Sharing Web Resources

As you know, I have been exploring the web site of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE).  I originally selected this organization because I am currently working towards my MS in Early Childhood Studies with a concentration on Teaching Adults in the Early Childhood Field.  NAECTE is more geared toward those already working as an educator of adults, so I have really had to search their site and follow links in order to find information that is relevant to my current professional development as an early childhood educator.

While reading through NAECTE's E-Letter archives, I came across an article on "The Raising of America:  Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation (http://www.naecte.org/docs/NAECTE%20Fall%202013%20E-letter.pdf)."  The article describes a wonderful six-part documentary series and public engagement campaign that seeks to reframe the way we look at early child health and development. The series works to show how a strong start for children leads to better learning, earning, and physical and mental health which will lead all of us to a healthier, safer, better educated and more prosperous and equitable nation.

In wanting to further investigate this series, I went to their web site www.raisingofamerica.org.  I encourage all early childhood professionals to visit the site!  There are several previews of the series and full episode previews that are very informative and thought provoking.  I have included The Raising of America Series - TRAILER here:

Here is the series description from www,raisingofamerica.org:

Series Description

It’s often said a society can be measured by how well it attends to its children—their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved and valued by their families and communities.

So how is it that children in the U.S. have worse outcomes on most measures of health, education and well-being than other rich nations? How can we do better?

The Raising of America takes us inside the brain and brings to life recent scientific research that reveals how early experiences, beginning in the womb, can alter brain architecture and developmental trajectories. Through the stories of families from different walks of life, we discover how the lack of paid parental leave and high-quality affordable childcare, stagnant wages and overcrowded housing, depression and social exclusion, and perhaps most of all the time crunch, too often undermine the efforts of parents and caregivers struggling to provide the nurturing environments all children need to thrive.

The Raising of America widens its lens to reveal what Sir Michael Marmot calls, "the cause of the causes," the larger structures that contribute, in Harvard's Jack Shonkoff's words, "to a pile-up of advantage for some children, a cascade of risk for others." In response, some communities are organizing to strengthen social supports, policies and other protective factors which improve the odds not only for their youngest children, no matter how poor, but which can also compensate for and in some cases reverse the epigenetic effects in older children and teens who've suffered adverse experiences.

By exploring how things got this way—the history of U.S. child and family policy over the past century, the victories as well as the defeats—The Raising of America seeks to better understand what stands in the way of progress, and what we can do better. The film lifts up those struggling to make good on a vision where all our children matter, all are nurtured and all have opportunities to thrive.