Sustainability and Health

As director of a Head Start program, I am extremely supportive of promoting good nutrition for young children. The children enrolled in Head Start programs come from families that qualify based on 100% poverty level income. This knowledge leads us to consider circumstances that may be impact young children and families. Many children come to school hungry, lacking accessibility to food at home.

Fortunately Head Start funding requires that meals are provided for children. We provide a hot breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack for full day programs. Children arriving to school can look forward to having a meal on a daily basis, never having to guess if food will be available or not. One challenge that we had as a program is food portion sizes. The meals are provided by DOE cafeterias, and they tend to be extremely strict with USDA serving sizes. Problems would arise when foods like hot dog, french fries, orange slices, or any food that required a set quantity per serving. In the event a piece of food falls on the ground, the staff will have to give up a part of their serving to provide children with a replacement. Another frustration is children wanting to have second servings due to hunger or because the food is a popular item. It took a great deal of negotiating with the cafeteria managers to convince them, or perhaps I should reword the process as educating them, regarding how Head Start children come to school hungry. The result was favorable, resulting in more food being offered per serving. Children and adults have adequate servings to eat until satisfied.

Another issue that affects nutrition is the quality of foods served by the cafeteria. Foods tend to be high in salt, fat, and preservatives. A large amount of the foods are highly processed with low nutrition value. One of the long term (strategic plans) for MEO Head Start is to research other food preparation services available on Maui to partner with another company. The goal is to find a program that is USDA certified, and that prepares food in a natural, whole way so nutrients are at its peak. Living in Hawaii, we have a great deal of fresh foods to offer young children. My hope to achieve this goal within the next three years.

We have a consultant nutritionist that reviews growth charts of enrolled children to determine if the child is at risk for obesity. We have, in the past, created meal plans for these children. Head Start promotes "family style" meal service, asking that children serve themselves independently. Children with weight concerns need to be monitored for serving size, with teachers available to sensitively guide children instead of placing blame or shame.

Regarding health, it's important to have policies and procedures in place that directly impact general health of young children and staff. Some ideas that we have incorporated is a child health check conducted upon arrival to school, disclosure of child allergies and other medical needs prior to enrollment so teachers and program can be designed to support child, a medication administration policy, a sick child policy, and others that promote assistance for young children.

Oral health is an important part of our health program. Several Head Start children are plagued with baby-bottle mouth where teeth are decayed at a young age due to sugary liquids that erode teeth to the gums. Dental caries are seriously dangerous for young children as it can cause painful infections and can damage future permanent teeth. The Head Start program within our state have a current initative to work collaboratively with dentist to establish a "dental home" for children and families. This means that families will have a dentist accessible regardless of the ability to pay for services.

Facilities are cleaned daily by staff, with regular parent workdays to assist with the upkeep of larger cleaning tasks (windows, etc.). Toys need to be disinfected, especially now with N1H1 concerns. I believe that young children can take part in the cleaning by using safe products like water and mild soap. Teachers can do the bleach solution part of the disinfecting, however the cleaning can be done with children's assistance. It's a good way to incorporate water play and achieve cleanliness at the same time.

Regarding safety, my program has a Accident Prevention Policies and Procedures document posted in each center location. The document offers agreements that incorporate safety precautions for adults working with young children. This includes staff and classroom volunteers.
Safety precautions also include having staff trained in CPR and First Aid, training in Mandated Reporting, and to pass all criminal clearances as required by DHS licensing.

Safety precautions include conducting monthly fire evacuations, and other practices to know what to do in case of an emergency. We actually experience one center in Lahaina that had a brush fire happen immediately outside their front door. It happened during naptime and the children were asleep. They escaped unharmed, with bare feet and many were startled from their sleep. Teachers carried them out to safety. It was an important learning experience, especially because we recognized that the playground lacked an exit to safety when the front area was threatened by fire. We are currently in the process of replacing all fenced area to include two additional gate exits from the playground.

Sustainability is a challenge for Head Start and for a large group of early childhood programs. Paying teachers what they deserve would provide no funding left over for other program operating costs. It's a problem that impacts most preschool programs. Several blogs posted reflects on the current situation with DHS and Childcare Connection. If approved, this decision has the capacity to place children in unsafe childcare situations, and force preschool programs to cut enrollment and staff. This will add to the high unemployment rate by having teachers be out of work. Having a state funded preschool program sounds like a great idea, and I'm all for it ONLY if the state steps back to provide decision making to be done exclusively by early childhood professionals. The Early Learning Council has worked long and hard to create a plan for our state. Now, due to politics and perhaps other factors, this group of dedicated professionals may not receive the level of support that was first thought to be secure. It seems like our field is taking several steps backward at this time and I find it frustrating. Programs depend on tuition to operate and, in most circumstances, tuition come from families. In order to increase wages, programs need to increase tuition. How can we operate programs of quality with limited funding? It's a sad day when tuition subsidy is threatened to be sacrificed for the economy. I predict that this decision, if passed, will replicate the furlough plan. In the longrun, the plan is not foolproof and does not come without serious consequences.

Okay...I'm off my soapbox now. I'll take a deep breath and move to my pick of the week for Exchange Everyday. I really appreciated the "Getting Unstuck" feature on Nov. 26, 2009. The suggestions offered by Jessica Seck Marquis are great ideas, especially the "shimmy and shake" recommendation. I love working out - it creates a diversion of thinking and allows me to do something good for my body. It's a means of stress management. Some of my best ideas are generated during my workouts, therefore I fully agree the creativity does flow much more when I move my body. The third suggestion of "Dream" is what gets us to our goals. I've been told that the most successful leaders had one thing in common - a vision. As an administrator, I have a vision of my program. I see its potential and work collaboratively with staff and parents to build systems to get us there. I know this will happen in time.

In response to the posted comment, I do believe that teachers can balance their objectivity and love for children at the same time. While doing assessments, we capture snapshots of children to build an individual plan that supports cognitive, motor, language or social /emotional development. The preschool stories support these snapshots by putting it into a narrative form. It's like words of a song written on paper, then playing it to music. The two flow together to create a completed piece. Assessment and the stories flow together to create an image of a complete person - in this case, a child's story. I fully understand how we need to objectively look at children, however we can still make determinations based on fact and write stories about those experiences. Each one would be different because it represents an individual child - so precious and so uniquely authentic.

Preschool Stories

I just finished the Preschool Stories readings, including the two stories focused on Sarah's preschool experiences. I admire the teachers for taking time to create the stories which were authentic representations of a child's life. The stories were priceless!
I found the collage activity extremely valuable. It was disappointing that we could not see the father's collage; to gain his perspective of how he saw his daughter. It was interesting to see the various ways that each person saw Sarah - how they captured her characteristics in a visual way. I could see the serious thought that went into creating each collage.
The preschool stories reflected Sarah as the person. In reading the stories, I could see how intimate the relationships were between Sarah and her teacher. I was impressed to read how honest Dianne was in sharing her thoughts comparing report cards to the preschool stories. She felt that the stories were non-judgmental and more understanding of the whole child. She stated that "The teacher's really know your child". I believe this to be a true statement.
Many educational programs focus on numbers and results. The preschool stories captured the heart and soul of Sarah - the process of her life and characteristics that reflected who Sarah is as a person. Many times, preschool and elementary school focus on measuring the child's accomplishments regarding academic progress. The preschool stories are so much more meaningful for the child, family and teachers. It shows such a strong relationship between the teacher and child. If so much emphasis is placed on measuring academics, how can teachers build a meaningful relationship with children?
The reading presented the thought of rethinking how school is structured. In reflecting about the Head Start program, I feel that so much energy is placed on collecting data regarding child outcomes - How many letters can a child recognize? Can a child count up to ten? I cannot move away from this level of assessment and data collection as the federal funding for Head Start is contingent to meeting set outcomes established by the Office of Head Start. My challenge is to merge this information to become preschool stories.
Ideas that I would like to take and implement include the preschool stories, the parent collages - done separately by mother and father, and encouraging the teachers to also present a collage. I believe that teachers can capture stories through digital camera and by collecting data as they build relationships with the child. I like the idea of providing the stories to the child and family at the end of the program year.
I could see how Dianne sincerely appreciated the preschool stories of Sarah. She acknowledged that her voice was definitely embedded into the story. It was completely interesting to see the connection between the preschool stories and the person that Sarah is today. This confirms that the teachers definitely knew the person that Sarah was at the time she attended preschool.
The narratives were written with such rich detail. The preschool stories present a perfect blueprint to use as a model document as programs evaluate options of assessment. I will most definitely consider implementing preschool stories in my program. I see the value and the benefit to the child, the family, and the teachers.

The Value of Assessments

I had limited experiences with assessments during the years I worked as a preschool teacher. I learned a great deal about assessments with young children when I was hired by MEO Head Start. I started as the Education Specialist, providing support and resources for Head Start teachers. I wrote policies (known to the Head Start world as Program Service Area Plans) connected to doing assessments. This essential piece of data collecting is an important part of Head Start. Assessment is included in the Head Start Performance Standards, which is the criteria used to measure service delivery within programs.
In reading the Decker text, I am most familiar with the Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum and Work Sampling System (Portfolio). MEO Head Start incorporates both assessment systems and each is valuable in meeting performance standard requirements.
The Creative Curriculum is the curriculum model practiced in my program. Parents have an opportunity to review different options of curriculum models and have chosen the Creative Curriculum to be implemented. I appreciate many factors about the Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum. One of the forms used for parent/teacher conferences include opportunities to inquire about observations and goal setting. Parents are invited to offer observations made at home regarding their child. Parents are also invited to provide input in designing an individual developmental plan for their child. For many parents, this process can be a challenging task. I encourage teachers to utilize this process and use the time to offer information on child development. On numerous occasions, parents will offer suggestions like: I want my child to read. The teacher can use this time to share information with parents on the process of recognizing letters, how reading aloud can support this plan, and what questions to ask when reading to their child to generate vocabulary and cognitive skills. The teacher can offer a list of books that young children enjoy based on their predictability, which encourage children to "read along" with the reader.
I believe that the portfolio (work sampling system) provides tangible evidence that reflect growth and development in a visual way. This is a perfect way to connect understanding of process with parents. Most options of assessment tools are provided in written form. This can be intimidating for parents, causing a sense of mystery to pose the question "what does all this really mean?". Portfolio assessments provide a wide variety of samples that include photos, artifacts of authentic experiences of the children, and documentation captured by teachers within the learning environment.
The Decker text provides a wide range of various assessment tools for young children. When I think about assessments for young children, I value the process as a means of collecting data to plan. Assessments provide an opportunity to teachers to analyze data to create meaningful experiences for young children. Additional to this, programs can use assessment in planning for staff development. I enjoyed reading the report "The Quality of Assessment in Early Childhood Education" of November 2007. The Education Review Office (ERO) used the data collected to make program improvements. In my role as a program administrator, I utilize the data by reviewing center reports separately to determine program strengths. The information collected reflects fifteen different locations throughout MEO Head Start. In an effort to make plans for staff development, for professional development, and for program improvements, it's critical to consider all evidence available to make good decisions.
I believe that programs have the potential to evolve and change to meet the needs of our children, our families, our staff, and our communities. This is my goal as a director. While striving to create an optimal space for learning, adults responsible for administrating programs for young children need to consider all data when planning.
Exchange Every Day offered inspiring words of Creativity on November 13, 2009. I found it extremely interesting that blue was identified as a color that increased creativity. Several of our classrooms are painted light blue. This has always been one of my favorite classroom colors because I thought it was so calming. Little did I know that it offers a whole other benefit!! Creativity is one item that requires no evaluation as each person has their own style, originality, and personality. in my opinion, there is no way a teacher can measure a child's creativity - each child is considered highly creative when provided with opportunities to be an individual. As teachers, we need to celebrate creativity by designing spaces that display diversity and expressive art experiences.

The Hundred is There!

What would it be like to teach at the Helen Gordon Child Development Center? It seems that all the environmental aspects, primarily created for young children, exist within the walls of this space. The experience of teaching children in a center of this caliber is intriguing, and certainly a dream worthy of contemplating. This reading offers a sampling of ways to incorporate ideas in our actual environments at home here in Hawaii.

The entryway and pathways - an interesting perspective to consider from the lens of a child and parents walking into a center or program office for the first time. The reading presented displays in the form of "stories". These collections create spaces that are alive, as the stories represent actual experiences of the children residing at the center. The photos and documentation presents current life as it is lived by the children - it shows the progression of life, discovery, and change in the form of developmental transitions. Based on the reading, I conclude that each area represents currently enrolled children and is updated with new stories on a regular basis. Spaces become less alive - or stagnant and stifled - when stories are the same day in and day out. Change represents life, and it each day brings new stories. It's not to say that drawings and paintings need to be changed daily. It is to say that teachers need to pay attention to items presented and keep stories fresh.

Transition spaces and classrooms - such an important piece of thought that we sometimes miss; the creation of beauty within spaces for children. The aesthetic qualities of a classroom space - both indoor and out, require thought and planning. In Hawaii, where sunlight is a regular occurrence, we can take advantage of this precious resource. Several of the centers I previewed on the website had large, open spaces with windowed ceilings that allows natural light to stream into the room. When thinking about it - we would normally use natural light at home during the day, therefore a space for young children with natural lighting would represent a more authentic home setting.
The "daily pages" made me smile as I reflected back to a preschool experience during my earlier years as a teacher. The preschool I worked at offered "Today I...", designed to meet the same goals as the daily pages activity presented in our reading. The page that I learned to create took a series of 5 minutes to document. It was a means to chronologically document our day so parents could create meaningful conversations with children. I shared this idea with my Head Start teachers years ago - some teachers embraced the idea and others did not. I want to reintroduce this to my staff as I realize the value of this simple activity, and how it opens pathways for parents to connect with their children.
Items from nature strike me as such a special touch to include in spaces for young children. I prefer to see real plants, natural weaved baskets instead of plastic bins, and containers made of ceramic materials. In one of my centers, I saw a beautiful ceramic container holding color pencils. The container is simple, yet very visually pleasing. My attention goes to that particular object every time I enter the environment. It's amazing how natural items offer a variety of textures for children to explore. Teachers that offer natural materials for children to manipulate increase sensory exploration. I liked the idea of metal buckets instead of plastic bins; what a great idea!
I appreciated the idea of looking at children's work "as representation of their thinking, their feelings, and their creative expression". This, in my opinion, is what keeps the environment alive - the description offered by Parnell reflects life in the form of thinking, feeling, and expression. In response to Jeanne's comments regarding how to create spaces full of life, the article captured this thought best by this statement: "The environment generates a sort of psychic skin, an energy-giving second skin made of writings, images, materials, objects, and colors, which reveals the presence of the children even in their absence." (Ceppi & Zini, 1998, p. 25)

The reading presented the value of teachers and their role within the environment. Teachers have "camera-like eyes and recording-like ears". This is such a tangible way to represent how teachers impact relationships with children to support learning.

I reviewed three different environments on the DesignShare website:
Center #1 - The Children's School: the environment offered large open spaces and rooms that allowed natural light to shine in.
Center #2 - Mother's Club: this program was designed for families living in poverty and a generational program. The center provided a large area of window space, and the roof held several panels of photovoltaic tiles - enough to provide 20% electricity to operate the facility. The outdoors offer a natural stream bed and an authentic hand pump.
Center #3 - Head Start at Windermere: I wanted to check this program out as a sister Head Start program. It was cool to see a Lighthouse (it looks 100% real) as the entrance into the center. The space was colorful and open with a long corridor that offered opportunities for children and adults to visually connect with their environment. Natural light illuminated the space where children spent their time.

In response to comments offered by Jeanne, I have to say that an administrator's role is to provide readings such as "The Hundred is There!" to staff for review and discussion, for reflection and consideration. Administrators need to allocate budget funding assigned specific to materials for space. If possible, administrators need to be highly involved in the process of creating spaces for children, families, and staff. I had that opportunity while planning for an Infant/Toddler center shared by my agency and a partnering agency. I found the experience to be completely rewarding, especially after seeing the facility as a completed center with children actively participating within. Administrators need to remain connected to the program setting, paying close attention to how the space feels in order to keep it alive.
The main criteria is to "reveal the presence of children even in their absence" - that's it in one thought. As important as the community is to the program it serves, I believe the goal of keeping the setting alive is the responsibility of the teacher. The teacher is open to invite the community to provide support in the means of being involved partners.
Carolyn - your comments made me smile and laugh! I savored your sense of humor and could relate completely with your feelings of being overwhelmed at times. I know your program's director (Lynn) and work closely with all Head Start directors within the state. We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to touch so many children that benefit from programs like Head Start.
In most situations in Hawaii, we inherent spaces and accept what settings are presented to us. Our challenge is to alter these settings to enhance aesthetic qualities with a focus on light, texture, natural materials, and how these connect to the physical space. As administrators, we have the flexibility of selecting staff that fill these spaces. When space and teachers combine, the energy and power created together can result in endless possibilities!

The Exchange messages focus on the H1N1 (Oct. 27 - Swine Flu Update and Nov. 4 - H1N1 Flu and Your Program) which is timely as a national health concern. Our program has installed hand sanitizers throughout the office spaces. We're taking other measures, including sending home notices of flu symptoms, what to do if your child gets sick, the importance of handwashing (and handwashing, and handwashing...), and restating our sick child policy. The Nov. 4 message captured the reality of this potential pandemic. Children remain vulnerable candidates of this dangerous illness. I'll continue watching Exchange for more information from a national viewpoint.

Caring Spaces, Learning Spaces

I found the reading (Some Characteristics of Space by Greenman) to be extremely specific in describing environments for young children. Each section offered a wealth of information to consider. As a teacher and administrator, I compared the information with environments I offer young children and their families.
On page 76, the author offered examples of patterns, quoting Christopher Alexander. Patterns being labeled with the feel of "aliveness" provides a sense that life exists in the area - that one can breathe in the environment. The opposite was portrayed by "deadness" being a "result of a bad connection." I savored the statement that closed the reading by asking designers to "consider qualities that create human spaces that promote feelings and behavior that bring out the best in people."
Environments do play a tremendous role in setting the mood. I was fortunate to stay at a hotel this past weekend in Wailea, Maui. The grounds was well manicured, the lobby was beautiful with large ornate bouquets of fresh flowers, and the room itself offered soothing colors of turquoise, soft yellow, pale grey, and beige. Soft pillows, uncomplicated wall hangings, natural wood furniture - all adding to the overall effect of the room. I felt a sense of relaxation the moment I walked through the doorway. The rooms, the grounds, and all areas supporting guest services offered environments that promoted a feeling - tranquility, soft, relaxation, and peaceful surrender to all stresses of the world. One part of the hotel offered a pool for adults only - no children and no cell phones. Another area offered a family pool with a slide and other fun activities. It was evident that the hotel was designed for their customers, regardless of a single person, a couple on a honeymoon, or a family on their first Hawaii vacation.
This is an important factor in designing an environment for young children and families. Do we ask ourselves how we can design a caring space for our customers? This is an important reflection to consider as spaces are created for learning.
Regarding doorways - I can fully connect to the section that discussed how it feels to walk into a room after the party started. My program uses this same analogy in our request for children to arrive on time to school. Having a friendly face to welcome a child and their parent or loving adult at the doorway is equally important to a positive entry. The entire experience is interconnected - one without the other would not have the overall impact of welcome.
I found the section that recommended adults to go on their knees to gain a child's perspective to be quite inspiring. It's essential to consider eye level artwork posting, or the environmental design as it relates to crawlers, toddlers, preschoolers, babies in arms, and adults.
I have embraced a calling to create spaces dedicated for parents within each Head Start center in my program. I realized prior to our reading (however our reading reaffirmed my commitment) that parents need a space to call their own - a space that welcomes them to come and visit and stay for awhile. The reading addressed this important point - how parents or adults are asked to sit in small chairs. An indirect message, which is completely not an intended feeling, is that parents can visit for a short period of time - for about the amount of time your behind (or knees) can tolerate those tiny chairs. My dream is to option a grant through foundation dollars to purchase comfortable sofas and chairs for parents to sit, talk story, play with their children, read stories, or just to relax. The space will be designed to say "stay awhile, as long as you like."
The reading offered a vast perspective to consider as we design environments for children birth to five. The reading summarized the core by stating "For children space is the terrain from which they learn, not a site they learn in." Teachers need to be intentional in setting up the environment with critical consideration of materials and arrangement.
I returned from the Family Strengthening Summit in Atlanta feeling a sense of renewed energy and inspiration. I used my downtime in between sessions to reflect on my own life. For the past couple of weeks, I've been extremely overwhelmed with work deadlines, school deadlines, assignments, preparing for a federal review, preparing for a federal grant application...it was consuming me. This impacted quality time with family, husband, and myself (missing workouts became a daily event). During my hours of reflection, I concluded the need to refocus on my priorities - my own family and my health. I'm turning 49 and realized that it's critical to achieve balance in all things. In the Exchange article dated Oct. 30, 2009 (Coping with Anxiety), I found a message that I could completely relate to at this moment. The idea to "set aside worry time" is so relevant to my situation and to many others that struggle to address various situations related to program operations. I have instinctively adopted a similar practice - I have a tablet on the side of my bed and use this as a tool to write important items down before I go to sleep. These could include items that I'm worrying about, or things that I need to remember to do the next day. If I don't write it down, I carry it into bed which affects my ability to have a peaceful nights sleep.
I have read that people have tendencies to take shallow breathes when challenged or stressed. I have recently started taking yoga, which encourages taking deep breathes and breathing deep from the belly and exhaling all air out. This takes some thought and intention - it should be a regular practice, however it's not - especially when I'm busy or multitasking. Living in the moment (moment to moment) is a great practice to implement on a daily basis - tense or not, it's a great habit to develop.

Involving Families as partners

My message this week will be short, yet extremely relevant to the reading. I'm leaving tomorrow for a week long conference in Atlanta, GA. The conference is a Family Strengthening Summit, which will be attended by hundreds of programs throughout the nation that offer "exemplary" practices. The practices are focused on preventing child abuse and neglect.
In 2003, my program was assessed by individuals representing the Center for Social Policy. The end result of a one week review was a letter congratulating the program for meeting criteria necessary to be considered exemplary. My goal in attending this conference is to gain ideas from other programs that I can bring back to Maui and implement, or share with other partners. It's amazing how we, as professionals, connect and share ideas with the intent to spread a positive message throughout communities.
I attended this same summit in San Diego back in 2007. I learned that many states have changed the "Child Abuse and Prevention Month", to "Family Strengthening Month". I liked the feel of this title much better and offered it as a suggestion to some state representatives connected to supporting families. Unfortunately, they were not ready to embrace the same level of understanding that I had - so it remains child abuse and prevention.
Family Strengthening requires a high level of family involvement. The exemplary practices that we as a Head Start program implement all connect to partnering and communicating with families. I regard parents as their child's first teacher. I believe that parents know their child much better than I do, and hold the key in impacting their child's education. I only have the child for one to two years - parents have them for a much longer time. My goal is to create lasting positive practices with parents to promote support, time, care, and nurturing for attachment with their child. The relationship of the family is enhanced when these factors are present.
It's extremely difficult to be supportive when you have parents that seem to have their priorities out of sync. I find it challenging to work with parents that are abrasive, loud, angry, and mean to their children. As a teacher, I think about the long term affects on the child from living in this kind of an environment. Trying to assist a parent to see life from their child's perspective is not an easy task. Many times, the parent is repeating life based on the kind of parenting received as a child. Breaking that cycle takes a great deal of support, reflection, trust, and learning that other options do exist.
Parents usually are blown away when they witness their child following through on tasks in the classroom. A common one is "I can never get my kid to clean up at home. How come in school she always help out?". This is my opening to take this parent into the world of possibilities. We talk about setting up routines, organizing the environment so children can assist to put things away independently, and providing a reminder that clean-up time is happening in five minutes so we can clean up before dinner (or whatever activity comes next). The time and energy put into this interaction can be the start of this parent opening up their mind to realize that there is another way to deal with the child. Parents can see that we do not use physical punishment in school in order to encourage children to do daily tasks.
The October 20 Exchange article titled "Bonnie's New Blog" touched on some of my thoughts shared about the Family Strengthening Summit. Debra Sullivan offered some thoughts about community, and asked the question, "How do we create these communities in our world today?", in reference to creating communities that are strong. Bonnie felt that the blog might be one of the ways to share information. The summit is another. Any possible way that programs can share their thoughts, practices, ideas, and successes with each other brings light to a number of people. We are all partners in this field of supporting children and families. I find great joy in learning something new...and have the same level of pleasure when I can share something in return.
On the October 22 Exchange, the quote from Mother Teresa summed the thought of family involvement perfectly. She stated "To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it." I see the lamp as being the family and the oil as being the support provided to help them to keep "burning" bright.
One area that I find extremely interesting in Head Start is the effort places on leader development. Parents are welcomed to be involved in program design, approving policies and other vital areas of management. Parents make up the overall membership of Policy Council, a governing body of Head Start. Our program just had the first Policy Council meeting of 2009-10 school year this past week. The newly elected Chairperson already had one activity connected to her new role - we had a Risk Management meeting yesterday (Friday, Oct. 23) where she was part of a team teleconference with the San Francisco office. I was so impressed by her articulate manner and professionalism. I'm really excited to work with her during this term (one year). This is a federal monitoring year for my program, so her involvement as well as all the other parents, is critical to succeeding in the area of Governance. I'm really proud of her!
One more story to share regarding Policy Council. We had a mother last year on Policy Council as a center representative. She attended most every meeting and was extremely involved. Her life goal was to complete her GED. She completed this goal, and is now enrolled at Maui Community College working on a degree in Human Services. I wanted to feature this person as a success story in our agency Annual Report. When I asked her for an interview to draft her story, she very humbly could not believe why I selected her. After listening to her story ( which she disclosed personal information linked to various abuse in her lifetime as a child and adolescent) I was even more impressed at her tenacious spirit of survival. She credited her success to the Head Start program. She shared that is was "amazing and brilliant" to use parents in the capacity as decision makers for the program. She felt important, that her voice truly mattered. As a director, I felt a great sense of accomplishment for this mother and her family.
Some parents are not ready to walk through that door and give time and energy for the purpose of being involved. Others continue to give, regardless of their energy level. Our goal as program staff is to keep that door open and continue inviting parents to join in and participate. You never know when the oil will strike and the light goes on to say "yes, I'll be there" and actually show up, ready to engage.
In response to the comment from Jeanne: Yes - time is an issue for my staff as well. Disrupting the beliefs will take a great deal of effort, however I feel that teachers may not clearly see the value (lack of by-in) regarding the project approach. Many teachers gained knowledge in thematic approach - I'm one of them. Watching the Lillian Katz video offered me a different way to look at the project approach. I realized how valuable the entire process was for the child. Time constraints are more adult problems, not children problems. If the idea is framed in a way to allow teachers to see the overwhelming benefit for children, they might have better acceptance of this approach. Additional to this, administrators need to be supportive to say "the process of learning outweighs the product". This mantra would give teachers a clear message to take your time - like quality vs quantity. It's the quality of the curriculum and learning that matters most.
Regarding Head Start moving out of the thematic approach - I believe we're ready to make that move. Head Start support programs to individualize their own curriculum and have it reflected in their program. Parents approve the program curriculum - we use Creative Curriculum in my program. We can easily adopt the project approach and still use the Creative Curriculum model. I think it would enhance the classroom and celebrate learning of young children.
In this generation of immediate gratification, I think the project approach is most appropriate as a system to slow down and explore, discover, analyze, and learn.
The Lillian Katz video was shown by Julie Powers in her ED 264 (Inquiry with Young Children) class - I'm a student in her class. I'm enjoying the experience and learning so much! My education as a preschool teacher took place in 1988 - 1991. Today, there's new information to digest and I'm taking it all in. It's a celebration of learning!

Program Development and Te Whariki

Program development is regarded as the foundation of a quality program. Establishing the program vision and mission provides an important focus - the framework of systems to be built upon. I sincerely respect the statement made in our textbook on p. 212 which emphasized what Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) is intended to establish. According to Bredekamp and Copple (1997), "The DAP position statement is not a program-based prescription; rather, it is an assertion that programs for young children should consider (a) present knowledge about child development and learning; (b) what we know about the strengths, needs, and interests of enrolled children, and (c) knowledge about the social and cultural contexts of the local community" (Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knopf). The statement is critical as a springboard to developing mission and vision statements. It takes all elements into consideration - the child, the family, and the community. In order to begin the process of program development, guidelines in the form of procedures and policies need to be created and adopted. This will drive the program to its potential of meeting outcomes and goals.
Standards...as a director of a Head Start program, I am most familiar with the term "Performance Standards". I have not counted each one individually, however I have been total that Head Start has a total of 1,700 performance standards (perhaps more than that!). Each standard is designed to offer a directive or expectation that the program will adhere to in service delivery. The program standards include various sections: Child Health and Development, Families and Community Partnerships, Program Design and Management, ERSEA (Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment, Attendance), Disabilities, Governance, Human Resources, Fiscal, Transportation, and Facilities and Materials. Each area details guidance, providing a statement of expectation. Head Start recognizes that each community and program is unique and different. This is an important element of the Head Start program because resources vary from location to location. Each individual program designs their response to each performance standard based on their ability to be successful in implementing the expectation. In summary, although each Head Start has the same performance standards to follow, the delivery of service or how each standard is designed for compliance differs from one program to another. This offers a sense of flexibility and resourcefulness. I embrace this piece of individuality as being a precious factor of Head Start. The standardized performance standards is the foundation, yet we (the program) has the ability to create what the structures might look like.
What is equally important to the process is that parents, community partners, and staff have a role in creating the structures. Additional to this, if a structure or system is not working (based on ongoing monitoring and evaluation) it can be revised. The performance standard doesn't change, but our response on how we meet the standard can be changed. The level of flexibility allows programs to always strive towards quality, to implement continuous quality improvement, and to acknowledge that there is more than one way to reach a goal.
I sincerely believe in the projects approach. Too often (I'm fully responsible for doing this as a teacher) teachers rush through a theme for one week - concentrating on getting the message across in a hurry to go onto the next theme. The project approach provides time - time to engage into the subject of study, time to analyze, think about, explore, experience, discover, and most importantly learn. Have you ever had to justify the idea that young children can learn IEP (Individual Education Plan for children with special needs) goal in a natural environment to a DOE Sped Teacher that did not have ECE? I see this as a similar discovery as a teacher. Children will learn all the cognitive, motor, social/emotional, and speech/language skills of development naturally as they experience the project approach. We do not need to "teach" the alphabet, colors, numbers, shapes in individual themes - the learning occurs within the contents of the experience. We do not need to offer a special theme of being friends and how to get along, as the project approach encourages working together. I watched a video titled "Rearview Mirror" which was narrated by Lilian Katz. The video documented a teacher's experience of the project approach with the subject study of a car. The project lasted approximately six months. Although some teachers might feel that this is too long for a particular subject, the video offered evidence that children gained a multitude of experiences throughout the journey of discovery.
Inclusion - the option of providing a least restricted environment for children with special needs. I value this option with high regard for several reasons. As a Head Start director, I realize that this is one of two options available for families with a special needs child. That's quite limiting, however better than having only one option - which was true approximately 15 years ago. I have assisted parents to be advocates for their child in regards to placement decisions. Parents are their child's first teachers and they know their child best. In order to make a good decision of placement, parents should have the opportunity to visit both settings prior to selecting placement. Children with speech delays THRIVE in inclusion (or integrated) settings. I have witnessed other children benefit from being with normal developing peers and found the experience to impact both sides (child with and without special needs). Regular developing children gain a sense of empathy, caring for others in ways that come naturally for children. It's impressive to observe - so touching to watch how human instincts intuitively take place without being taught.
All children deserve to have a space that is safe, nurturing, and designed with an intent to provide learning opportunities that impact development of self awareness and skills. As administrators and teachers, we have the responsibility to incorporate this into the environments we create and offer, and into the interactions we engage in with children and families.
The reading of Te Whariki was phenomenal! I found the reading to capture an all-encompassing pedagogy regarding the entire child, the family, and the community. The leaders that created this system of early childhood curriculum took the essential elements of DAP and actually put it into practice. The curriculum factored in the culture and diversity of the people, and implemented their belief system throughout the document. So impressive - something that we in Hawaii can learn from. It leads me to think..."why didn't we come up with a document similar to this?". I'm sure it took a great deal of collaborating among the elders, professionals, and other pertinent individuals in the Ministry Advisory Group to create this curriculum. What strikes me is the level of detail - very simplistically stated, it's easy to read and understand. The values and their approach is presented in a structured way that cannot be misinterpreted. It is most evident that early childhood education is respected as important, as regarding high priority, within the government of New Zealand. Within this factor, you can also extract the priority of individualization, family, regard of responsible adults that impact young children and their education.
Regarding program planning, evaluation, and assessment, the document states that "There are many ways in which each early childhood service can weave the particular pattern that makes its programme different and distinctive" (Te Wariki, p. 28). This is similar to the Head Start performance standards that I reflected on earlier in my blog. I enjoy reading this method of information delivery so much more than other curriculum documents. The way the information is written - it's like a dance - so lyrical. I believe this is a reflection of the people; of the culture.
I plan to use this information in my work as a director, as it offers me many aspects to reconsider. I can see the overlap, how the information threads into areas familiar to the Head Start program...yet, the way the information is provided is less clinical, less sterile - more loving, more welcoming, more early childhood.