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Starting Line
January 2017
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Mecklenburg County Commissioners Support Broad Early Childhood Education
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Mecklenburg County Commissioners went on record Tuesday, December 20, 2016 in support of early childhood education for all children 5 and under, but the unanimous vote steered well clear of spending commitments.
The hour-long debate revived an initiative then-Chair Trevor Fuller proposed in February, and followed the board's acceptance in October of a $500,000 study of expanding access to pre-kindergarten education.
Universal access to such education, Fuller and experts say, is key to reducing achievement gaps and poverty while increasing graduation rates. Only 40 percent of third graders in Mecklenburg County read proficiently, according to the National Center on Education Statistics, a statistic that is a key indicator of economic mobility.
"To me, that's unacceptable," Fuller said. "The evidence is that if you're behind in third grade you're likely to stay behind for the remainder of your school years."
But enrolling all 69,000 children 5 years or younger in such programs would also cost many millions of dollars.
Vice chair Jim Puckett said the resolution Trevor proposed was premature.
The results of a two-phase study paid for by the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, formed last year by some of the city's top executives, aren't in yet. The leadership council will collaborate with Mecklenburg County and its
Economic Opportunity Task Force on the independent research study, which the county will oversee.
"I don't understand why we would state that we support implementation of making sure that all 69,000 have early-childhood education without knowing the best way to do that," Puckett said.
The board settled on wording that says it will develop a "community vision" for universal early-childhood education, including funding sources and a phased approach for achieving that vision.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools serves 2,850 4-year-olds through its Bright Beginnings program, and state money pays for 1,006 children of that age in pre-kindergarten programs. Only 556 children in the county are enrolled in the Head Start program, with 659 on a waiting list.
New York City, Denver, Colo., San Antonio, Seattle and Salt Lake City are among cities that have launched early childhood education programs.
Article Written by Bruce Henderson for The Charlotte Observer
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Bias Isn't Just A Police Problem, It's A Preschool Problem
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New
research from the Yale Child Study Center suggests that many preschool teachers look for disruptive behavior in much the same way: in just one place, waiting for it to appear.
The problem with this strategy (besides it being inefficient), is that, because of implicit bias, teachers are spending too much time watching black boys and expecting the worst.
The study
Lead researcher Walter Gilliam knew that to get an accurate measure of implicit bias among preschool teachers, he couldn't be fully transparent with his subjects about what, exactly, he was trying to study.
Implicit biases are just that - subtle, often subconscious stereotypes that guide our expectations and interactions with people.
"We all have them," Gilliam says. "Implicit biases are a natural process by which we take information, and we judge people on the basis of generalizations regarding that information. We all do it."
Even the most well-meaning teacher can harbor deep-seated biases, whether she knows it or not. So Gilliam and his team devised a remarkable - and remarkably deceptive - experiment.
At a big, annual conference for pre-K teachers, Gilliam and his team recruited 135 educators to watch a few short videos. Here's what they told them:
We are interested in learning about how teachers detect challenging
behavior in the classroom. Sometimes this involves seeing behavior before it becomes problematic. The video segments you are about to view are of preschoolers engaging in various activities. Some clips may or may not contain challenging behaviors. Your job is to press the enter key on the external keypad every time you see a behavior that could become a potential challenge.
To finish reading this article and learn more about the study,
Click Here
Article Written by Cory Turner for nprEd
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Infants, Toddlers, and Screen Media
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In a technology-driven age, infants' and toddlers' exposure to "screen time" is a hot topic. As caregivers in the classroom, we may be pressured by parents who use screen media with their children at home-parents who would like us to help their children acquire technology skills they will need to use later on. But we know that not all screen media are healthy for children and that exposing very young children to screen media can have lasting impacts on their learning. In fact, the effects of media on children's learning and behavior is so profound that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states that no child under the age of two should be exposed to screen media, and that screen time for children over two years should be limited to no more than two hours per day (AAPS 2010).
In this article we will view screen time through the lens of infants' and toddlers' development to help us make intentional decisions about what is best for children, and to assist in giving parents a healthy alternative to screen media.
To finish reading this article and learn more about the study,
Click Here
Article Written by
Shannon Lockhart for Community Play Things
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Twirl to the World Foundation Toy Collection...a Success
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A
HUGE Shout Out to the
Twirl to the World Foundation on a record collection of toys this year!
As a result, Smart Start was able to distribute over 200 toys to two community programs, YMCA Parents as Teachers and Smart Start - Healthy Families Mecklenburg. Both of which are evidence based home visiting models that focus on low-income first time parents.
Thanks to the generous donations from Twirl to the World party-goers, many young children in Charlotte received a special holiday gift!
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Smart Start of Mecklenburg County (SSMC) administers approximately $13 million a year in state and private funds to programs serving children
birth to age five, their families, and their caregivers in Mecklenburg County.
Lakewood Preschool Corporation
is a licensed high quality FIVE STAR, tuition-free preschool and family education program. It is designed as a cooperative effort among parents, children, staff, neighbors, and volunteers to address the educational, emotional, physical and social needs of preschool children and their families living in and around the Lakewood Community.
The mission of the program is as follows:
1. To prepare the children for successful entry and performance in the public school system;
2. To provide a forum in which families can receive the information, resources and opportunities necessary to find solutions to
common problems for families and parenting; and 3. To strengthen, support and nurture the community of Lakewood and its families.
To learn more about the preschool, Click Here
Lakewood Preschool Corporation
3115 Kalynne Street
Charlotte, NC 28208
Phone: 704-391-0600
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You Can Visit a Local Kid Focused Museum for $1
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The
Welcome Program will reduce the cost of admission to $1 per person for families who present EBT (electronic benefit transfer) or WIC (Women, Infants and Children) cards at Discovery Place, Charlotte Nature Museum or Discovery Place KIDS in Huntersville or Rockingham, for up to six family members. While this initiative provides families with accessibility, more importantly,
Welcome
is intended to celebrate the diversity of perspectives and ideas in the community and stimulate positive and progressive change in educational outcomes for Charlotte's children.
To redeem Welcome pricing, guests will only need to present their EBT or WIC card at Admissions at Discovery Place, Charlotte Nature Museum, Discovery Place KIDS-Huntersville or Discovery Place KIDS-Rockingham.
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Reserve Your Spot Today!
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral
600 East Blvd, Charlotte 28203
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