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Early Education, College Education: Which is an Investment?

When I was a little girl, I remember lining up my stuffed animals and dolls.  They became a 'class' of 18 students when I turned 9 or 10.  I would repeat the words that I heard my teachers say, "If you play during learning time, you will need to sit with me at recess time.  It was only when I had my own children, that I realized the importance of early investing.  As a student of 'Early Education,' I always found it to be quite enriching to work in the industry, investing in my children.  

Finding a high quality ECE program for children was difficult in the '90s, because of factors related mostly to cost.  At that time, I worked in the industry and was 'hooked.'  I could not bear the thought of not working in a program where I could 'oversee' the growth and development of my own children. However, the cost has soared, and there are a plethora of options.  Unfortunately, the cost and quality are still factors that impact the industry to this day.  Now that one of my children has graduated high school, and I have four more that must do the same eyeing the dollar amounts is second nature.  So, when should I begin talking to my children about their college education?  I would suggest, now!  It's never too early for positive college talk.  It is important that children aren't overwhelmed with 'too much' at one time.  Establish criteria, and show children how to research their interests to aid them as they goal set.  

So, to answer the original question, both early childhood education and college education are an investment.  If the education conversation begins early, children will have the opportunity to set goals and create ways to reach those goals.    In terms of cost, they are very close.  The average family spends nearly $10K per year in early childhood costs, and the average in-state tuition rates at many colleges is in the same range.  Invest early!  

Seeking Care for the Young after Abuse Tragedy in an ECE Community: Charlotte, NC

ECE Community:  When one falls   
 Nearly a month ago, families of young children and the general community learned about a sexual abuse happening at a local (franchised) early childhood education program.  The community learned via the news that a local one star facility continued to employ an educator who had been reportedly touched children in a sexual manner.  According to sources, the management team allowed the accused teacher to continue to work with children.  It wasn't until a child went home with the complaint about the abuse, that the program owners addressed the issue.  By the time that those actions had taken place, the local evening news covered the story, and it was quite difficult to see the local educators who were not involved, now under siege. An educator was accused of performing sexual acts with preschool age children.  Numerous families came forth and filed charges against the owners, management team, and the man who allegedly touched the children.  At first, many spectators thought that the NC Division of Child Development would force serious violations, but would spare the school from other scrutiny.  The NCDCD suspended the operator's license.  The suspension came about after a few days after additional children were added to the list of children that were sexually abused by the teacher.  

Hinds Sight

     All families like to leave their children where they feel they will be safe while they work.  Children can be a good judge of 'character' and can help their families make decisions, by demonstrating how comfortable they are with adults.  Sometimes, their demonstration is one that helps parents make a decision, by showing the parent what's comfortable to them.  Parents should NOT be scolded nor charged with placing their children in a facility that hired an abuser.  More, the owners and operators of a facility must be responsible for the environment and educators that they hired.  When child care directors and owners make hiring decisions, they must be made on behalf of the children and families in the program.  If an administrator is alarmed by a teacher, parent, or other viable source of information, that a current staff member breached their trust by touching children inappropriately, there must be a system in place to address circumstances of this nature-Immediately! Most programs have  administrative leave policies for situations like that.  So, when it needs to be activated, it must be-Immediately.  During the in-house and state investigation, the educator should not have any contact with children nor their families.  Administrators need to handle notifying the families affected, contacting the licensing consultant, arrange teacher training regarding the 'breach,' for remaining staff, and create a system that would help ensure the breach does not happen again.  According to sources, none of these procedures were followed.  The owners and operators allowed an accused sexual abuser to return to the classroom environment to work.  

The STARS

     When child care owners choose to open child care facilities in North Carolina, many families use the North Carolina Division of Child Development, Child Care Resources, and other agencies that assist families in finding ECE services.  Some red flags that were on the surface of the sexual abuse case, and may have been overlooked.  The license is comprised of two main components that determine the score.  One of those indicators is the quality score, the other is the educational level of the director and educators.  The higher the score, the more unlikely you are to see good quality practices in those programs. 

1.  One of the indicators of quality is the educators' ability to 'supervise' the environment.  Serious violations tend to happen in environments where the supervision is lacking.  Supervision includes the educators' ability to supervise children and use supervision to 'see and hear,' but also to help children learn by meandering and interacting with all children.  While the Stars level in this program was low, and something really horrible happened, there is not a perfect science to determine the likelihood of something dangerous happening.  I directed ECE programs in the star rated system for more than 10 years, and I have observed most 'unrated' or low rated programs (those with lower star ratings), and programs that have special operational licenses (such as religious affiliations), as having significant safety and supervision issues.   

2.  Families need to decide a program for their children, only after reviewing their state visits and they are comfortable to leaving them.  If the state visits are comprised with NUMEROUS violations, many of them being serious, seek assistance and buddy-search.    

3.  If the visits are mostly comprised of lower level violations only, and their star rating is 4 or greater, meeting with and interviewing the program should be a family's next step.  

4.  Arrange to meet with the program, but after scheduling and visiting the first time, a family should always go back for an impromptu visit to see if the school still operates as it did during the initial visit.  

5.  In infant and toddler programs, if toys are mostly removed from shelves and placed in high places unreachable for the children, reconsider.  In older classrooms, if children are generally unhappy, reconsider.
6. If the program does not perform regular observations for the children, and plan lessons based on the childrens' true needs, reconsider.  
7.   Families should never feel pressured to enroll.   

When Tragedy Overtakes You, Start Again

     There are services that are able to assist working families find their ideal programs.  For different reasons, families may choose to have one parent at home following serious violations such as abuse in a child care program.  Others may decide to provide a nanny at home or a cooperative network.  And, others may still have a need for organized and traditional ECE in a child care/preschool setting.  The city of Charlotte is a very strong community and has a network of professionals and families that really want to see children that were exposed to the tragedy thrive.

At no charge to you: 
Let me help you seek care for your child.  I may be contacted via email at waltonprivategroup@gmail.com.  I am willing to help you screen and view programs with you (identifying 'red flags'), and interview cooperative neighborhoods as well as private nannies.  Let's grow hope together, and not be defeated as a result of this tragedy.  I look forward to hearing from you.