Assignment task 1: Respond to my classmate's posts by looking at their chosen career goal and provide feedback based on their areas of opportunity. Advise your peer and try to bring in new resources or knowledge that might help as she plans for the future. Your responses to your classmates should be at least 200 words in length.
Discussion 1 (Roberta)
- Identify your career goal and provide a link to an available position within your area.
- My career goal is to obtain a Director position in early childhood education. I found one result on Indeed
- List the professional expectations of this role.
- The professional expectations of this role are to comply with federal and state licensing and budgeting and maintain the day-to-day operations of the childcare center while supporting the company's mission of maintaining an inclusive environment for the children, staff, and parents. As a director, this role is also critical and vital to the parent-partner relationships and building trusting relationships and bonds with the children and staff.
- Discuss how your personality or self-assessment results correlate with your career goal.
My personality aligns with the company's requirements, such as strong leadership skills, experience working within a NAEYC-accredited childcare setting, and detail-oriented and supervisory experience. According to Grantham-Caston & DiCarlo (2023), "Leadership is a complex topic "whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.
"Successful leaders connect and influence people to achieve a common goal even when there is difficulty as "leadership lies in the manner in which leaders see and act on their own and their followers' values and motivations."
- Summarize how the Program Learning Outcomes and your professional experience will prepare you for your chosen career goal.
As an experienced early childcare educator and leader, I could effectively apply my knowledge of child development by creating a healthy, supportive, nurturing, inclusive, and challenging learning environment for all children.
- Identify two areas of opportunities that would make you better prepared for achieving your goals and share how you will address those areas of opportunities.
As a childcare director, your role entails more than running the center's day-to-day operations; keeping up with state laws and regulations is crucial to maintaining a high-quality childcare
program. I want to be more knowledgeable about state laws and regulations changes because that's vital to maintaining the program's licensing. Financial management is another crucial component of running a high-quality childcare center. This entails budgeting, enrollment, hiring qualified staff, ordering supplies, and meeting the center's budget and profits. A childcare director's ongoing training and professional development are vital to meeting these goals successfully.
References:
Grantham-Caston, M., & DiCarlo, C. F. (2023). Leadership Styles in Childcare Directors. Early childhood education journal, 51(1), 105-114.
Assignment task 2:
Respond to my classmate's posts by compare how these differing trends or policies have similar effects on children, families, and educators, or provide your peer with further research-based evidence regarding the benefits or disadvantages of their chosen trend or policy. Your responses to your classmates should be at least 200 words in length.
DISCUSSION 2 (Roberta)
Trend: Choose one of the following trends from your Bredekamp text to discuss: Increased stress in children's lives: Stress at an Early life stage can negatively impact a child's social and intellectual development. Several factors contribute to early stress in young children, such as race, parental divorce, death, homelessness, and socioeconomic status. In today's society, some families may face financial hardships due to inflation. With the cost of living exceeding most families' income, it can be difficult for families to afford childcare or quality childcare tuition rates. According to a research-based study, "In a highrisk sample of predominately African American preschoolers, negative affect exacerbated the link between cumulative ELS and internalizing problems" (de Matt et al., 2022).
Therefore, children who are exposed to adverse life events are prone to high levels of stress, which affects their interactions with peers and other adults.
Policy: Choose one of the following federal or state policies to discuss:
Race to the Top- "The Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program aims to improve the quality of early learning and development and close the achievement gap for children with high needs" (2019). Race to the Top was introduced by President Obama in 2009 as a competitive fund to promote school improvement on both a state and local level. The trend in this program focuses on increasing the percentage of low-income children from birth to age 5 with high learning needs in high-quality early childhood education programs. This gives all children an opportunity to receive equal learning opportunities and access to resourceful programs and services. In some cases, children living below the poverty level may experience difficulties with obtaining a quality education because of specific disabilities such as developmental delays or English learners who migrated from other countries. Through policies governed by Congress, the Race to the Top grant program has improved the quality and standards of several early childhood education programs throughout the United States. "standards set expectations for what children should know and be able to do at certain ages" (U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015).
- Critique the trend and policy by describing the perceived benefits and disadvantages they can have on each of the following:
o Children: The Race to the Top program benefits all children by giving them an equal opportunity to receive a high-quality learning experience regardless of their race, poverty level, or developmental challenges. The possible disadvantage of this program is that some childcare centers may not be equipped to accommodate all of the children's needs, which will foster their development beyond receiving quality education.
o Families: The benefit of the Race to the Top program for families is the freedom to choose between quality childcare centers that offer specific services to meet their children's learning needs. However, they may voice their concerns that schools are productive in implementing and improving the children's academic success.
o Educators: Educators can assess students' progress using a metric system that determines their academic level. However, some educators may lack the proper training to plan, create, and implement appropriate practices that will enhance children's learning abilities successfully.
o Centers/schools: Funding is awarded to childcare centers and schools to improve the overall quality of the educational system. This can be done by hiring qualified leaders, educators, and external services to meet the children's developmental needs further. Although the program aims to improve failing schools and childcare centers, testing methods may not accurately track the outcome of the student's progress.
- Propose at least two ways you, as an early childhood leader, will ensure that you and your staff stay current with policies and trends in early childhood education. Be sure to include the role that accountability plays in your proposed ideas.
As an early childhood leader, I will continue to educate myself and my staff through training to stay abreast of new policies and trends in the program. Another way to stay informed about policies and trends within the program is by partnering with families through conferences and/or questionnaires to discuss essential topics conducive to the learning environment and how they contribute to their child's developmental progress.