Public policies for early childhood
systems reflect the knowledge, experiences, and perspectives of professionals
of many different calibers. Some
actually have direct experience with early childhood education and development,
while others may only have a viewpoint from outside the spectrum, but have a
passion for it. Either way, efforts for
early systems come from a variety of sources, and need links or commonalities
in their intent.
I work in a Title 1 school, and one
concept I personally find confusing is the coexistence of increase in learning
expectations for students and the decrease of extra support for early childhood
educators, particularly those in Title 1 schools. Novice early childhood teachers are
overwhelmed, often to the point of either discontinuing their employment or
transferring to teaching different age groups.
One example is the decrease in the use of teachers’ aids in kindergarten
and first grade. Research exists that
confirms there is a correlation between class size and student academic
achievement and social development (Allhusen et. al., 2004). The rate at which student population is increasing
is not being paralleled by new teacher employment in the early grades, which
makes for an average high student/teacher ratio in each class. With this in mind, administrators and
policy-maker should consider the need for increased support for said teachers.
Another concept that concerns me is
the decrease in parent involvement. With
monetary struggles in the economy, parents are finding themselves increasingly
busy, thus less available for volunteering at schools during and outside of
business hours. As mentioned above,
teachers need help with their class sizes increasing. Help is not as available as it once was
through Title 1 funding.
One professional goal I am
establishing for myself in this course is to find an avenue or create a system
to increase parental support for teachers in early childhood classrooms. Perhaps awareness of increasing standards and
class size may help encourage this support, which may require a parent-training
program or standards-awareness session, or something of the like.
Another goal I see developing is
one regarding novice teacher professional development on parent
involvement. Many new teachers have
access to a plethora of trainings about standards, teaching methods,
disciplining practices, classroom management techniques, and assessment
practices, but may not see as many opportunities for training about effective
ways to increase parental involvement in early childhood. As someone with over twelve years of teaching
experience in early childhood and also someone who has seen a dramatic increase
of parent involvement over the years in my own class, I feel I may be able to
extend my research into current parent involvement training programs for new
teachers.
My last goal is to keep my focus
narrow. “Parent involvement” is a very
broad, general topic which could take a lifetime to see great change in. For the purposes of this course, I will spend
much time deliberating on which facet of parental involvement to zero in
on. At this time, as my overall project
focus for my program relates to teacher support, I am inclined to lean towards policies
that allow parents easier access to ways to be involved. I am still unsure exactly about how to
decide.
Reference
Allhusen, V., Belsky, J.,
Booth-LaForce, C. L., Bradley, R., Brownwell, C. A., Burchina, M., &
Weinraub,
M. (2004). Does
class size in first grade relate to children’s academic and social performance
or observed classroom processes? Developmental
Psychology, 40(5), 651-664
