Head Start-http://www.nhsa.org/

"Head Start faculty must get more education"

Head Start agency administrators requiring all of their teachers to get a bachelors degree in order to keep their jobs.  Many Head Start teachers only hold an associate degree, although they have been employed with the agency for many years.  The teachers are being asked to obtain their degree in response to a federal mandate that at least 50% of the teachers at a center based program hold a bachelor's degree in early childhood education.  Requiring teachers to obtain bachelor's degrees is an effort to increase the quality of the program through more education and training in order to provide a better learning experience for the child.
The teachers are being asked to earn the degree by September 2013 or it could result in them becoming teacher assistants.

Week 1 assignment

I use the Global Alliance of NAEYC to send emails to Haiti, Spain, South Africa, and Philippines.  So far, I have not received any responses, but I plan to send a few more emails to some of the others before I decide to do the alternate assignment. (if they are anything like me, it will take a minute to get a reponse.)  I hope to hear back from some of the contacts because it will be interesting to learn about programs outside the US.

The early childhood organization I decided to study is the National Head Start Association.  I started teaching pre-school at Head Start, and I was also a head start student.  I've seen a lot of good things from the organization, and I look forward to staying informed about how Head Start is continuing to serve children and families.

I'm looking forward to learning about some of the other places through others.