Parent Family Engagement

“Substantial research supports family involvement, and a growing body of intervention evaluations demonstrates that family involvement can be strengthened with positive results for young children and their school readiness.” (Harvard Family Research Project) Head Start addresses this issue by providing and encouraging several methods for families to be involved in the teaching of their children.
A main goal of Head Start is to break the cycle of poverty by providing families with comprehensive services from prenatal education to job training. Parents are encouraged to participate in the decision-making processes. This helps to empower parents by letting them know that they are capable of taking care of their children.

Through the Head Start program parents are encouraged to participate in support groups and daily events. Interacting with the caregivers and children leads to parents learning by doing. In the multimedia presentation provided by Head Start Lydia Villanueva stated “I felt I was learning as much as the kids were.” (Head Start: Leading the Way for Children, Families, and Communities)

This in depth research of Head Start was an eye opening experience. I had not realized the extensive programs that were available through Head Start. I am looking forward to networking with my local Head Start program. I also would like to incorporate many of their ideas into the program I am developing. The vision of Head Start is in line with my beliefs about the importance of involving families into the education of their children.



Resources:

Family Makes a Difference

(2012) Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College
Published by Harvard Family Research Project retrieved from

http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/family-involvement-in-early-childhood-education

Head Start: Leading the Way for Children, Families, and Communities

multimedia presentation retrieved from

http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/resources/video/Head%20Start_%20Leading%20the%20Way%20for%20Children,%20Families,%20and%20Communities/Video1.htm

Quality Programs for All Children

This topic strikes a nerve with me because I am very passionate about the need to educate the community about the importance of high quality care in the younger years. I would like to see a dedication to creating programs that help all children succeed. I feel that this will take helping families that work and have to use daycare services as well as those who choose to have a parent stay home. I believe that there are community resources that are not utilized in the education of families. I would like to see public opinion turn to the mindset of "It takes a village to raise a child". If community members and families where made aware of the importance of high quality experiences early in life, it will lead to everyone having a stake in the eduation of all children.

What Resonates With You About Early Childhood Public Policy and Advocacy?

I chose this specialization because I feel that high quality early childhood education is very lacking in my community. After working in the public school systems for years I realized that many of our children were starting school behind and then struggling to catch up. For many of these students, it seemed impossible for them to catch up to their fellow classmates. The reasons for this stemmed from the lack of quality early childhood programs, lack of parental knowledge in best practices, and a general passive attitude by the community just accepting things because that is how it has always been. One thing that I hope to gain from this degree is the knowledge and tools to change the quality of early childhood education in my community and surrounding area.
I believe that the only way to change the way things are is for an advocate to step forward and educate the parents and community members on best practices. Many people do not understand how crucial the early years are to life long learning. Changing this mindset is imperative to improving early childhood education.
Three goals:
1) Discover the views and ideas of policy makers in my community that affect early childhood standards.
2) Learn ways to implement a community awareness program.
3) Be able to define best practices in a professional yet understandable way.