My Role as an Advocate

Create a space on your blog entitled "My Role as an Advocate."

Respond to each of the following questions:

• What motivated you to start advocating for very young children?
• Why is it essential to acknowledge and foster advocacy efforts at the micro as well as the macro level?
• What does it take to be a community leader on early childhood issues?
• What resources does it take to be a state leader on early childhood issues?
• What tactics or strategies do you use to mobilize others?
• What advice would you give to someone who was interested in taking a leadership role in advocating for young children and their families?

I was always an outspoken child. My father always said I would make a great lawyer, because I liked to argue my point. I was never interested in being a lawyer but I did find my passion after starting a career in childcare. I enjoyed working with children, and I was always trying to improve my classroom, and my teaching. I got into advocacy after I realized how much time I spent in my boss's office, trying to improve things around our center. After I had my son, I realized I wanted to stay home with him for at least a year, finish school and then get a job. It has been 7 months and I love being home with my son, but I am itching to get back into things. I told myself that this time I want to do better, work some at a place where I can have more say, and make the necessary  changes.

If I ever run my own center, I would want to foster advocacy in my employees. I would do this by acknowledging their ideas and concerns, and addressing them. I think this is important, because even though it would be on the smaller scale, it would encourage early childcare workers to use their voice. On the macro level, I think it is important to voice our concerns to the people that matter, policy makers. Participate in lobbying during educations days, and advocacy day. I just think it is important to get involved in your own community.

To be a community leader on early childhood issues, you have to know your stuff. If you are going to be the go to person on an issue you want to know everything you can about that issue. I think it is also important to have connections in the industry, especially political figures.

To be a state level on early childhood education issues, you would need to be well aware of all the important issues going on in the state. You would also have to be very knowledgeable on all of these issues as well. I think it would be interesting to be a state advocate because you would get to hear a lot of different issues and concerns going on throughout the state. It would also be a lot of work.

The tactics and strategies that I use to mobilize others is for them to advocate on something that is important to them. If you do not feel passion about the issue, then most likely you will not do your best at advocating for it. I would also hope to get people mobilized by my own passion and excitement for an issue.

The advice I would give is to never give up, and keep fighting. Annoy policy makers, go to community meetings, be active and be heard.

Messages for Families

Last year I participated in our local Advocacy day. Making my rounds to government officials stressing the importance of quality early childhood education. This was an exciting moment in my life, because I was doing something I had always dreamed of. I was at the state capitol and I was confessing my concerns to the people who have the power to change things. We were fighting for funds to implement a new program called Qualitstars NY. This was an amazing opportunity for me and I gained so much experience by watching these early childhood professional speech about something they are passionate for. I actually was able to get a change to speak as well, and it felt great to let my voice be heard. This was a successful campaign and led to the program getting funded. It is now being implemented in some faculties in my area, and had several successful test studies. I was very happy to be apart of that campaign to improve quality in childcare programs.

After working with these women and participating in this experience it has made me want to continue my advocacy efforts. It was such a great experience to see these efforts pay off, and I want to know that feeling again.  I am trying to make as many connections in the field as possible so that I can help and stay current on all of the issues that arise in my area.

Post at least three consequences of your experience being a part of a caring, collaborative learning community for your professional growth and development. Use any format you choose.

Post one goal for using this collegial experience to enhance your advocacy, policy, and/or system development worn mk on behalf of young children, families, and the early childhood community.

Some consequeces of my experience in being part of a caring collaborating learning community is

1. Provide high quality care
2. provide comfort to family and children I work with.
3. Use my knowledge of ECE education to help a child learn in a way that is best for them. 


My goal for advocacy is to always stand up for what I believe it. Even if I do not have a lot of support. Even if it is something small. If it will help someone then it is worth it.

 

My Hypothetical Family

 

I am a Mother of two, with one on the way.  I am married to my college sweet heart.  He is a teacher, and I  own a boutique in the small town where we live. Our children are two years old and 4 ½.  Both of my children are developing normal for their age.  I went through all of the normal testing that needs to be done when you are pregnant, and my results came back with an increased risk that my child would be born with Down syndrome. These results are not for sure positive and the only way to know more information is by getting an amniocentesis done. This is worrisome to me because it could jeopardize the health of the baby, and could possibly lead to a miscarriage.

 

his is just a little bit of insight into hypothetical family. I am currently doing more research on the topic and hope to add a lot more detail about down syndrome and the testing for it. I chose to do research this topic more because when I was pregnant with my son I chose to not have any testing done at all. I did not want to know if there was something wrong with my baby. I did have ultrasounds and that should normal development, but I would not go any further.  I knew that no matter what I wanted to have him, and I did not want to worry about what could be wrong with him. Luckily he is perfect.

Early Childhood Systems

Over the last five week I have learned a lot of information regarding public policy, and the policies that influence early childhood education.  I feel like it is important to know as much as possible about the policies that are influencing this field, not only throughout the U.S. but also in your own state. In New York, they are currently trying to introduce a new quality rating and improvement system called QualitystarsNY.   QualitystarsNY is a program that NYS daycares are eligible for if they follow their standards, and they will guide programs to achieve these standards.  Each childcare organization that wants to participate in this program will receive a Qualitystar rating. This rating will become a guideline to parents and other early childhood professionals about the quality of the program they are seeking.  The Qualitystar rating that the center receives will become public knowledge making it a great resource for parents searching for the best quality daycare in their area. As of last year they started implementing this program in a number of centers as “tests”.  They are proven to be successful and now early childcare facilities can apply to begin the process of the QualitystarsNY program.

What I like about this program is that it is raising the bar for high quality early childhood education. Making better standards to achieve, and if you achieve these standards your center will benefit.  This is a new program here in NY , and I really hope it takes off and more centers see the benefits in this program and chose to do it. It is similar to accreditation, but from what I researched it is goes above and beyond accreditation, and is actually a better rating system.

Here is the website on the QualitystarsNY program. http://qualitystarsny.org/standards.php

Does anyone know of another programs like this, either in your state or another?

 

Share one or more strategies you have discovered as you worked on the assignments in this course, and particularly this week, that are currently being used by advocates or organizations to influence the political will toward improving early childhood systems in order to foster the well-being of young children and their families.

 One strategy that I learned this week after doing this assignment is how vital research is in this field.  After reading many different articles this week on the effectiveness of play in early childhood education, I realized how important research can be. I am glad to see this because I feel that this is a big step in improving early childhood education.  I think it is best for the child to learn through play and experiences from birth to 5, and beyond.  This research will hopefully effect future decisions in regard to ECE.

In my opinion one of the key components to a child’s success is parent involvement. When parents are active in their child’s education, and collaborate with teachers and administration, they are showing their child that they care. They are then able to learn from teachers and staff about areas of improvements or goals that the teacher may have for the child.  When both parents and teachers are on board the child will see the benefits.

 

Involvement opportunities for parents and family members benefit young children and the early childhood field because everyone is coming together, collaborating for the better.  When everyone works together, and gets involved, they create a community of people who are working towards a common goal. This goal may be increasing funding, or having a center carnival. Whatever it is, the more family involvement the better. Getting involved keeps families and staff bonded, and gives families insight on what is going on in their child’s education.

 

-From your perspective, what is current public opinion in the United States with regard to the value and importance of providing quality services (including early care and education) for young children and families?

I think that there has been a shift in the importance of early childhood education over the years. I think that little attention was given to field in the past and now it is becoming a contender in the education field. We are seeing more attention being focused on this field, and an awareness of the benefits of early childhood education. Although it seems like many people are in favor of the need for early childhood education, it still is a struggle to get the funding that is needed to expand and grow.

I think we need to focus on how to expand early childhood education, but also focus on quality as well. I have been to way too many centers that are hiring workers that are not qualified for this job. And that is where many of the issues in this field arise.  It is going to be a struggle to get qualified workers in this field when the average pay is a little more than minimum wage.

 

-What indicators and other information have influenced and are influencing your thinking?

I have been influenced by visiting other centers. I have seen first hand, the improvements that need to be made in this field. I have also seen way to many news articles on the abuse and neglect of children who are being watched by babysitters, and people who are not qualified to work with children, especially in low income areas. Parents need to work, and it is sad that many of them in low income areas have no other options but to leave their children with people who are not credible. This needs to change, and hopefully sooner than later.