The organization that I am reviewing

The organization that I chose is National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) http://nieer.org

This organization “conducts and communicates research to support high-quality, effective early childhood education for all young children” (http://nieer.org/about/vision).  The NIEER has a variety of articles and research projects that benefits educators, families, and policy makers.

The newsletter is sent biweekly.  I looked back over the last three issues and I found this:

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently released the latest edition of “The Condition of Education,” the annual report of trends and developments in P-20 education. Amongst the plethora of statistics gathered, NCES reports that the percent of 3- to 5-year-olds enrolled in full-day pre-K classrooms increased from 32 percent in 1980 to 58 percent in 2010; private preschool enrollment dropped from 6.3 million in 2001 to 5.5 million in 2009; nearly 1 million more public school students were identified as English language learners in 2009 than in 2000; and the percent of children and youth ages 3-21 with disabilities has decreased each year since 2005, with approximately 6.5 million (13 percent) of public school enrollees being served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (NIEER, 2012).

I thought it demonstrated the demographic changes that we have been talking about.

NIEER. (2012, June 1). The condition of education 2012: A portrait of the nation’s students. NIEER online newsletter, 11(12). Retrieved from http://nieer.org/publications/online-newsletters/volume-11-issue-12

Establishing Professional Contacts

I sent out emails to different professionals in Netherlands and Haiti.  I used the Global Alliance to get the email address that I used.  I sent an email to Sarah Klaus and it could not be sent incorrect address or no longer used.  I looked through the website of the International Step by Step Association for the Netherlands and found Dawn Tanksley’s email address and I am waiting for a reply.  I also sent an email to Dominique Hudicourt from Haiti.  I got her name and email address from Global Alliance as well.  I may have to explore the alternate for this assignment.  I am still hopeful that I will get contacted.

I have been exploring the website for the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) and I have prescribed to their online newsletter.  I am interested in learning more about research and the research that is in place to help early educators.  I am a member of NAEYC so I wanted to explore other sites.

My Supports

My family is a support to me.  They help me with household chores and sometimes cook dinner for me.  They are there if I need them or if I just wanted someone to talk too.  My husband supports assists me with mechanical needs on my vehicles and mows the grass.  Though my husband teases me about work work or school work, he supports me in furthering my education.  My friends support me in my education and my exercise programs.  They are there for me when I need someone to talk to or some extra motivation.  I could not imagine life without my friends and family in it so if you take away those supports then attending college now would be a lot more difficult.  I also receive supports through my coworkers and other professionals within my field.  If this support was gone not only will I have a difficult time the children within my care would also be affected.

            The challenge that I chose was the loss of my sight.  I feel that my family and friends would be supportive and assist me in my daily needs.  Without supports I would suffer greatly.  I would not have anyone to be my eyes for me and this is a little scary.  My eyes progressively were getting worse a few years ago and I honestly thought that I would be blind by now.  I am very thankful for the supports that I get from my friends and family.

Quotes about child development

Children Learn What They Live - Dorothy Law Neite
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child learns to feel shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement he learns confidence
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
He a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.

"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today."
- Stacia Tauscher

"Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.
- Dr. Hiam Ginnot

"Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand."
- Chinese proverb

"The secret of teaching is to appear to have known all your life what you just learned this morning."
- Anonymous

“Since the earliest period of our life was preverbal, everything depended on emotional interaction. Without someone to reflect our emotions, we had no way of knowing who we were.”
― John Bradshaw

“The path of development is a journey of discovery that is clear only in retrospect, and it’s rarely a straight line.” ― Eileen Kennedy-Moore

Testing for Intelligence

As a preschool teacher in a developmental day school I use a variety of assessments to ensure that I know the ability levels of each child so that I can gear my lessons and facilitate learning to meet the needs of all my children.  At my center we use the LAP assessment that assesses the developmental milestones in all the domains. 

As a mother with children in the public school system I know that the school system assesses the basics on reading, writing, and math at the end of every year starting in the third grade to the fifth grade.  This is called the end of grade assessment and the teacher start teaching the test the last semester of the school year.  The older classes have an end of course test where children take the test as they finish each course.  These tests are very confusing for me as a parent.  I feel that they add a lot of stress to our children’s already stressful lives and to the teachers that are held accountable for their learning.  These tests do not take in account that a child may be a bad test taker or having a rough day the day the assessment was given.  They do not let current teachers know where children are at the present time and how to best meet their needs.  My son is in tutoring now for his end of course exams because he is prone to score at the low end of the passing grade every year that he has taken the test. However, my son is an A-B student in all his classes.

I know that these tests are so they can hold schools accountable for the education of children, but shouldn’t assessments of children be so that schools and teachers can meet the needs of their students?  These assessments are only for cognitive levels however, I feel it does not assess the whole child and does not truly demonstrate what a child knows or does not know.  These tests tend to be multiple choice questions except the writing test so students have one out four chance to get it right if they guess. The writing exam may or may not demonstrate students’ skills because they are given a topic to write about.  If they are not interested on know little about the subject their writing will not be so great.

Education in the Netherlands is different than in the USA.  The elementary grades are from 4 years to 12 years or 8^th grade.  At the end of the eighth grade students are given a standardized test to determine if they have reached their attainment targets.  This exam helps determine the secondary school that best fits each child.  Schools have free choice in their teaching methods and parents can choose where their child attends school.  All schools are free public and private.  I found this article very interesting the fact that schools are held accountable, however they are allowed to choose how they teach children there are no set way.

Dykstra, T. (2006). High Performance and Success in Education in Flemish Belgium and the Netherlands. National Center on Education and the Economy. Retrieved from http://www.skillscommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/HighPerformance-and-Success.pdf

Stress of poverty and war

Poverty is a high stress factor for all families. I grew up in poverty. I had five brothers and two little sisters and my father worked for a turkey farmer, he was always at work. My mother was a stay at home mom and she seemed to be grouchy all the time. She got mad one time and punched the screen door and had to have stitches. I remember when we lived in an old train depot that the roof near the chimney caught on fire. With the neighbors help we got the fire put out. We ate a lot of pinto beans and turkey, but we never went without. We were clothes from yard sales that were in good condition, but the legs of the pants were usually to short.

When I was ten we built a two room shack to live in while we were building a house as a family out of rocks. We used an outhouse and carried water from a spring down the road. I spent lots of hours carrying rocks and hoeing in the garden. As a child we were given bikes, but mine was way too small. The other children that rode the bus with us used to laugh and make fun of us because there were a lot of us and because we were building a house that they said would never stand.

With all the teasing that was going on and my mom being grouchy most of the time as well as my father being at work all the time I was a quiet child that was scared to talk to people and I was considered shy. Though I know that I was scared I would say or do something wrong and get into trouble.

We were given bunk beds and other old furniture. We were limited on our toys or time to play with them.  I remember that my brothers and I used big sticks and pretended that they were vehicles or horses.  We also pretended the hoes that we used while we were working were tractors to make it more fun.  We did get some hot wheel cars and we built a city on the huge sandstone above our house. We were very creative in our play. We ran a city in our house with a post office and all. Our stuffed animals were made birth certificates and marriage licenses. I was the teacher during all those years. If I could not get my younger siblings to participate my stuffed animals are the smartest because I taught them all.  I still have a little bunny doll minus the ears and hands. If dolls could talk “Laura” my doll could tell you a lot of secrets.

Stressors across the world

The big stressor that everyone is aware of is the war going on in Afghanistan. During wars it affects people everywhere in the world. The families of military people and the families in the area that war is taking place are at risk for stressors. I see some of the families of military families that are just arriving home and some that are being sent overseas. These children suffer over the absence of a parent or maybe even both their parents which is a big stress on their lives, but not as big a stress as if you were in the war zone.  Survival becomes their main concern as they may lose everything that they have. I cannot even imagine the stress that these children are going through.   I feel that it is the worst possible stress because usually it plays on the facts of other people and not the families that suffer the most.

It scares me that these children do not have to watch violent shows because their lives are the violent show that cannot be avoided. What is to become of these children? How will they grow up and become happy healthy adults?

Child Development and Public Health

My health topic is sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). I chose this topic because friends of mine experienced SIDS first hand. I find it scary to have an infant die and there is no apparent reason for this. Emotionally it is hard to understand the why aspect off losing an infant. Even harder if the doctors cannot find the reason.

I chose to explore Netherland and find out information from there. I found that like the US, Netherland has had a strong decline in SIDS since the risks factors have been know. “The Netherlands has the lowest incidence of SIDS in the Western World with 0.078 per 1,000 living births in 2007” (Liebrechts-Akkerman, Lao, Liu, van Sleuwen, Engelberts, L’Hoir, Tiemeier, & Kayser, 2011, p. 1282).

Resource:

Liebrechts-Akkerman, G., Lao, O., Liu, F., van Sleuwen, B., Engelberts, A., L’Hoir, M., Tiemeier, H., & Kayser, M. (2011). Postnatal parental smoking: an important risk factor for SIDS. Eur J Pediatr, (170), 1281-1291. Doi: 10.1007/s00431-011-1433-6