Sharing Web Resources

This week I had a chance to explore the website by NAEYC, neayc.org.  I wanted to see if there was any information on the topic of economic investments in early childhood.  What I found was quite interesting.  I realized that this site keeps you informed of what is currently happening in congress concerning early childhood.  They also advocate for our children by making recommendations for improvements.  I came across a few recent recommendations that naeyc presented to congress on improving funding for early childhood.  One such recommendation was entitled, “The Right Investments in Children”. It basically asked that funding be increased for Childcare; Head Start/Early Head Start; and for services to be expanded to reach more children.  They also presented a call to action plan that supports the wellbeing of all children, their families, communities and early childhood professionals.

As I continued to browse the site, I found a wonderful article called “What are the Economic Benefits of Investing in Early Childhood?” The article discussed three economic benefits and three noneconomic benefits for investing in early childhood. The benefits range from social status to just helping the child to gain lifelong experiences.

 

The information was taken from NAEYC’s online author’s Q & A event with William Gilliam on the book “The Pre-K Debates: Current Controversies and Issues.  The event took place December 12^th -16^th 2011.

(naeyc.org)

 

 

 

Getting to Know Your Contacts

     While surfing the web to gain international contact with an organization or early childhood professional to gather information on childhood poverty, I remain unsuccessful in my efforts to connect to an early childhood professional overseas.  Turning to the Information on childhood poverty, I began exploring a website from the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre.   The website was designed for any one person or organization that has a concern for childhood poverty.  It contains knowledge for tackling Childhood Poverty. (CHIP)  While the website gives insight on many issues that relate to childhood poverty in several countries, I chose to turn my focus on China.

     China has made strides in tackling poverty; however the largest portion of its poverty is still in Western China. (CHIP)  ” Many of the children living in poverty are in groups such as children of migrants, street children, children affected by HIN/AIDS and children with disabilities.”  (CHIP)  China has the highest education and health levels than most countries with equivalent incomes. In addition, 85 per cent of the population over 15 is literate. (CHIP) This is interesting to me because in the US we have so many children struggling with reading even in high school. It makes me wonder what we are doing wrong.  China has faced economic hardship and they too have been faced with job lost. This hardship has caused many families to have problems paying for their children to attend school. (CHIP) The fact that they have to pay in order for their children to go to school is very interesting.  This means children that are living in poverty do not attend school and will grow up to become adults living in poverty.

Resource:

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP). (n.d.). Knowledge for tackling childhood poverty. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/