Parent, Family, and Community Engagement

The personal and professional significance of the Head Start stories prove to me that parents love their children and want them to get the best possible start in their early lives. We as educators and advocates must work at making sure these families needs are being met.


Parents must be involved to met the holistic approach of serving every child's needs. Parents set the foundation for educators and advocates to be able to assist with the child's developmental needs. Families also need to understand how to access resources to better serve the family and the child.


It is very important for policy makers, government official, childhood professionals and the public understand what families and children need to be able to contribute to society. The children of today are the future. Children need to have a great start to become productive citizens to add to society. Families sharing their stories and concerns can make public official know that funding for these programs such as Head Start is a must in educating our early learners at an early age.


I believe that without the parents participation in the child's education, educators will be less able to provide and maintain the child's needs. The parent's involvement provides the child with a cohesive bond of getting all of the child's developmental needs to be met. This involvement includes allowing the parent to understand all of the essential system elements for all strands of service in the early childhood field.

week 2 Quality Programs for All Children

As an early childhood development professional, I believe that knowledge of

child development theory of the history should guide my knowledge and others of educational practices of children from birth to 8 years of age. As a professional we do need to know enough about the relationship between early experience and the ultimate competencies necessary for effective participation in democratic processes, how we can design effective educational practice. Theories will be useful in helping researchers and

 teachers to guide their observations in the right direction in the learning process for the

 early learners. It is from this point of view that practices for supporting the development

 of children from birth to 8 years of age originate. Developmentally appropriate practices

 need to be implemented based on standards for providing high quality early care and

 education experiences to children, birth to 8.We as professionals can learn from past

  knowledge to set standards on the development for our early learners.

 

wk1 What Resonates with you about Early Childhood Public Policy Advocacy?

This specialization is important to me because public policy and advocacy can support developmental research and traditional educational practice for students five to eight years old, who learn in particular ways related to their chronological age, and that classrooms and curriculum should be reflective of that developmental level.

I would like to be able to assist with setting standards for early childhood education assist with daycares having a uniform system of providing quality services to children.  Some of the benefits would be to: improve staff to child ratios, which would ensure each child would receive better individualized care and attention.  Making sure new staff qualification requirement skills are there to promote a better learning environment for each child.

Three goals are to advocate for:

    Early childhood education programs to always have quality staff. Teachers should be well    

    trained and knowledgeable about the best types of early education practices.

     

    That children initiate their own activities. Children should be actively engaged in                        
     learning by participating in hands-on learning activities and social play.

 

      Early childhood education should encourage a physical environment that teaches            
      students through active exploration.