Imagine that you possess the means and the knowledge to conduct research studies about any topic in the early childhood field. Imagine further that you are not restricted by the reality of the present. Imagine that your study will make a major positive contribution to the well-being of children and/or their families. What topic would you choose? What can you imagine the positive contribution(s) would be?
If I could contribute to the early childhood community with any research topic it would be to improve quality. The quality of early childhood education, I feel, is the foundation for all other research. Whether looking into research on ELL, accountability, economics, assessment, access, or teachers, quality outcomes for programs, young children and families are all related.
A quality program has many many elements. There are studies that claim that quality early education is scarce and I take a personal offense to that (EQUIP,2013). There are many elements to a quality program such as teacher education, curriculum, the environment, funding, community outreach, etc. As quality continues to be questioned in recent years, I would want my positive contribution to be a clear understanding of early childhood quality. As most early childhood educators know it is difficult to put ECE in a box. Its elements are non-traditional, require teachers to have a different type of relationship with their students (compared to grade 1 and up). Also I would want to help improve the quality of early childhood education in New Jersey.
References:
nieer.org
Alexandre, J.M.Y, Makow, N. Jung, K., Barnett, W. Steven. (June, 2013) Essex Infant/Toddler Quality Improvement Project (EQUIP). National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER).
Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteAs you state quality early education has many facets all of which contribute to program quality. Children attending high-quality early childhood programs have been found to have higher success in later academic learning.
Kiara,
Hi Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteI believe the quality of education is the backbone of any society looks forward to catching up with the rapid economic and technological changes in our world. In Lebanon, we need such researches in order to improve our education system so that all students will have high chances to compete in the national and international labor market.