The organization that I selected to learn about and research is the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). The link for NIEER is http://nieer.org/
The Mission of NIEER is:
The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) conducts and communicates research to support high-quality, effective early childhood education for all young children. Such education enhances their physical, cognitive, and social development, and subsequent success in school and later life (National Institute for Early Education Research, 2016).
The aims of the Institute are to:
· Provide a vision of early education excellence in terms that are usable by policy makers and understandable to the general public
· Monitor and evaluate national and state progress toward early educational excellence
· Develop and analyze model legislation, standards, regulations and other policies required to improve quality and increase access to good preschool programs
· Explain the costs, outcomes and economic benefits of alternative policies (National Institute for Early Education Research, 2016).
We are discussing the effects of changing demographics and diversity as this week’s topic. One article from the website of NIEER that caught my attention was on one of the effects of this trend. “How one program is helping English learners succeed starting in preschool.” The article informs us about the Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) which seeks to help English learners starting in preschool so that they don’t struggle in school later. SEAL classes stress vocabulary, talking and role-playing among students, while their teachers undergo extensive training and their parents are encouraged to get involved. The Sobrato foundation evaluated the program and found that although the children began preschool with limited skills in both their native languages and English they were able to advance to achieve scores that were equal to and sometimes higher than many of their English speaking peers in language, literacy and mathematics tests (National Institute for Early Education Research, 2016).
References
National Institute for Early Education Research (2016). Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_14660205_1&content_id=_33893372_1&mode=reset
Thank you for sharing this resource. I would have to say one thing that stood out with me is the fact they are looking to make information understandable for the general public. It is so important for parents and families to understand the lingo of an educator and what is going on in their child's education. This makes it easier for parents to keep up with and get involved with the issues and trends education is facing today! Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteDallarece,
ReplyDeleteThe best time for children to learn a second language is under the age of 5. I have a student who knew no English, and very little of his native language when is first entered my class. After being in my class for two years, he is now speaking in complete sentences. He knows how to speak and understand English very well for a child his age. I know he is going to do very well in school next year.
Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) is a very good program.
Thanks for sharing,
Jamillah
I agree with Heidi, having a resource that is easily understood by parents and families is such a great asset to EC programs. This sounds like a really great source of information and I will be checking out their site!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
That was one thing that I did not do well in was asking for the parents help in educating their child. I just took it in my hands and gave them the results. My children always improved in my class and I was proud of that. We had a lot of second language learners as parents. They needed to be more involved in the education even if they helped teach them in their own language. We should be able to honor both languages.
ReplyDelete