There are several resources that support teachers in the field of early childhood education. As a professional I am very familiar with a few of these, but have recently looked to expanding my resource library and becoming more familiar with other resources to not only support my professional growth, but also to help me support to professional growth of my staff.
One of the websites that I have been exploring over the last few weeks is the National Institute for Early Education Research or NIEER (www.nieer.org). The NIEER conducts research in the field of early childhood to help enhance the quality and effectiveness of programing for young children in all domains of development. The NIEER also provides research results to policy makers in order to influence positive change in the care and education of young children.
One of the first things that caught my attention on the website was the Annual State Pre-K Yearbook. The yearbook is a comprehensive report on how each state is doing meeting the needs of 3 and 4 year olds. The NIEER looks at enrollment, spending amounts per child, and government subsidies as well as what each new legislative measures have taken place over the last year. In CA one of the biggest moves the state has seen is a move to developing a statewide quality rating system using the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant, proving that this is an exciting time to be an early childhood professional in California.
No comments:
Post a Comment