NIEER Website Week 6

The website that I am researching for this class is the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) www.nieer.org  

Outside Links

This week, I followed a link from the NIEER website to the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute website.  According to the website, the mission of FPG is to “ensure that all children have a strong foundation for academic success and full participation as caring and responsible citizens of a multicultural world” (Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Advancing knowledge. Enhancing lives, n.d., para 1).  This website includes topic areas such as the National Professional Development Center on Autism  Spectrum  Disorders and the Center for Early Care and Education Research – Dual Language Learners (CECER-DLL).  This site also has many resources including webinars several of which focus on the topic of the creation of a professional development system for early childhood teachers. 

Researching One Area in Depth

The one area of the NIEER website that I decided to search thoroughly was one titled Facts and Figures.  The following sections can be found under the Facts and Figures tab:

·      Hot Topics.  This section includes videos, presentations and documents on topics such as Seeing the Learning in Play: Using Performance-based Assessment to Document and Enhance Learning in Play and The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Recommendations for Addressing the Needs of English Language Learners.

·      Latest Research.  This section includes reports on topics such as Preschool Program Improves Cognitive Control and Benefits of Early Childhood Interventions Across the World: (Under) Investing in the Very Young.

·      Presentations.  This section includes presentations on topics tanging from Worldwide Access to Early Childhood Programs: Where Do We Go From Here? to Hispanics, Language and Immigration: Gaps in the Early Years

·      Frequently Asked Questions.  This section has a series of questions and answers on a number of topics such as Assessment and Governance and Accountability.  A sample question from the Assessment section is “What support is available to help center based and home day care providers with curriculum development that implements preschool standards?”

·      Fast Facts.  This section focuses on a wide variety of facts about everything from the cost of providing quality preschool education.

·      Expert Database. Contact information for experts in the field

·      Links

This section provides links to other websites based on specific topics such as Policy and Quality and Standards

Link from the Newsletter

One of the links in the newsletter dealt with the topics we explored this week was Building the Workforce Our Children Deserve.  From this report, I learned more about some of the challenges of creating a comprehensive system of professional development for Early Childhood teachers.  Rhodes & Houston (2012) note that “Many barriers exist in the system of ECCE professional development (many call it a “non-system”): inadequate job definitions in federal workforce databases, separate funding streams for different types of programs, low wages, high turnover, limited evidence of effectiveness of teacher education and training” (p. 2).  Rhodes & Houston (2012) also point out the need to inform parents, policy makers and the public about the benefits of comprehensive system of professional development for Early Childhood teachers. 

Additional Insights on the Topic of Equity

The most recent newsletter contained 2 articles related to the long-term benefits of high quality early education experiences and the need for highly qualified and educated early childhood teachers.  The NIEER website contains many different types of information related to the topic of equity such as a report entitled Limited Preschool Access Dims Success for Latino Children—And California’s Future. One of the resources that provided additional insight into the topic of access to early education came from an article entitled Leave no (young) child behind: Prioritizing access in early childhood education. In this article, Ludwig & Phillips (2012) discuss the “very difficult tradeoff that policymakers must make in thinking about how to spend an additional finite pool of early childhood funding” (p. 50).  I gained insight into the arguments for increasing access or increasing quality. 

Reference

Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.

http://www.fpg.unc.edu/index.cfm

Ludwig J., & Phillips, D. A. (2010). Leave no (young) child behind: Prioritizing access in early childhood education.  Investing in Young Children:  New Directions in Federal Preschool and Early Childhood Policy.  Retrieved from http://nieer.org/pdf/Investing_in_Young_Children.pdf

Rhodes, H., & Houston A. (2012). Building the workforce our youngest children deserve.  Sharing child and youth development knowledge 26(1)