Sharing Web Resources

As I explored The National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) website: http://nieer.org/ the  section that held tremendous interest for me was the initiative section that focused on early childhood education, education, health & nutrition and literary.  Among the wealth of information available is an article that centers on Prek-3^rd in the education section.  The NBCDI with support from the Foundation for Child Development is pursuing a campaign to improve children’s chances at school through a series of policy initiative aimed at improving systems for children up to age 8.  Their aim is to make the transition process from preK to elementary school as smooth as possible to ensure continuity for children and families through child care as well as facilitate the seamless movement from high-quality preschool to high-quality elementary school.  This is critical in order to ensure that children educational path progresses along the course that will lead to higher achievement.  It is necessary to provide support to children and families especially those who may have started off with the odds set against them in order to improve their chances of success.

With regards to resources on the website that provided greater insight in child development , there are the Parent Empowering Project (PEP) and the Child Health Talk.  PEP is a great idea that effectively works in tandem with the efforts of the school to ensure that parents view themselves as their children’s first teacher.  By strategically planning empowerment projects for parents, it indicates that NBCDI understands Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of human development (bronfenbrenner and Evans, 2000; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998).  The child forms part of that nested structure that should facilitate his/her successful development and since the school also constitute an arm of this structure and they are already on the path to promote children’s development then it makes sense to ensure that parents who are the other vital entity get on board. 

An article in the NBCDI’s quarterly publication Child Health Talk entitled: What Happens “Between the Covers’?  http://nbcdi.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/CHT-Spring-2011.pdf      where it is stated that low income children hear 30 million fewer words than higher income children by the time they are 3 years old so it is critical that low income children be immersed in books and spoken to in order to reduce its effect.  Low income families are so focused on their daily circumstances, they are unable to direct attention to issues that pertain to building self confidence and self-esteem which are contributors to higher achievement.  Teachers who teach children from low-income background must cater to address these children literary development since its consequences are devastating.  Parents need to be told of the various measures they can implement in order to reduce its effects.

In terms of additional information from the newsletter that added to my understanding of how economics support the early childhood field, here is a classic case. In an effort to encourage our children to eat healthy NBCDI in collaboration with Wal-Mart and other entities have implemented Project FUN (Families Understanding Nutrition).  They are attempting to convince one and all that “fighting obesity should be a family event where making healthy choices can be affordable and fun.” It is all features in the newsletter http://nbcdi.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/CHT-Spring-2011.pdf  under the heading: Being Healthy is Fun.

In terms of seeking to acquire excellence and equity there is a literacy article, under the initiatives link entitled: Love to Read that is the National Black Child Development Institute’s (NBCDI) national early literacy public education initiative designed to build caregivers capacity so that they can improve children of color academic performance. The link http://www.rif.org/   takes you to an exciting page where children are provided with free books in order to awaken their curiosity for books.  The site is very attractive with cartoon like images and exciting resources to advance children of color development.

There is a wealth of resources available on this website.  There is a saying that goes like this: “The people perish for a lack of knowledge” I hope that will not be the case but we will all seek to share the information to all caregivers and others with vested interest in child development so that our children will achieve their fullest potential.

Reference
Keenan, T., & Evans, S. (2009). Theories of development. In An introduction to child development (pp. 35–43). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

National Black Child Development Institute  http://nbcdi.org/