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En español: The California Child Development CORPS (en español) |
This article originally appeared in the May-June 2007 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children. Use the Children's Advocate in your work! Feel free to reprint this article, as a handout or in your own publication -- just credit us (see above) and be sure to send us a copy. The California Child Development CORPSEarly childhood teachers and providers organizing and advocating for better pay, benefits, job conditions, and professional respect. By Amanda Montague“A significant step for teachers”Teachers’ input was very important,” says Corps participant Da’Monica Robinson. At a recent hearing on the California Department of Education’s draft early learning foundations (see Early learning “foundations”), Robinson says, “we could make (policymakers) understand the process of learning for (preschool-age) children.” The California Child Development Corps was one of the organizations invited to give early feedback on CDE’s “foundations,” which cover language and literacy, math, social-emotional development, and English language learners. “It is extremely important for teachers to be included in these meetings,” agrees Yu-Fong Wang, a teacher at UC Berkeley’s Early Childhood Education Program. “I think decision-makers assume researchers are better informed about children than teachers. (This) was a significant step for teachers.” Wang has been active with the Corps for two years in advocacy campaigns and training workshops. Making key points“I focused on the needs of minority children,” says Robinson, “and whether all children would be able to meet these new standards. I’m hoping the preschool foundations will meet the needs of all children and that every child will succeed.” Robinson is a teacher at Oakland’s Harriet Tubman Early Childhood Education Center and has been active in the Corps for almost three years, participating in advocacy events in Sacramento and recently at the Corps workshops at the CAEYC conference in March. Wang advocated for increased teacher training on social-emotional development. “Teachers need to be self-reflective in order to provide an appropriate, nurturing environment for children. How we can support and train teachers is far more important to me than setting social-emotional standards for children.” Next stepsRobinson plans to stay active on this issue by attending upcoming public hearings (see Announcements). Teachers need to remind policymakers that preschoolers “also need to run around, hide things in (shoe boxes) and think it’s funny, and call things by the wrong name,” she says. “We need to remember to let them be kids, too.”
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