleteVery informative post! I find it sad that so many families have to choose between shelter and food or education. Unfortunately, our families must be fed and have shelter, but they also need a high quality education. It is refreshing to know there are some resources for families out there. However, many families do not know of such resources, and we must do what we can to provide families with as much information as possible.
Thank you for the links you provided. I will be reading these articles.
Blessings,
Susan
Great post yet again!! I enjoy reading your posts. You have pointed out some important things. Everything that happen outside of the classroom is not good all of the time. But we as professionals must possess a good background since we are working with children.
ReplyDeleteI had a chance to visit the first link. I really like the 10 Hot Spots in Education. I like the political sections in that they did not take a specific stance, but stated the facts and left it at that. I appreciate the brief and easy to read summaries of the top 10 stories. Thanks for a great blog.
ReplyDeleteErika,
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to have been able to get to know you a little bit through this class. I also liked that the links gave facts and allowed you to make your own determination about the different stances. Thanks for sharing such a great last week post!
Sara