Course Goals Module 1

Course Goals

Early childhood systems are designed to encourage collaboration with various entities in order to focus on particular areas such as pre-K, child care, mental health, or nursery school.   All students need access to affordable and quality education in order to be productive citizens.  It is important to have programs and other services available that address areas such as education, health and mental health.  Early childhood systems are similar to the infrastructure of cities or towns.  It provides the structure and organization needed so that the education of students can be attained and sustained.    Early childhood systems provide the organization that enables parents and concerned educational professionals to coordinate the services so that they can support the development of Pre-K through eight years old (Build Initiative, 2013).    Fostering this development will ensure the success of the child in school and in life.

Early childhood systems generally include plans that have been state or federally approved.  These plans often times are designed to encourage innovation efforts.  State and local governments can indirectly and directly impact the lives of infants and children, along with their families.  The state, local, and district based activities can play an integral part in the policy making that directly affects the lives of students, parents, and the surrounding community.   There are important policies and strategies that can assist states in successfully providing innovative ideas to breed success in students.  Some of the policies might include recommendations for tax increases, collaborative planning and governance that includes an infant through toddler focus, providing coordination of services such as child welfare, and inclusion or a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). 

Many states use the QRIS to measure and improve the quality of early childhood education programs.  Some states also include a component that provides incentives such as financial support for quality improvements in their programs.  I was not familiar with New York’s QUALITYstarsNY program and Indiana’s Path to QUALITY program (Zellman & Fiene, 2012).  Both of these programs provide incentives for innovations in developing systems for improvements in program quality. 

The three professional goals that will remain constant in my work during this course include:

·         Providing equity in education, mental and physical health, and parental support.

·         Understand the importance of social networks in helping to provide a sense of community for professionals and families.

·         Maintaining authenticity by engaging parents and building partnerships.

These professional goals will help guide my analysis of systems and commitment to understanding how these systems are impacted by public policies, communities, and educators.  These goals will also direct my knowledge of how systems support children and their families.

References

Build Initiative. (2013). Early childhood systems building. Retrieved from
          http://www.buildinitiative.org/TheIssues/SystemsBuilding.aspx

Kagan, S. L., & Kauerz, K. (Eds.). (2012). Early childhood system:           Transforming early learning. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Zellman, G. L., & Fiene, R. (2012). Validation of Quality Rating    and  Improvement Systems for Early Care and Education and School-Age Care. Research-to-Policy, Research-to-Practice Brief. OPRE 2012-29.
 Administration for Children & Families.