ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

I am agreed with Paula, when she says that high education not alway mean high quality teachers in the Early Childhood Field. I have been working in different preschools in the United States and Outside the United States. Throught my 25 years of teaching carreers I seen many caring teachers with as low as 12 units in CD whereas sometimes I have observed teachers with a BA in CD from the University that do not share the same passion for this job. Regarding to the quality of the Head Start Program, I could testify that is a wonderful program, I have been working in a Headstart in Los Angeles for 16 years, and our Director and supervisors strive for the best quality program they can offer. Many times, It is true, there is a lot work for the teachers in terms of paper work and janitorial duties, but those are the federal gov. standars, and we got to meet them to compete for the funds. There are many Head Start that uses The Montessori ,Highscope or creative Curriculum, and they prepare the children academically for kindergarten at the same level as any private Montessori School.
Personally, I believe that if the Gov. wants high quality staff in the Early Childhood field, they should Provide funds for teachers to pursue a higher degree, and at the same time the GOV. should pay better salaries, because due to the low pay there is a high turn over of high quality teacher in this field.

I read these comments with sadness. The childcare worker with a CDA competing with family members with no education tells me it is because there is no funding to require education. The Montessori School teacher sounds like she is the only one with high quality teachers. This country is a mix of both situations. The government is starting initiatives that demand better staff education, quality rating systems, health & safety regulations to name a few. There are no funds however to implement these wonderful things. The only place to get the funds is from the families. Right now with a terrible economy they cannot afford it and so they go to unregulated care. I have worked in all arenas. I worked in a school district that had teachers and administration battling each other for five years over which teaching strategy to use in the school (not the whole district) Sustained learning units or new teacher every year. THe atmosphere was intolerable. These were people with MA's degrees. So higher education does not always equal quality. I worked in a Salvation Army Child Care center that the minister wanted boxed Christian curriculum and refused to fund continuing education so I managed people with 80 hour courses who told me that this was not the school district what was I thinking? One teacher had been in the field for over 15 years and ranked level 12 on the state rating system of 16. She insisted on having group time with one year olds. The minister agreed and I left. I have worked for two Head Start programs and they are different. The first one I worked for as a teacher site manager was all about how much education staff had. I left because after ten years with an associate degree I was passed over by a 22 year old with no experience and a BA. Now six years later they use dittos, do a letter of the week, have word walls, and use Creative Curriculum plus many boxed specific curriculums to meet Standards. The manager there says it is the push from the school district that causes these things. I disagree. I am currently working for another Head Start as a Education Disability manager and have my BA in ECE with a concentration in Special Needs. We use High/Scope and adhere to developmentally appropriate practices and good child development. We get the same push from the school district and strive to educate these highly educated people to remember the research and practices that are tried and true.
In my opinion it is not the just the education, experience, or program that matters it is trusting that good practice works. Money and fear of losing it always trumps though. Head Start is a good program, but those who are not doing it right need to reapply.

i have board the wrong train, i have been there for 3 years, its not head start or a large daycare center, its a family own daycare center. they are not letting the teacher, teach the children , not use the material or supplies they get from provider. they are using the kids to get the money. we are just baby sitting the children. the teacher have their CDA and not able to use it. i have been in this business for 15 to 20 years. the kids that leave to go to public school is not ready. what can i do, my director move me around from room to room. at this time i am waiting to take my test for the preschool CDA and she have move me to the one year old room., to let her daughter work the preschool room, it really hurts because i have my CDA and she don't. someone need to close her down i regret i never open my own childcare center. who can help me, the kids are getting no help their. thanks for listen dorothy

If there were "charter preschools", I am certain that the Montessori Learning Center would be much more successful in preparing these disadvantaged children for Kindergarten. They could use their taxpayer funded "voucher" and attend in the Montessori Learning Center and the well-educated staff will prepare them properly for school. Since Head Start is paid for by the government, there is no way that any of the early childhood private centers can compete. What parent can afford a program that goes from 8:00AM-2:00PM and includes two complete meals and a snack. What parent can afford all the supplies that Head Start includes for the students to use. There's no way most parents can afford a full-day preschool program. What Head Start offers costs tax payers lots and lots of money. Only upper middle class parents can afford the tuition of these full-day private preschool programs. Most of the parents at Montessori Learning CEnter can only afford the three day a week half-day program. Head Start is an extremely expensive program that is full of problems. Most of the Montessori teachers have BS degrees and many have advanced degrees in early childhood studies. The Head Start teachers are mainly high school graduates who are "working on" their associate degrees. (Something is really wrong with this equation!!!)

With the new Obama administration I was hopeful and sad to say that thus far, I have been very discouraged by the way money is coming (or not coming) into early childhood programs. For many years I have been waiting for improvements to the initiatives such as Universal Pre-K, Head Start, Child care subsidies, early intervention and Home visiting programs. The new initiatives are steeped in competition among programs, inappropriate accountability measures, and lack of understanding about what lies at the heart of providing quality early education to to those in great need in our society. Again, I feel the youngest in our society have been miss-understood and miss-represented.