This week, I have been researching the website of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Our topic has been excellence and equity in education. This organization is dedicated to “excellence and equity in educating all young children” (NAEYC, 2011). There are many ways in which this organization supports this statement.
In addition to newsletters, magazines and a radio station, this organization is dedicated to early childhood research and puts out a quarterly newsletter with the results. In the March 2011 issue, Howes, et al. addressed peer interaction in the diverse classroom. They found that young children interacted better when there was dramatic play available, whether they spoke English or not. Dobbes-Oates, et al. concluded that “task orientation and behavior management each positively predicted children’s emergent literacy development, but not language development. There was a significant interaction between teachers’ behavior management and children’s task orientation in predicting children’s language development, such that high scores on both variables were associated with the most optimal language outcomes”. Another study concluded that parental control styles significantly influenced a child’s school readiness.
Ways they get directly involved in influencing teachers, administrators and policy makers in excellence and equity in education is to offer programs such as their 2009 series of three long distance learning sessions. This series was designed to “help educators, administrators and other stakeholders understand what’s new and what remains appropriate practice for teaching young children” (NAEYC, 2011). These three distance learning program video’s were released with the idea of revising and refining ideas that have surfaced within the past ten years about best practices and what is developmentally appropriate in the early childhood classroom. The first program addressed developmentally appropriate practices, the second program addressed intentional teaching and the third, play in the classroom. They released these videos to 100 state, local and regional agencies, held community forums and hoped to influence teachers, administrators and policy makers in developmentally appropriate practices in the field of early childhood education.
I found these tools on their website to be helpful to me as well:
Early Learning Standards Self-Assessment and Planning Tool http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/ecprofessional/StandardsSelfAssessmentTool.pdf
Early Learning Standards, Creating Conditions for Success http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/earlyLearningStandards.pdf
Good Toys for Young Children http://www.naeyc.org/toys
Self-Assessment and Planning Tool for Curriculum and Assessment http://www.naeyc.org/toys
Whether a teacher, administrator or policy maker, this site offers a plethora of information and research related to early childhood. It is a valuable resource and should be part of every early childhood educator’s resource list.
Dobbes-Oates, J. (March, 2011). Effective behavior management in preschool classrooms and children's task orientation: Enhancing emergent literacy and language development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. NAEYC. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W4B-52B13G6-1&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F06%2F2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=bb67011138fdf1e8556a5f832d3978f4&searchtype=a
Howes, C., et al. (March, 2011). Classroom dimensions predict early peer interaction when children are diverse in ethnicity, race, and home language. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. NAEYC. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W4B-52C3RJM-1&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F11%2F2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=cc7841691637ca71f2c404e16b75b9db&searchtype=a
Kleisner-Walker, A., MacPhee, D. (March, 2011). How home gets to school: Parental control strategies predict children’s school readiness. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. NAEYC.Retrieved from http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620184/description#description
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