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.  

Unlearn ABC of pre-school teaching Study Shows Conepts, rather than alphabets & numbers help kids later

Unlearn ABC of pre-school teaching - Study shows concepts, rather than alphabets & numbers, help kids later

Basant Kumar Mohanty

New Delhi, Dec. 12: Pre-school kids who have a better understanding of concepts like distance and shape have a higher chance of excelling in studies in later years, a new study has concluded. Rather than numbers and alphabets, the stress should be on helping children understand these concepts, a key person behind the exercise told The Telegraph. The Indian Early Childhood Impact Study assessed around 13,000 five-year-olds from Assam, Rajasthan and undivided Andhra Pradesh and then tracked 2,700 of these children till they turned eight after dividing them into four categories based on how they had fared in the assessment. The low performers continued their poor performance through age six, seven and eight, the study found, indicating a direct correlation between their pre-school readiness and performance in later years.× Those who had performed well in their assessment - which tested them on concepts like distance, space, shape, width, colour and patterns - continued to do well, according to the six-year study. The report came out last week. "The children whose conceptual understanding is poor before entering school are less likely to outperform the better-performing children," said Venita Kaul, director of the Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED) at Ambedkar University and the study's principal investigator. The CECED, which set the questionnaire to assess the children, had conducted the 2010-16 study in collaboration with Unicef and the ASER Centre, a research unit of the non-government organisation Pratham. ASER conducted the tests. According to the assessment, 69 per cent of the 13,000 children scored less than 50 per cent despite getting pre-school training at anganwadi centres or through private facilities. This means an overwhelming majority did not demonstrate the skills required for admission to Class I. In other words, they were not ready yet. Around 14 per cent of the children assessed were not going to any early childhood-care education centre. The National Policy on Early Childhood Care and Education, prepared by the women and child development ministry, suggests that four- and five-year-olds should be trained so that they are better prepared before starting Class I. "We found the anganwadi centres were more focused on rhymes and songs, while private facilities offering early childhood education were focused on teaching the alphabets and numbers. Both methods are wrong," Kaul said. Kaul said that children should not, according to accepted guidelines, be asked to memorise or coerced into learning something. Rather, she said, the anganwadi centres and private facilities should engage the kids in play and create situations where they learn concepts like shape and distance. The report said that pre-school learning depended on the household environment too in terms of availability of print, learning support, a family's socio-economic status and the mother's education. Yagnamurthy Sreekanth, head of the education survey division at the National Council for Educational Research and Training , said parental expectations were partly to blame for a child's low level of school-readiness. "The parents expect their children to learn numbers, alphabets, arithmetic, etc. The private schools offering early childhood education accordingly provide formal education to children instead of preparing children for formal schooling," Sreekanth said. He said children coming through the nursery system in private schools have to repeat what they have learnt in Classes I and II. Kaul said there were no binding regulations for early childhood-care education centres, which meant these centres followed practices they thought were correct.

The Child Care Program Director Kept Going and Going and Going!

Child Care Directors Looking to Enroll

Well before I became an early childhood education level 3 director (NC), I was a mommy being given a full scale lecture about young children and all about how she knew the way that children needed to be ready to go to school and all about how she has the methods to do so.  But, she kept going on and on.  It is rather disturbing for a child care director to talk, talk, talk like this.

I love to hear myself talk, all except when families are shopping for the best ECE environment for their little precious ones.  Humility comes over me, opening my ears, closing my mouth.

Programs are best sold when the families needs are individualized, so much so that the program is flexed for ALL families and their care needs.  My top ten golden director rules while seeking enrollment. (not in order of importance)

1.  Notify the classrooms that you are visiting classrooms.  It's best when the family hears you do this versus appearing sneaky.
2.  Always, always, Always invite the family into your neat and dainty office.  Allow the family to lead the conversation.
3.  Add bells and whistles as you meander the visit, but don't overload.  (piano lessons, soccer, flag football, etc.)
4.  Always ask about family's careers and backgrounds.
5.  Never allow the family to depart without mentioning and identifying their greatest concerns.
6.  Take a moment to ask if they are ready to enroll today.
7.  Set a date to follow up if enrollment is likely.
8.  Talk about safety of the facility.
9.  Mention any and all community services opportunities.
10.  Walk the family to the door.

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Star-studded: Wakanda Elementary students create mosaics in partnership with UW-Stout (w/video)

Star-studded: Wakanda Elementary students create mosaics in partnership with UW-Stout (w/video): MENOMONIE — Wakanda Elementary School 3rd-grader Skylar McLeod placed a glass tile on one of the white pillars in the school cafeteria. The pillar is one of four decorated Thursday by all the elementary students and many staff members, and