Philosophy Statement on Family Partnerships

The Final Project will illustrate how family-centered programs, theories, and concepts support the early childhood classroom and the child’s family. The family-centered approach asserts that family involvement is important for a young child’s cognitive and social development. The Final Project, which will be presented via PowerPoint, will address the following scenario:

In the book Early Childhood Education Today 11th Edition, we read that “Family-centered practice is one of the cornerstone features of early childhood special education. This follows the fundamental notion that children’s development is influenced by their environment: their family, teachers, school, town, media, governmental systems, and so on.” (MORRISON, 2009) The first thing we as teachers must do is acknowledge that the children’s families are the first and most important teachers of their children and recognize the long-term effect families have on the attitudes and accomplishments of their children . For the edification of today’s youth there are potential positive responses to be obtained through working with a child’s parents as

In what ways might I help parents? To help parents find their voice and be advocates for their children without fear.

When I work with the families, I provide activities that they can do with their children at home, so we can work as a team to meet their child's developmental

Understanding the importance of a family-school partnership is essential in order for school districts and families with children to grow and strive. If an imbalance occurs within any of the various parts that play a key role, difficulties will rise to the surface. Several of these roles include: communication, decision making, volunteering, and learning and parenting at home. All of these factors must work together in order to create a successful school environment in which children are able to learn and strive. When a school is successful in fulfilling each of these roles, there are several benefits. These benefits include: better positive attitudes toward school, higher achievements, better attendance, higher graduation rates, an increase in enrollment rates in post-secondary education, and overall better schools to attend (University of West Virginia).

An obstacle I have witnessed in my school is the lack of parental involvement. Throughout this year, I believe the parents' investment in their children education has been disheartening. I can say in my own classroom, nearly one-third of student’s parents have no idea how they are doing in school academically. About one-sixth of student’s parents don’t sign daily agendas or notes that are sent home. Only about one-fifth of parents consistently attend school programs. My biggest concern is that too many parents are disengaged. Parent involvement can indeed make a difference in a child’s education. Students would perform better academically and behaviorally if their

Providing children with an environment that nurtures their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development is the framework that will promote children’s optimal learning and development. Gaining knowledge about the child will help a teacher to develop and create programs that are suitable for the age and the stages of children’s development. Applying developmentally appropriate practices will support the excellence in early childhood education because it is based off of the knowledge of knowing each child as an individual and how they develop.

is “establishing reciprocal relationships with families” (“Developmentally Appropriate Practice,” 1996, p. 14). There needs to be a two-way connection between teachers and the families of their students. This relationship should be formed through shared responsibilities, cooperation, trust and respect (Bredekamp, 2014, p. 88). The teacher and families of students need to come to an agreement on shared goals and ways to obtain these goals. This is done through open communication and welcoming parents to participate and observe the program so that they can help make appropriate decisions about their child’s education (“Developmentally Appropriate Practice,” 1996, p.

The article Involvement or Engagement by Larry Farlazzo focuses on how to engage families, the school and the community to work together to promote both student and parent success within the school and the community. The article began with discussing the different between parent involvement and engagement. Larry Farlazzo (2011) states “A school striving for family involvement often leads with its mouth—identifying projects, needs, and goals and then telling parents how they can contribute. A school striving for parent engagement, on the other hand, tends to lead with its ears—listening to what parents think, dream, and worry about. The goal of family engagement is not to serve clients but to gain partners”. It’s important to understand the

“Researchers have claimed that good communication between staff and parents (as well as good communication between staff) is a prerequisite for high-quality care and education of young children; that it positively influences children's cognitive and social development, increasing their educational success, and that it contributes to good relations between children and between staff and children”. (Mac Naughton,) The physical, social, and emotional environments welcome and support with variety of activities, different kinds of books, color, and words that shows express of pictures. The environment shows that the simple rules, routine, and expectation for the early childhood program for families and children. Every children have a different rates of grows and develop through an environments but they will, like, interest, or something important to them (Housand, 2012). The environment connect with physical, social, emotional through pictures that allow the families and children the challenge, curiosity, control, and competition their diverse characteristics and

Chapter One opens with a discussion of how the modern family has molded and changed over the years. The “traditional family” is not so traditional anymore and early childhood facilitators are learning how to cope with these changes. For example, several early childhood care facilities are starting to move to more developmentally appropriate practices. A developmentally appropriate practice is one that is appropriate for the individual, society, and the child’s age. Child guidance is very important in the development of a child. Children look up to and strive to be like their adult figures so it is crucial that parents and early childhood facilitators are positive role models throughout their development. The chapter give several examples of

Others have looked at parental involvement under a more community based approach. According to Galligher, Bagin, and Kindred (1997) parent involvement is a systematic, continuous, two-way communication between an education organization and the public. The most widely accepted definition from Epstein (1995) defined parent involvement as “...communication between school personnel and parents about their children” (p. 703).

In early childhood education, lessons should be prepared to meet children’s needs through the use exploratory play, guided discovery, problem solving, and critical thinking. I seek ways to differentiate instruction and provide different teaching styles to reach students of all abilities and intelligence. I believe that students in an early childhood setting should be exposed to social interaction, cooperative learning, hands-on experiences, and real-life applications. Early childhood classrooms should have plenty of books for children to get exposed to enriching texts and literacy at an early age. I believe that in early childhood settings, teachers need to teach about values learn honesty, kindness, cooperation, patience, and respect to be positive role models in society. I seek to develop close relationships with my students, and their families and provide an environment where they feel welcomed and

Parental involvement in education is a vital essential for creating a cooperative environment for the student to thrive and succeed in. When a student knows that he or she is receiving support both inside and outside the school, the chances of that child becoming responsible for and active in their education are more likely. I know that there can be difficulties including parents for many reasons. Such parents may be too busy, uninterested or just feel helpless. However, as an educator, I will still have an obligation to reach out to these parents and assist them.

nineteenth century (Wallace). “Parent Involvement” and “parent participation” are nebulous terms because there is an array of parenting behaviors that this could include (Hickman). Either way you define it, parents must get involved. What many parents consider ‘being involved’ varies from family to family. No one is better placed or more qualified than parents to make a difference in their child’s academic and lifelong education (Bourquin). Parents are the vast resource that must be tapped to increase student learning (Hickman).