Sharing Web Resources Part 2: National Head Start Association

As I continue to research the National Head Start Association, I am enlightened by the amount of information they provide regarding early childhood education.

I strive to incorporate families and communities into my classroom, so my children feel supported and welcomed. Throughout the courses at Walden, I have learned more about building relationships with families, and how to learn more about local communities and incorporate them into the classroom. The National Head Start Association (2018) began an initiative called Books Building Bridges, which encourages law enforcement officials to read a book to your students and then ask them questions. The goal is to "foster new partnerships and understanding within our communities and law enforcement nationwide" (National Head Start Association, 2018a). I think this is a really great idea, because children have the opportunity to interact with police officers, learn from them, and create unique partnerships. I believe my students would benefit from this at my school, because they look up to law enforcement officials, and could get to know some of them. 

One issue that is constantly discussed is parent involvement in education. As we've discussed in this course, many parents and families may work several jobs and not have the time to be heavily involved in their child's educational program. As I was looking through the website, I found that the National Head Start Association (2018b) encourages families to be involved in their programs, but provides resources for opportunities to try at home. This made me think of the issues in a different way, because they understand that time restraints may cause you to be uninvolved in the classroom, but you can still put effort into what educational opportunities your children have at home. They provided a list of websites, ranging from educational games to healthy living (National Head Start Association, 2018b). One website that peaked my interest on their list was Cooking Matters (n.d.). It intrigued me because it provided recipes for healthy food options that parents and children can cook together. This not only encourages a healthy lifestyle, but also urges the parents to spend time with their children, while the children learn how to cook and eat healthy. While parent involvement may still be an issue in communities, providing parents with interactive opportunities that they can try at home is a great alternative. 

Through their current events, I found that politicians heavily support the Head Start programs and dedicated more funding to the association. As of March 22, 2018, National Head Start Association (2018c) announced that the Head Start community welcomed a "significant increase in federal funding" for the fiscal year of 2018. The increase is $610 million for the Head Start and Early Head Start programs. The money will "better support teachers and staff, more children will have access to full-day, full-year early child education, and more infants and toddlers will start off life with the Head Start advantage" (National Head Start Association, 2018c). Politicians in Congress are clearly paying attention to the benefits of early childhood programs such as Head Start, and acknowledge it's importance by providing this extra funding.

One last issue I found through researching was how children and families experience difficulties when transitioning from early childhood programs to elementary school settings. The National Head Start Association (2018d) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a toolkit to "help school districts in meeting new federal requirements" so children have a smoother transition to elementary school. Different schools can have different policies and approaches, which can be challenging to adjust to. The toolkit includes suggestions and examples for helping children and families who are transitioning, and offers additional resources for overcoming these challenges. This toolkit is a valuable resource for families, because it provides support even after they've left the Head Start programs (National Head Start Association, 2018d). I wonder, how many Head Start families actually utilize the toolkit to assist their children in transitioning. I was unable to find statistics on the academic gap between Head Start programs and corresponding elementary school programs, so I think it would be interesting to learn more about. 

References 

Cooking Matters. (n.d.). www.cookingmatters.org

National Head Start Association. (2018). Books building bridges. Retrieved from https://www.nhsa.org/our-work/initiative/books-building-bridges

National Head Start Association. (2018). Resources for children. Retrieved from https://www.nhsa.org/resources-children

National Head Start Association. (2018). Head start welcomes boost in federal funding. Retrieved from https://www.nhsa.org/pr-update/head-start-welcomes-boost-federal-funding

National Head Start Association. (2018). Every student succeeds act (ESSA) toolkit. Retrieved from https://www.nhsa.org/our-work/initiative/essa-toolkit