Should we all be considering if enough is being spent on educating our children? Look at the New Jersey Department of Education website to view what funding your school district will be receiving for the upcoming school year and try to factor if this is actually enough to sustain the programs that you district offers. Take the time to compare what your state receives in relations to surrounding states, both higher income and lower income. Are your children receiving their fair share?
Full-Day Kindergarten July 5, 2009
Full-Day kindergarten is becoming quite popular. Parents who work full-time seem to be major supporters of full-day kindergarten programs because, unlike in half-day kindergarten programs, they would not have to find child care for afterschool. Full-day kindergarten programs are found primarily in low-income and minority school districts. Full-day kindergarten programs are also less expensive because the school districts would not have to hire people for the mid-day switch between morning and afternoon kindergarten classes; these people being bus drivers, aides, and crossing guards. Besides the cost, full-day kindergarten programs prove to be beneficial to the learning of kindergarten students. Full-day kindergarten programs will:
“* integrate new learning with past experiences through project work and through mixed-ability and mixed-age grouping (Drew & Law, 1990; Katz, 1995) in an unhurried setting;
* involve children in first-hand experience and informal interaction with objects, other children, and adults (Housden & Kam, 1992);
* emphasize language development and appropriate preliteracy experiences;
* work with parents to share information about their children, build understanding of parent and teacher roles, emphasize reading to children in school and at home, and set the stage for later parent-teacher partnerships;
* offer a balance of small group, large group, and individual activities (Katz, 1995);
*assess students’ progress through close teacher observation and systematic collection and examination of students’ work, often using portfolios; and
* develop children’s social skills, including conflict resolution strategies. (Rothenberg).”
My only concern with full-day kindergarten programs is how these programs would help those students who enter kindergarten straight from home. Even though pre-kindergarten has become popular, not all children start in a pre-kindergarten program. Other than that, I agree with Dianne Rothenberg, the author of this article, in that full-day kindergarten programs can be great for our younger students.
To read the full article, please visit this site.
Harlem Zone Project July 4, 2009
One inner city works to insure that its future is a better one than its past has been. By creating a community wide program that assists in raising each and every children within the community. http://www.hcz.org/programs/the-hcz-project#baby_college . At this time one of the projects that The Harlem Children’s Zone Project is attempting to work on is a sense of community through helping to assure that every child in the community is successful in school. By instilling this into youngsters their hope is that as they grow the child will continue to take pride in where they live as well as in themselves. President Obama speaks in some length about the power of this project in this video. This HCZ starts before the child is even born by offering parenting classes and counseling to the future parents. This continues as the child grows and soon becomes classes for the child themselves. The hope of the program is to continue to follow the child trough high school and even into college. Each step of the child’s education includes additional programs to assist in making it easier for the child to succeed.
Division of Early Childhood Education June 25, 2009
The division of early childhood education, DECE, is responsible for programs for preschool through third grade students. The division is set on protecting New Jersey’s students and allowing them with a high quality of education and preparation for the kindergarten through third grade years of school. The DECE has many resources and programs that are beneficial to every student. To learn more on the DECE, please visit http://www.state.nj.us/education/ece/.
