One of the outside links I explored was Advancing
ECE2 Policy: Early Childhood Education (ECE) and its Quest for Excellence,
Coherence, and Equity (ECE). It led me to several issues relating to the need
for excellence, coherence, equity, quality and culture. As I searched I found
out that nearly 50 years of experience with a federal role in early education
has produced important lessons about what works to guide future policy.
While
the goals of early education policy have veered from equity to excellence, and
from equal opportunity to school readiness, I have learned from experience and
research how the goals of excellence, coherence, and equity should guide
effective early childhood policy.
Some
of the new information I received was the NCLB, (The No Child Left Behind Law).
Though the NCLB legislation itself made few explicit demands on early childhood
educators, its impact has been great. The law has fostered intense pressures to
raise levels of quality in early childhood programs so that they can close the
“readiness gaps” among children who differ by race, ethnicity, and
socio-economic status, as measured by cognitive scores (Lee & Burkam,
2002). In particular, the law has motivated policy efforts to:
(1) bolster the
academic skills of young children and develop accountability systems through early
learning guidelines;
(2)
increase the competence of the early childhood workforce; and
(3)
improve early literacy instruction.
“The No Child Left Behind law, was a response to
persistent demands for excellence in public education and a need to close the achievement
gap among children of different backgrounds. With increasing concern, policymakers
also noted the differences among children in their readiness for 15 kindergartens
(Lee & Burkam, 2002). Even so, while NCLB took dramatic steps to increase
the federal role in public education, little in the law directly concerned preschool
education, with the exception of the three following components.
1.
First,
the law’s heavy emphasis on testing and accountability evoked a new focus on
early childhood accountability and, with it, concerns regarding the “trickle
down” of inappropriate curriculum and testing for young children.
2. Second,
NCLB’s focus on improving the quality of teachers affects early childhood
educators in two ways.
3.
Third,
NCLB significantly increases funding for Early Reading First (a program for
children from birth through preschool age) and Reading First (a program for
children from kindergarten through third grade), with the goal of helping
children read proficiently by third grade.
There
is a great deal of information that adds to my understanding of equity and
excellence in early care and education. One particular bit of information is in
order to promote greater consistency across the states, guidelines should be
established that specify what children should know and be able to do, how
teachers should be qualified to teach young children, and what foundational
elements of quality should characterize early childhood programs.
The
new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field I gained, is
that there is a great amount of change has occurred in the last 10 years. Here
are some of the current trends that have had the greatest impact:
1.
Emphasis on
learning standards – Head Start outcomes, common core & state Early
Learning Standards.
2.
Increasing
linguistic and cultural diversity (need to more effectively serve Dual Language
learners).
3.
Structured activity
in children’s lives (obesity crisis)
4. Increasing role of
digital media at home & in schools, and in professional development
Early
childhood programs have the potential for producing positive and lasting
effects on children, but this potential will not be achieved unless more
attention is paid to ensuring that all programs meet the highest standards of
quality. As the number and type of early childhood programs increase, the need
increases for a shared vision and agreed-upon standards of professional practice.
Making
this vision of excellence a reality will require a commitment from and a
partnership among the federal, state, and local governments, business and
labor, private institutions, and the public. As we stand at the beginning of a
new millennium, we must join forces to advocate and implement the policies at
the appropriate federal, state, and local levels that will lead to excellence
in early childhood education programs.
Resources:
Kagan,
S.L. & Reid, J.L. (2008), Advancing ECE2, Policy: Early Childhood Education
(ECE) and its Quest for Excellence, Coherence, and Equity (ECE), Retrieved on
April 11, 2014 from:
Lee,
V. E., & Burkam, D. T. (2002). Inequality at the starting gate: Social
background differences in achievement as children begin school. Washington, DC:
Economic Policy Institute.
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