The Importance of Early Childhood Development

This is all a child wants and much more if there is more to give.

Children are free of stress. The things you teach them are the things they learn, whether it is good or bad. 

Thank you all to my fellow classmates with all the suggestions, questions, thoughts and support throughout this class. I hope to see anyone of you in future classes. I wish you all the best of  your endeavors and succeed in any of the goals you have set on. Good luck.

Thank you Dr. Trevino Meyer for the support, criticism, and quick response to any emails. I greatly appreciate the high standard you set for the class to better us as an individual.

    

Reference

Brookings Institute. (2014). The Importance of Early Childhood Development. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qmkxytBeDs 

Viewing a young child as a whole would be hard to do unless you have had the child for a long time. To not know what the child has been through in life and the different obstacles they have faced. A child changes every day from school, home life and the people they are around. The assessment tests that all schools have to see where it is needed for a child to succeed and meet their potential. Schools are here for the children so they can strive to succeed, not have a low self-esteem about failing and becoming a nothing. All children have potential and some have a different way of learning, but it does not mean they are any different. A teacher would not know about a child’s disability unless it was told to them under confidential.

The Assessment Experience

For Students on Winning Streaks	For Students on Losing Streaks
Assessment results provide
Continual evidence of success	Continual evidence of failure
The student feels
Hopeful and optimistic	Hopeless
Empowered to take productive action	Initially panicked, giving way to resignation
The student thinks
It's all good. I'm doing fine.	This hurts. I'm not safe here.
See the trend? I succeed as usual.	I just can't do this . . . again.
I want more success.	I'm confused. I don't like this—help!
School focuses on what I do well.	Why is it always about what I can't do?
I know what to do next.	Nothing I try seems to work.
Feedback helps me.	Feedback is criticism. It hurts.
Public success feels good.	Public failure is embarrassing.
The student becomes more likely to
Seek challenges.	Seek what's easy.
Seek exciting new ideas.	Avoid new concepts and approaches.
Practice with gusto.	Become confused about what to practice.
Take initiative.	Avoid initiative.
Persist in the face of setbacks.	Give up when things become challenging.
Take risks and stretch—go for it!	Retreat and escape—trying is too dangerous!
These actions lead to
Self-enhancement	Self-defeat, self-destruction
Positive self-fulfilling prophecy	Negative self-fulfilling prophecy
Acceptance of responsibility	Denial of responsibility
Manageable stress	High stress
Feeling that success is its own reward	No feelings of success; no reward
Curiosity, enthusiasm	Boredom, frustration, fear
Continuous adaptation	Inability to adapt
Resilience	Yielding quickly to defeat
Strong foundations for future success	Failure to master prerequisites for future success

(Stiggins, 2007)

The assessment provides both students and teachers with clear information in a form they can use immediately to improve performance for each child. As you can see on the chart of the differences from a child who is capable of succeeding and their outlook from a child who is failing and their outlook of failing. To keep that from happening, the teachers and students need to partner up to meet their fullest potential.

In other countries, I did Africa and their assessment with children. External examinations have played a major role throughout the history of modern education in Africa. The most important of which is to select students for successive level in the educational system. Unfortunately, Africa has been criticized for their quality. Their examinations are very limited in the areas of knowledge and skills that they assess, their knowledge and skills are through everyday life outside of school and measured achievement at a low classification level (Kellaghan & Greaney, 2004).

Kellghan, T. & Greaney, V. (2004) Assessing Student Learning in Africa. Retrieved from

 https://books.google.com/bookshl=en&lr=&id=LCBB1in38ucC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Assessing+student+learning+in+Africa&ots=aJhHLlES37&sig=K0HYLzNePpjVsQ4Qysn17NlBiXo#v=onepage&q=Assessing%20student%20learning%20in%20Africa&f=false 

Stiggins, Rick. (2007). Assessment Through the Children's Eyes. Retrieved from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may07/vol64/num08/Assessment-Through-the-Student's-Eyes.aspx

     “You don't seem to realize that a poor person who is unhappy is in a better position than a rich person who is unhappy. Because the poor person has hope. He thinks money would help” (Kerr, 2015).

     If I can recall, I was in elementary and I know my parents did not have much to give me as a child, but their love, a home, food and clothes on my back. I was fine. I had a friend, who had very little, wore the same clothes every day and seemed like she never bathe. I took it upon myself to bring some of my clothes from home and give it to her. She was so excited and happy that she got a new outfit. This made me feel good as a person, even though I knew my parents were pulling ends to make bills meet.

     The United States rank the bottom of the pack of wealthy nations on a measure of child poverty, according to a new report from UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund). Nearly one third of United States children live in households with an income below 60 percent of the national median income (about $31,000 annually) in 2008. Since 2008 children living in poverty has actually increased 2 percentage. Overall, 24.2 million United States children were living in poverty since 2012, reflecting an increase of 1.7 million children since 2008 (Ingraham, 2014).

https://www.google.com/searchq=children+in+poverty&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=YABsVc_EOsjgoASQ9YKQBQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=children+in+poverty+graphs+in+United+States

     Children who experience food insecurity may be at higher risk for behavioral issues and social difficulties, such as having a greater risk of truancy and school tardiness. They can also experience increases in a range of behavior problems including: fighting, hyperactivity, aggression, anxiety, mood swings, and bullying (Feeding America, 2015).

     There are 17.9 million children under the age of 18 in Thailand. Even though the situation has been improving for children in recent decades, some continue to face difficulties. UNICEF estimates that around one million children live in vulnerable conditions in Thailand. These include those who live in poverty, have lost parental care, have a disability or are forced to live on the streets. There was an estimated number 290,000 children who have been left without parental care due to HIV/AIDS. Migrant children, as well as the ones in poverty or those who have run away from their families or dropped out of school are most at risk of being involved in the worst forms of work labor.  They suffer from serious abuse, including physical confinement at the hands of employers (SOS Children’s Villages International, 2013).

Feeding America. (2015). "Child Development" . Retrieved from

http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/child-hunger/child development.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/?referrer=http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/child-hunger/child-development.html

Ingraham, Christopher. (2014). "Child Poverty in the U.S is Among the Worst in the Developed World".  Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/29/child-poverty-in-the-u-s-is-among-the-worst-in-the-developed-world/

Kerr, Jean. (2015). Best Quotes about Poverty and Poor. Retrieved

fom http://www.ranker.com/list/notable-and-famous-poverty-and-the-poor-quotes/reference

SOS Children’s Villages International. (2013). General Information about Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/where-we-help/asia/thailand