National
Institute for Early Education- NIEER
nieer.org
The organization I chose to study
is NIEER or National Institute for Early Education Research. The goal of this
organization is to “improve the lives of children by promoting development and
early learning through research with a push for high- quality early education
for all young children” (NIERR, 2018). This organization provides a wealth of information
through a blog which focuses on early education involving current research and
articles from different organizations.
NIEER has a weekly newsletter which
provides periodic updates on early childhood education and development issues
as well as activities and research completed by NIERR; each week there is a
different topic discussed. For example, from past articles: Early Ed Workforce,
New Cost Calculator and Inheriting Prejudice; Teaching teachers; and Super
diversity, provider Voices and Mom’s Influence to name a few (NIEER, 2018).
Something that caught my attention
on this website is the option for Early Education News. I found this feature to
be very helpful and informative. NIEER provides “News” almost every day by uploading
different articles about what is going on with education throughout the country.
I enjoy this feature because it is easy to access and understand. I can easily
browse the information to stay informed on current topics as well browse the
articles to find something I am interested in.
In the newsletter for this week
there are many articles based on the cost of preschool programs, the natural
environment of preschool- age children, and their health relating to the amount
of sleep, diet and maternal education. This week’s newsletter focuses on the
well- being of young children and what educators and families can do to help
these children become more successful. The newsletter appears to be very
informational for families and educators.
Our topic from this week is
Changing Demographics and Diversity. As I was reading over resources from the
NIEER website, I saw an article about top ten ideas for states in 2018. One of
the topics discussed was making early childhood programs more affordable to all
families. It was mentioned that it would be beneficial to include preschool,
child care, head start programs, and voluntary home visiting programs to make
these programs available for low and middle-income families (NIEER, 2018). The
website did not mention how this would be accomplished, but, based on the
changing demographics and diversities making these programs more affordable
would greatly impact these communities.
Hi Brianna! Thanks for the website information. I went and signed up to receive their newseltter as well. I did read the same article about child care/preschool costs being more than college tuition. It was interesting that this article pointed out and supported the high cost of child care based on one of the reasons being how much and the importance of brain development growth within the first five years of the child. What I also thought was true with this article was how it mentions that access to the quality care is of concern. If more families in need to quality care had the access to the quality care, the achievement gap percentage would definitely go down. One of the things that I wish for families in Minnesota is that our Governor instead of opening free PREK to all families, would invest more of the surplus into the waitlist for HeadStart, Parent Aware Scholarships for those facilities rated at a three or four star. Opening up PreK to the general public would help the middle class families more then the lower class families who need it the most!
ReplyDeleteSharyl Kalal
Hi Brianna,
ReplyDeleteThe National Institute for Early Education is very interesting and I would like to receive their newsletter too. It would be beneficial if Early Education programs were free for all children. In Finland they have early childhood education free for all children until they go to primary school at age 7. Of course taxes would increase, but I for one would be glad to pay higher taxes for children,it could be just like public school. I hope the public becomes aware of that it is vital towards the children continued success throughout life, and that be the catalyst that pushes it through. I enjoyed reading your blog.
Brianna,
ReplyDeleteI really found your post interesting. Quality preschool for all children is a passion of mine. I have wrote about it many times. I agree that early childhood programs should be more affordable to all families. Families that fall below the poverty guideline do not not pay childcare. They qualify for childcare assistance, and many of those same families also qualify for early childhood grants and scholarships. Where I see the greatest need is when families begin to work themselves off of these programs. Their income may minimally increase above the poverty guideline, now they do not qualify for any aid. The full amount of child care is their responsibility. This is a concern to me. I believethese families suffer because they cannot afford quality childcare, but they do not qualify for any aid. I think this is where free Pre-K to all families is beneficial. It does not addresses the whole need, but it is a step in the right direction.
Brianna your post was very informative and interesting. It assist in many areas to the early chilhood program, by providing food, education, and assistance to the parents and families as well. Many parents cannot afford the high quality childcare programs, therefore, they child may not be able to receive the education environment that their parents and families would like for them to have.
ReplyDelete