Transition In Early Childhood Education

I am a student at Florida Atlantic University studying early childhood education. I am enrolled in EEC 3214 class this semester; the class is called designing and implementing a blending curriculum: birth to age eight. I am required to complete a field experience assignment at a preschool. I will observe young children ranging from three to five years old. I assure you that I will keep all information confidential. In addition, I reassure you that I will not share the information collected outside of my course and that no identifying information will be shared. I will respect and follow all the school’s policies and procedures in a professional manner.

Many of the parents have little academic attainment of their own, and are in need of academic support for themselves and for their children. Nearly all of the students come to the school from relatively low performing inner city public schools, where quality after-school and summer programs have not been available to them. They come to Freire Wilmington generally far below their peers in the state academically, and they are in need of more academic learning hours, more enrichment opportunities, and more opportunities to develop social skills and leadership abilities outside of the regular school hours. In short- they are caught in the cycle of poverty, and need a boost for themselves and their parents in the form of positive, extended, inspiring learning opportunities beyond the relatively few hours that can be provided to them during the school day and

Busch Middle School of Character had a wonderful sense of community, each student, instructor, and family, made sure they were doing their part. I believe it’s important for educators to understand the needs of the families and community of their students because the more resources the better. When schools actively involve parents

Understanding the importance of a family-school partnership is essential in order for school districts and families with children to grow and strive. If an imbalance occurs within any of the various parts that play a key role, difficulties will rise to the surface. Several of these roles include: communication, decision making, volunteering, and learning and parenting at home. All of these factors must work together in order to create a successful school environment in which children are able to learn and strive. When a school is successful in fulfilling each of these roles, there are several benefits. These benefits include: better positive attitudes toward school, higher achievements, better attendance, higher graduation rates, an increase in enrollment rates in post-secondary education, and overall better schools to attend (University of West Virginia).

New Harbor North High School has encountered several complications within the operation of their public school. The school is simultaneously gaining students requiring special needs, while experiencing a decrease in diverse teachers that are capable of addressing these needs. New Harbor North is losing experienced teachers due to funding shortages over that have increased over the past four years. The school is greatly impacted by the economic changes that are currently causing budget cuts and poverty within the community. Although the school is encountering difficulty amongst the school’s operation, the students are managing to excel at high rates compared to the school’s district.

The early childhood years are crucial to a child’s development of skills necessary for success in school and in life. Data indicates that expulsion and suspension occurs in preschool at an alarming rate, and racial and gender disparities are of evident (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Department of Education, 2014). Asking a family to remove a child from a school or program, can produce lasting, negative effects for the child, as well as for the family. Expulsion should only be a consideration after all interventions have been attempted without success, and in consultation with outside professionals and the family (Lamont, 2013).

Transition services are designed with the goal of helping the student move from school to adult life. By starting to plan early, students will have enough time to explore interests and abilities, not just post-secondary education and training or employment but other aspects of adult life. The place of residence, access to transportation, a range of recreational opportunities, a network of relationships, and needed specialized supports and services are all connected to an acceptable quality of life (Flexer, Baer, Luft, and Simmons (2013).

There will be four types of local professionals (physician, performing artist/teacher, software engineer, and auto technician) that are community outreach advocates. They look forward to developing mentor-mentee relationships with the students and their families. The students, parents,

The webiste includes programs and resources that families can utilize, if they see fit. The website specializes the resources and programs to each indivudal Milwaukee Public School, allowing parents to become more involved and focused on their child’s

The approach focuses on “academics, health and mental health services, social services, expanded learning opportunities (inclusive of after-school and summer enrichment activities), positive youth development, and family and community supports are critical to improving student achievement” (City of New York Community School Concept Paper 2014). In the model, “all of these essentials become part of the core function of the school, and its success depends on extensive parent and community engagement” (City of New York Community School Concept Paper 2014). The model “requires strong collective decision-making protocols among school leaders, parents, teachers and CBOs” (City of New York Community School Concept Paper 2014). Each Community School is transformed to serve as a central location to synchronize and incorporate an assortment of supports “based on the needs of individual students and the community” (City of New York Community School Concept Paper 2014). In order for the Community School model to achieve its goal of providing quality education to students, a needs assessment is required to ensure that each Community School model offers a range of services to meet the needs and advance the school’s academic mission. This model “has proven to be effective in improving the quality of struggling schools and in narrowing the achievement gap between students from low- and higher-income

One of my biggest contribution as a teacher at Carver Dual Language is my involvement in our parent community events. I have always been a big advocate of creating parent involvement in our school. When I worked for Citizen Schools in Oakland, CA, I worked a lot with our teachers and Citizen Schools fellow to create family events and bring in resources to our school for our families. Through Citizen Schools, I was put in charge of running our Family Fellows program for Citizen Schools in California. I worked with our fellows to better support them in their role. When I moved to Kansas City and started working for Kansas City LINC (Local Investment Commission), I continued my work with families. During the school year 2012-13, I worked with Whitter’s Elementary parent liaison to create events

In a government website, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) make a point that, “Afterschool programs allow students to participate in academic and extracurricular enrichment activities and are able to develop new hobbies and skills. DCPS teachers, paraprofessionals, and community-based organizations provide a variety of unique programming options to students” (Afterschool Programs). DCPS teachers not only help students with homework problems or assignments, but they do their best to provide students with lessons that go beyond a child’s homework. Children are able to acquire instrumental skills early. Over the years, children will be building on their skill to be stronger physically as well as mentally. After school programs benefit children in the present and in the future. Sarah Gaillot and Nicole Maestas, who both have done extended research on after school programs, wrote the book, An Outcome Evaluation of the Success for the Kids Program. In chapter two “Title Program Description”, Gaillot and Maestas bring to our attention that “SKF (Spirituality for Kids) curriculum is based on established best practices in the resiliency literature that seek to build four area of personal strength: social competence, problem solving, autonomy or self-efficacy, and sense of purpose (Gaillot, Maestas). Children learn communication skills and are encouraged to use words and communicate their feelings instead of throwing a fit. Teaching skills in certain lessons will help children with problems that they face now; and as the child gets older, they will only gain strength in those

Beacon programs began in New York City (NYC) as school-based community centers serving children, youth and adults (Building Community Schools: A Guide for Action). In NYC, there are 80 Beacon programs led by CBO’s that operate in the “afternoons, evenings, weekends, school holidays and vacations” (DYCD). The model provides supplementary educational opportunities for youth and adults to “acquire the skills and attitudes they need to graduate from high school, succeed in their chosen career, and give back to the community” (DYCD). These Beacon programs are funded by DYCD.

Half the children in this country live in homes in which one or both parents work. Twelve million children in this country do not have health insurance, and over 4.5% of all children are victims of suspected child abuse or neglect (Doktor and Poertner). Believe it or not, these are all indicators of the demand for Family Resource Centers within our school systems. Many question whether Family Resource Centers are worth the money the state pours into them. However, in serving students, parents and teachers, there should be no question of their significance. Due to The Kentucky Education Reform Act in the early 1990's we have seen the development of Family Resource Centers in Kentucky, and they are fulfilling

For the last three years, I, along with other members of our congregation have been working towards connecting with the community around us. For the past three summers, we have run a three-hour, week-long summer camp, and this year we decided to also run a weekly summer enrichment program to help kids in kindergarten through seventh grade with preparing and reviewing school curriculum through the summer. My dad had worked as a science educator for many years; that’s where we decided to start. Cooking and nutrition was something that was very important to the both of us, and somehow we wanted to combine science, math, reading, and nutrition together while preparing a wide age range of kids for the upcoming school year. Informal education wasn’t something I fully believed in, so I wasn’t sure how feasible this goal was going to be. But my perception was altered about education the summer my dad and I ran the summer program.