Week 4

Researching the website Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families I found the section, Early Care and Education very relevant to my current professional development. As a public school early childhood educator I focus my professional development on high-quality early learning. Within this, I look

into developmentally appropriate practices combining play and academics. In the Early Care Education section three main topics are addressed: childcare, family, friend and neighbor care, and school readiness interactive birth to three. “All babies and toddlers need positive early learning experiences to foster their intellectual, social and emotional development and lay the foundation for later school success” (Zero to Three, 2014).

            On the website under the “public policy” tab there is an article called Working Families Infographic that I believe can be controversial and it also made me think about my working family along with others in a new way. “The White House Summit on Working Families is shining a light on the challenges facing America’s working families as they strive to achieve the American Dream. Part of the American Dream is making a better life for your children, and yet even when parents work full-time, far too many babies are still living in low-income families, the level below which families have difficulty meeting basic needs and are more likely to face hardships” (Zero to Three, 2014).  This article shows pie charts of different percentages of families who meet the median income, how many mothers take time off due to unpaid leave, and when mothers return to work due to money.

            The website has several articles that add to my understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, and/or politicians support the early childhood field. Under the “public policy” tab there are sections labeled,  “infant-toddler policy issues, building early childhood systems, federal policy, and state & community policy. The federal policy section has several articles that add to my understanding such as, 2013 Federal Policy Agenda, Federal Policy Resources, Federal Policy Updates, and Federal Policy Baby Blog.

While researching the public policy information I gained new insight on issues/trends in the early childhood field. I found two links called, National baby facts and State baby facts. I found these links very interesting and spent a lot of time researching my state and learned valuable information. Some of the facts were sad to see and I hope that the more educated people become some of these percentages will change for the better.