Blog Assignment: Sharing Web Resources

Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?

The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) is an organization that was founded as a non-profit membership organization in 1987 as a 501(c)3, is centered on “a nation that supports the development and learning of all children.” Their vision is to encourage national support for the development and learning of children of every age. Their mission is to “Promote national policies and partnerships to advance the development and learning of all children and to provide vision, leadership and support to community Care Resource and referral.” They envision that all children will be placed in a safe, healthy, and developmentally appropriate environment that will enrich their lives, provide them with the tools that they need to enter school “ready to learn,” and prepared to engage in the world as productive citizens through guidance, direction and decision-making. They work with over 700 state and local Child Care Resources and Referral agencies in the United States (U.S.) and help families in 99 percent of all populated zip codes have access to high-quality, affordable childcare. This is done by providing best practice guidance, resources, policy analysis, training, technical support, national partnership opportunities and national advocacy in the areas of child care and early learning. It leadership includes projects that increase access to affordable child care, quality, and undertakes research, advocates for child care policies that positively impact the lives of children and families (www.naccrra.org).       

 

Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?

 

I searched information on in the public policy link and found that The Health and Human Services Commission is seeking permanent authority for a Department of Early Care and Learning within HHS, which encompasses the Office of Child Care and the Office of Head Start. HHS is providing sufficient administrative funding to ensure adequate oversight and technical assistance to the states. It is seeking authorization for the Office of Child Care to impose penalties when state plans fail to meet minimum protections for children, including poor

State monitoring practices (www.naccrra.org).

 

If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?

There was an article entitled “Barbara Mikulski Calls on Senate to Pass Bipartisan Reauthorization of Child Care and Development Block Grant to Help American Families Access Safe, Affordable Child Care they can Count on.” This article mentions affordability and access to childcare that is reliable for children and their families. U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), is a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. This Senate pushed for the passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014, which is a bipartisan bill that will improve the quality of child care for the more than 1.5 million children and families, including 19,000 in Maryland. The bill ensures that CCDBG providers meet certain health and safety requirements related to prevention and control of infectious diseases, first aid and CPR, child abuse prevention, administration of medication, prevention of and response to emergencies due to food allergies, prevention of sudden infant death syndrome and shaken baby syndrome, building and physical premises safety, and emergency response planning. The legislation gives families more stability in the CCDBG program and works to improve early childhood care also by requiring states to focus on infant and toddler quality initiatives. Finally, the bill requires mandatory background checks for child care providers in the CCDBG program (www.naccrra.org).      

Additionally, find out if the site you selected at the beginning of this course offers any information about the issue of this week:

The site that I selected at the beginning of the course revealed addition information that included  the need to both recognize and normalize the strengths of children diverse cultures, languages, knowledge, and ways of being and doing in our communities. These can be greatly different from the very remote parts of Australia to the outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. New quality initiatives must protect children against overshadowing day-to-day care, nurturing and relationships and individual children’s development, to the imperatives of assessments, standards, and ratings. High-stakes ratings and easily measurable outcomes must be balanced against on-the-ground individual needs of each child and the cultural context of family and community (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/).

Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?

There was information on best practices that informed me that the public is engaged in influencing the development of policies to support childcare quality initiatives and funding for child care and CCR&R at the ,state, local, and national levels. Parents have access to quality consumer education, referrals and parenting education. Stakeholders educate policymakers about improvements needed to ensure all children have access to quality childcare (www.naccrra.org).         

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?

 

In addition, Senator Mikulski is for fighting to expand access to early learning against the Republican-proposed $1 billion cut to Head Start and she voted against proposal to turn Head Start into a block grant program (www.naccrra.org).      

 

Walden University M.S. in Early Childhood Studies

Criteria for Blog Assignments

 

Quality of Work Submitted	Satisfactory   4/4 points	3/4 points	2/4 points	1/4 points	Unsatisfactory   0/4 points
Adherence to Assignment Expectations   The extent to which work meets the assigned criteria.	Assignment meets expectations and reflects graduate-level critical, analytical thinking.   All key components are included: Initial post submitted with 2 comments to other students’ blogs.	Initial post submitted with 1 comment to other students’ blogs.	Initial post not submitted with 2 comments to other students’ blogs.    OR   Initial post submitted with no comments to other students’ blogs.	Initial post not submitted with 1 comment to other students’ blogs.	Does not fulfill the expectations of the assignment.   Key components are not included:  Initial post not submitted with no comments to other students’ blogs.

 

It is expected that all blog assignments will be submitted according to the assignment due dates indicated. As with discussions, it is important blog posts are completed within the week assigned so that others have a chance to both read and respond to your posts.  For that reason, late assignments may receive a maximum score of 2/4. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the faculty member and in accordance with the Late Policy.