Sharing web resources

As I continued to learn more about the organization Zero to Three this week, I focused on aspects of the organization that dealt with my professional role as the lead teacher of a pre-kindergarten class.  While on Zero to Three’s home page, there was a tab entitled “care and education”.  From there, I chose the child care tab because I wanted to know if there was anything that pertained to my role as an educator.  I looked at the most popular information and found information about preparing children for preschool, how to choose quality care, as well as parenting and professionalism which is a journal of a stay at home mom. 

I decided to take a deeper look at what this organization feels is important when choosing quality care.  The website described things to look for in a good caregiver, such as being loving and responsive, responding to each child individually, and providing a stimulating environment.  There was also a list of several things to look for when touring a center as well as questions to ask during this time.  From this, I was able to get a better idea of what parents should be looking for when they come into my classroom for a tour.

The website for Zero to Three offered a lot of information about current issues and policies.  The information was broken up into several categories: action center, building early childhood systems, federal policy, infant-toddler policy issues, policy guide, and state and community guide.  The one thing that I found exceptionally useful was a policy pocket card that provided information that would help us talk to policymakers.  It provides information about what we can do as educators and it makes the point that now is when the payoff begins when investing in early childhood education.  I learned that investing in our children provides the following benefits today:

·         It helps get children ready for school

·         It helps improve the health of adults and children

·         It provides economic recovery and growth

·         It helps create jobs

·         It helps parents work

In addition to the benefits that can be seen today, there are several future benefits as well:

•         “Better child and adult health outcomes

•         Strong economy

•         Higher graduation rates

•         Increased productivity

•         Higher earnings

•         Stable, dependable workforce

•         Lower special education costs

•         Reduced health care costs

•         Decreased job training costs

•         Less crime

•         Fewer teen pregnancies

•         Less poverty and dependency on public assistance

•         Competitive in the global market” (Pearson, 2009).

I did a search to find information relating to economics and the early childhood field.  One article stood out to me more than the others.  The article opened with the following quote from Robert Dugger of Partnerships for America’s Economic Success:

            “More private sector leaders, economists, and policy-makers are recognizing that if we do             not get child development and education right, it will hurt our long-term prosperity.           That’s because the strength of our labor force is a key to economic growth and fiscal    sustainability” (Pearson, 2009).

A lot of the information in this article went along with what I have learned this week about economists, scientists, and politicians all agreeing that investing in early childhood education now will yield the best return on the investment.  Before this week, I didn’t realize that so many people were now supporting early childhood education.  Sure some people may have their own personal agenda, but in the end, support is what matters.

References

Pearson, K.  (2009).  A proven return on investment: economists and the business community advance a birth to five policy agenda.  Zero to Three.  Retrieved from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Return_on_Investment.pdf?docID=9421.