Sharing Web Resources

The organization I have selected  is the: National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) and the link to the website is: http://nbcdi.org/

The organization’s focus is on enhancing the quality of life for children of color and their families.  To achieve this goal the organization focuses on early childhood education, child welfare, elementary and secondary education and health.

The institute accomplishes its mission by:

• Being a form of vital resource to all persons who work with children especially child care professionals, educators, parents, social workers and academicians

• Provide direct services locally through its affiliate alliances composed of volunteers who work with the institute to enhance child welfare services, make universal early childhood feasible, build family support services as well as improve children’s health.

The NBCDI in collaboration with the Foundation for Child Development has launched a campaign to improve children’s educational attainment through a PreK-3^rd policy initiative that includes a range of activities focused in the District of Columbia, with implications for our affiliate communities.  Dr. Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education noted that all children born in America should have equal chances of attainment but equality of opportunities do not exist.  Dr. Bette Hyde, Director, Washington State Department of Learning stated that she has been in the field of education for over thirty years and for 30 years the achievement gap has been an issue and it still of concern today.  She noted that one strategy for closing the achievement gap is early learning which should not be left to chance.  Dr. Debra Sullivan, President of Praxis Institute of Early Childhood Education posited that young children are in a very fluid state, they would have acquired some content but if it is not continued to grade 3 it will elude them. It is felt that there is more to gain by preparing children from pre-K –grade 3- high quality program than for pre-K only.  When the alignment from pre-K – grade 3 is happening well, children know what is expected of them, the teachers continuously make reference to the alignment; they do not speak of their classroom, their curriculum and their children but rather our classroom, our curriculum and our children. 

After 7 years of partnering with South Shore, research shows that children from South Shore are outperforming other children from demographically similar school in the area of reading and mathematics. Children at South Shore are provided with quality education from preK and it continues to grade 3 by which time children are able to apply effectively what they have learnt. The principal noted that it is important to treat children as mathematicians, writers as strong leaders also paying attention to the social and emotional needs.  Every two weeks the wellness representative sits with the grade level team were they plan for children’s development then the wellness team meets each child to plan for his or her development.   

The video can be viewed on the following website: http://prek-3rd.org/

There are other very interesting articles on the website.  Significant emphasis is placed on health because a child’s health is a nation’s wealth.  There is an interesting article on childhood obesity.  Many factors have contributed to its upsurge such as income, access to grocery stores that provide healthy choices, neighborhood safety and education which have continued to reduce opportunities for physical education and increase the affordability and availability of snacks. http://nbcdi.org/blog/2010/08/27/nbcdi-child-health-talk/