"The Common Core"

The NAEYC, remains a strong voice and guiding point for early childhood professionals to turn to for research-based knowledge and information. The NAEYC website has many topics that address current issues and trends in education. The topic of “Common Core State Standards” stood out to me this week on the website. The Common Core affects children in grades K-12 and may begin to affect what is expected to be taught at the preschool level. The Common Core is a set of national standards that has been accepted by most states. The idea is to make the standards for English Language Arts and Math consistent across the nation for each grade level and for completion of high school (NAEYC, 2012). I teach at the high school level in Oregon, which has adopted the standards beginning this school year, and the standards have been the topic of many professional development meetings. It is a change that requires much adjustment and worry for our students trying to pass a new standardized test for graduation. Are the standards too high? Are all schools provided the same resources and means to meet the standards?

The article, “The common core state standards: Caution and opportunity for early childhood education,” focuses on the impact that the Common Core may have on the early childhood field and discusses concerns of early childhood professionals. “These [unintended] consequences include concerns about the allocation of time and resources to support the content of the Common Core relative to areas not included in these standards, and about the means by which schools will assess children’s progress in meeting the standards” (NAEYC, 2012 p. 4). Will the Common Core create a large push for language arts and math to be the main focus in pre-K programs across the nation? Are the standards developmentally appropriate? “Especially critical is maintaining methods of instruction that include a range of approaches—including the use of play as well as both small- and large-group instruction—that are considered to be developmentally appropriate for young children” (NAEYC, 2012 p. 7)

Reference:

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). 2012. The Common Core State Standards: Caution and Opportunity for Early Childhood Education. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Childhood Poverty

Unfortunately, I never heard back from the international early childhood professionals that I reached out to through e-mail. So I visited the UNICEF website to read about childhood poverty. I chose to read about poverty in Mexico, because it is so close to the United States and seems to affect our country a great deal also.

Although the economy in Mexico is slightly improving, poverty is still prevalent in the country. “In 2010, 46.2% of Mexico’s residents lived in poverty – a figure that rises to 53.8% among children, who are overrepresented among the poor. Nearly 14% of Mexican children under five are stunted – a figure that is higher in rural areas and reaches nearly 33% among indigenous children” (UNICEF, 2013 p. 1).  The rural areas of Southern Mexico have the worst poverty, with higher under-five mortality rates and maternal mortality rates. Access to health care and sufficient nutrition remain a problem especially in rural areas. “Chronic malnutrition amongst children remains high: 13.6% of under-fives in 2012 (1.5 million) and 27.5% in rural and indigenous areas in the south” (UNICEF, 2013 p. 2). Another problem resulting from poverty is a child’s access to an education. Many children living in poverty in Mexico have to work instead of going to school, making it almost impossible to ever change things for their personal future (UNICEF, 2013).

Reference:

UNICEF (2013, Apr 3). Mexico: Government and UNICEF launch ground-breaking

study addressing child poverty. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/media_68584.html

UNICEF (2013). UNICEF Annual Report 2013 — Mexico. Retrieved from

http://www.unicef.org/about/annualreport/files/Mexico_COAR_2013.pdf

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Website Resource

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

http://www.naeyc.org/

The NAEYC website is an excellent resource with information about a broad range of topics related to the early childhood field. “The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the world’s largest organization working on behalf of young children” (http://www.naeyc.org/content/about-naeyc). The NAEYC provides professional development opportunities, including a national conference for early childhood professionals and by becoming a member you can receive a periodical with research articles related to current topics and issues.

The organizations policy statements are available on their website and provide a great resource for creating your own policies and for learning about what is considered best practices on topics varying from technology to school readiness and literacy. One issue that caught my attention was the position statement on “responding to linguistic and cultural diversity”  (NAEYC, 2009).  The statement reminds early childhood professionals of the importance of maintaining the child’s home language and the value of involving parents in the program. It is a teacher’s responsibility to make sure families feel respected and valued (NAEYC, 2009). Another position statement that caught my attention was on the topic of violence in the media. The statement explained that the research shows that exposure to violence in the media has three proven negative effects on children, “children become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others; they may become more fearful of the world around them; and they may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others” (NAEYC, 1994 p. 1). Although this information is nothing new, it is still resonates with me because of how much television most young children watch. My family watches movies at home but we do not watch T.V. and it is always surprising to me when I do watch television somewhere away from home. Even the commercials are so violent sometimes. My daughter has not been exposed to much television and is very sensitive to action and drama in movies. Most Disney movies are even too scary for her to watch. I think it is sad what some children are exposed to by television.

Resources:

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1994). Media Violence in

 Children’s Lives: A Position Statement of the National Association for the

 Education of Young Children. Retrieved from

http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSMEVI98.PDF

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2009). NAEYC: Where We

 Stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved from

http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf

Expanding Resources and Contacts

This week I attempted to contact a few professionals in the Early Childhood field from around the world. I used the list of professionals off of the NAEYC Global Alliance website and emailed professionals in China, Georgia, Nigeria, South Africa, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Singapore. Unfortunately, about half of the emails came back with a notice of "undeliverable." I am waiting to hear back from the others that went through, but I may have to do the alternative assignment.

I recently became a member of the National Association for Education of Young Children, but had not found the time yet to explore the resources on their website. So I am excited about this assignment. I have found many useful articles in the Young Children magazine that is sent out to all the members, and so I chose to further explore the www.naeyc.org website throughout this course. Today I logged in as a member of the organization and found access to many new resources.