Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Course Goals

Dynamics of Early Childhood Policies and Systems is the course that I have patiently been waiting for in this degree program because my daily work is around early childhood comprehensive system building.  My early childhood master's degree specialization was public policy and advocacy.  I am an early childhood advocacy junkie.  I subscribe to about six different advocacy newsletters to stay up to date on early childhood issues in Washington, DC.  The reauthorization of the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) was finally passed last November after more than ten years of trying.  I have included a picture of President Obama signing CCDBG into law!!




I am very excited to share with my classmates my experiences of working within a statewide early childhood comprehensive system.  Child Care Aware of American is non-profit that works to improve the quality of child care and conducts a variety of studies on the levels of quality in each state and each type of care.  I am also proud to say that my daughter that is getting ready to start her last year of law school is doing a legal internship at Child Care Aware of American doing policy writing.



I am currently analyzing environment rating scales virtual subscale data compared to our early learning guidelines to determine if the implementation of the guidelines has made an impact on the quality of care for children in child care programs in Oklahoma.  I am hopeful that some of the system research for this course will provide some insight to this analysis.

My three professional goals are as follows:

  1. Attach scholarly literature to my practical application of early childhood systems to give me a more robust understanding of the total system.
  2. Expand my knowledge of each of the critical components within a comprehensive early childhood system to ensure that all sectors are represented and accounted for to improve the lives of children birth to age 8.
  3. Strengthen my skills as a policy writer to use my knowledge to evoke change in my state as well as nationally.
I am so excited about this class I just can't wait to get started.
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 9, 2015 at 12:49 PM

    Wow Jill !!!

    You have such extensive experience with policy writing and analysis already. I can see that you are a resource that I definitely plan to employ. How wonder it is to have a child of your own to investigate the same field of study. Congratulations!

    I would definitely like to read your analysis of the environmental rating scales in comparison with Oklahoma's standards of quality care. Perhaps, it will give me some guidance as we prepare to use these rating scale in our 64 infant/toddler classrooms.

    A great read ... Thanks.

    - Veronika

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    Replies
    1. ShaylaJWBJuly 10, 2015 at 8:57 AM

      Jill, I can feel the passion you have for this topic shining through your post. Do you mind sharing what articles you subscribe to? I feel so bad as an ECE educator when I think about the lack of time I've put into system advocacy work in ECE. I've focused so much on the children, but hadn't considered what systems affect them.

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    2. Jill SotoJuly 12, 2015 at 3:04 PM

      Veronika,

      I am very proud of my daughter and her journey towards her law degree. I am just grateful that she sees it as a vehicle to make things better for young children and families. I am more than happy to share our analysis of the environment rating scales compared to the early learning guidelines. It is regarding preschool classrooms and not infant and toddler classrooms. I am more than happy to visit with you about the infant toddler scale as well. Let me know if you want to have a phone call.
      Jill

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  2. Jill SotoJuly 12, 2015 at 3:11 PM

    Shayla,

    I get the NAEYC action alerts and here is the link to sign up for those: http://www.naeyc.org/policy/action. I also subscribe to Child Care Aware of American's national blog and policy updates. I can forward you the email the next time I get one so that you can subscribe. I also get action alerts from the National Women's Law Center and Children's Defense Fund. They both have child care services branches.

    I hope that is helpful.
    Jill

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