Decker, Decker, Freeman, & Knopf (2009) mentions regulations and standards guide the life of an early childhood care and education program- its children and their families, its staff, director, and board. They are designed to give families that rely on child care peace of mind that the health and welfare of their children are safeguarded while their youngsters are away from home.
I believe a program needs to have regulations in place. However, I am curious to know how many programs use standards as a guide for their program? Why is standards an important part of a program?
What do you do if you have concerns with a child's learning process? Does any of your program do referrals to the DOE for further assessments?
The Exchange Everyday article- Reducing Email Overload mentions different ways to deal with being overwhelmed with email. When it comes to work, I would rather have an email reminder that a call. Personally, it is much faster. However, I do get overwhelmed with my personal email at home. What to do? How to manage our time? I just feel that at times there is not enough time in the day. For me, the most important thing is making sure I connect with my daughter everyday. Sometimes its just laying in bed and looking at the same book over and over.
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Hi U'ilani. You want to see standards? Come to a Head Start classroom. You won't believe the number of standards in that huge binder we get to keep. (And I thought the State licensing manual was lengthy). And when we're up for our triennial review, you should see all the trainings and additional meetings. I guarantee it'll blow your mind. As far as I can see, Head Start standards were put in place to set a higher than minimal standard (they're actually called Performance Standards and they cover every aspect of the program). We have Special Educators, Speech Pathologists, and Behavior specialists who are part of our program. We do refer to DOE, but the child usually qualifies only if there are 2 or more significant concerns.
ReplyDeleteHi U'ilani!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree regulations and standards help to guide the life of an early childhood care and education program- its children and their families, its staff, director, and board. Although, as teachers I wonder how many of us stop and actually take a look to read through their program's standards? Technology is sure a big thing in today's world. Many people use facebook, myspace, twitter, and have numerous emails. Of course, there is pros and cons to all this technology... For example, it's a good way to stay in touch with people across the world. I agree, spending time with your daughter is a MUST =]
By the way how old is she?
Happy weekend!
~suzanne~
Hi U'ilani...I'm with Carol. STANDARDS sums up everything where I teach. We use standards, checklists, resources specialist, speech referrals, behavioral referrals and also will refer to the DOE is necessary. Early intervention is the key to helping children. What's more crazy is going through NAEYC accreditation, talk about standards they have! But having standards and regulations are a good thing and I'm glad we have them, too much work, but glad.
ReplyDeleteHi U`ilani,
ReplyDeleteYour mention of standards seems to have influenced a bit of conversation in your blog. I wonder about how standards are actually limiting to how ece teachers and administrators might create a program. Most standards are based on white, middle class children, creating a narrow vision of how teaching and learning is enacted. Standards also imply there is little trust of the teacher and administrator to know how to create learning experiences. Do these limitations and lack of trust force administrators to define a program that might reflect quality only on a very superficial level?
I also wonder how the Quality reading (located in the resources section of Laulima) might impact your reflections.
Jeanne
Hi U'i,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about standards, regulations and policies. They are designed to give families that rely on child care peace of mind that the health and welfare of their children are safeguarded while their youngsters are away from home. When I read your questions about standards, it got me wondering and questioning about staff? Shouldn't there be standards and regulations for staff to have a peace of mind to feel just as safe as the children and families? I know that there's somewhat regulations and standards for staff for the sake of the children but what about their own personal being?
Aloha Carol,
ReplyDeleteHow do you implement standards in your program? Or does standards drive your program? Why?
Aloha Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think technology is being used in programs? How is being used in your program? Do you see a difference in a child's learning?
Aloha Jeanne,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point about the implementation of standards. However, I often wonder if standards drives a program. I feel that standards do not meet the needs of our culturally diverse community.