“Life
doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our
children - all of our children - a better world.”
-
President Barack Obama, 2008
This week
I revisited the National Black Child Development Institute website, I wanted to
find something that dealt particularly with early childhood education. Under the What We Do Tab is a section that
focuses on ECE. NBCDI
supports federal, state and local efforts to provide increasing numbers of
low-income children with access to quality early education and care; efforts to
create a strong and supported early childhood workforce; and efforts to promote
developmentally and culturally-appropriate standards, curriculum, instruction
and assessment that are aligned within and across the early childhood to early
grades continuum.
To
increase and equitably distribute quality across the birth through eight continuums,
while also connecting early childhood and elementary schools, NBCDI focuses on:
· Supporting specific efforts to recruit,
professionally prepare, compensate and retain a well-qualified workforce across
multiple birth through eight settings, including family and center-based child
care as well as public and charter schools
· Commitments to ensuring cultural and
racial diversity in the workforce, which has decreased, even while the
population of children has grown increasingly more diverse
· Supporting the development and revision
of QRIS (Quality Rating and Improvement Systems) that are as focused on the
“Quality” and the “Improvement” as they are on the “Rating”
· Explicitly advocating for the inclusion
of school- and community-based early childhood teachers and administrators in
joint professional development opportunities with K-12 teachers and
administrators
· Encouraging the development of
culturally, linguistically and developmentally valid and reliable measurement
tools for young children and the classrooms in which they learn
· Encouraging states, districts and
schools to embed professional development opportunities that support a deeper
understanding of families’ race and culture, and explicitly teach teachers from
all backgrounds how to develop and strengthen relationships with parents and
the community
I
think this is a wonderful organization and with this being Black History Month,
I am making a commitment to Take Action and become involved!
Hello Keli,
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a great organization. I like the fact of encouraging states, districts and schools to help teachers build relationships with parents and the community. Parent teacher communication is really key to building the success of children. Both sides being teachers and parents have something so special to bring to the child's life and it is important to share the child's needs to each other so the needs are taken care of at home as well as in school.
Hello Keli!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that I came across your blog, and agree that the organization you have chosen to follow is indeed an excellent one. Their commitment to encourage families and communities to work together in order to create the awareness of various diverse cultures within our communities is simply outstanding. I too am an advocate for this as our world has become and is becoming more and more diverse. I salute you on your commitment to take action and be involved as well!
- Jantina Maria Rice