blog 8084

Posted by   Hali Carr  at Saturday, March 12, 2022 12:43:53 AM

Describe how the content in this course might impact what you want to do and who you want to become in the field of early childhood:

The material in this course is directly tied to the administration of early childhood education programs. As a Head Start employee, I understand the importance of quality services for children and families. Providing quality services requires that programs use a series of checks and balances to ensure all aspects of programs comply with Head Start Performance Standards. Implementing evaluation processes and learning how to support early childhood education staff is an important part of administration. Learning new techniques and gaining in-depth understanding of how to properly conduct internal evaluations and prepare for governing evaluations will benefit my performance as a Human Resources Coordinator. Knowledge is power when it comes to effectively running a complex program such as a Head Start agency and knowing how to implement evaluation processes is a must.

The course content also prompts students to understand what conditions should prompt evaluations. Not only is it required for many early education programs to undergo formal evaluations, but it is also necessary that they recognize the need for internal evaluations. This is especially important for times when administration feels there are performance issues in certain areas within the program. This course explores those elements of evaluation.

Support for early childhood programs is also a central focus for the course. In agencies and organizations where there is extensive governance, resources and support is necessary. The National Association for the Education of Young Children or NAEYC, provides programs with guidance on where to find resources and how to be a resource to others. NAEYC supports the belief that equality and quality are primary focuses of professionalism in early childhood education programs (NAEYC, n.d).

Explain how you might both impact and be impacted by the process of evaluating program quality:

As a coordinator, my department is up for evaluation at any time. This is particularly true because Head Start has rigid hiring qualifications, as potential applicants will work with or around children. Therefore, it is important to be prepared for internal and external evaluations at any time. All employers are required to maintain federal records that indicate all active employees are authorized to work in the United States. Typically, those records are maintained by Human Resources departments. Because these forms are significant and critical for employers, I am subject to a review of these documents at any time. Employment authorizations are not the only important pieces of documentation that federal and state agencies review. Identification documents such as driver’s licenses and social security cards must be verified as well. Human Resources departments may influence evaluations as they attempt to audit their current records against standards. In my position, I often extend checklists to the center level for managers to ensure they have the proper documentation for employees. Because adequate records are essential, I influence internal evaluations on these documents in various stages each year.

Share questions you might have:

Can evaluations be overdone?

What types of internal evaluations prove best for early childhood education programs?

Should organizations consider electronic forms of evaluations?

Now that many agencies are entrusting technology to store documentation, should there be evaluations or audits on those platforms?

References

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (n.d.-a). The 10 NAEYC program standards.

Saracho, O. N. (2015). Historical and contemporary evaluations of early childhood programmes. Early Child Development and Care, 185(8), 1255–1267.

Posted by   Dawn Wilson  at Thursday, March 10, 2022 8:30:32 AM

Research shows that training professional development and instructional support have the biggest impact on teacher job satisfaction. Every child deserves access to a quality education. (Fiddiman and Partelow, 2021). Quality teaching, or instruction, heightens those chances of student success. Program evaluations focus on the educational, social/emotional health, and environmental quality of curriculum. Teachers provide opportunities, methods, feedback, and tools for students. The data derived from the practices assist teachers in analyzing their role in student success.

Blog 2 response

 My educational career has been both amazing and reflective. Over the course of 18 years, I've had the opportunity to serve students, and now teachers, in various grades under the early childhood education umbrella. During my 16th year of teaching, I began to focus more on my role as a leader and the impact I’ve had in creating positive and supportive environments for students and teachers. As an educator, one factor that is critical in enhancing or promoting program evaluation quality is interpersonal interaction. The learning environment created by teacher is critical to the quality of an early childhood program. (Workman and Ullrich, 2017). This is especially true in the early years of student growth and development. Through research and design, I worked to create an environment that enveloped warmth, respect, and empathy. I also ensured that my learning environment was content-rich with tools and resources beneficial for student growth. This course, in relation to my position as an educator leader, assist in reinforcing my goals as a support person in my building. As part of my role as a literacy coach, I am constantly providing feedback and assistance to my classroom teachers. As an evaluator, I realized that my knowledge of our district and school’s program and curriculum expectations is crucial when offering feedback. Currently, our district has adopted new reading and phonics programs for the upcoming school year. My evaluation of the new programs in relation to their effectiveness is important when preparing to assist our classroom teachers in creating the most effective learning environments for student engagement. This includes the explanation of resources and tools, where to position them in the classroom, and how to best utilize them. It is essential for programs to undertake regular evaluation, including self-evaluation, to document the extent to which they achieve desired results to engage in continuous improvement (NAEYC, 2003). As I continue to grow in my knowledge of the evaluation of programs the tools found in this course will guide me in better preparing myself for my role as an education leader.

Questions regarding the program evaluation process:

· What is a projected time frame of the program evaluation process? How often is a program evaluated?

· Once the evaluation is complete, what is the time frame for correcting/analyzing the evaluation findings?

· How involved is the school community in the evaluation process?

· What happens when a program is found ineffective?

References

Fiddiman, B. and Partelow, L. (2021). How to Ensure Equitable Access to Great Teaching. CAP