Sharing Web Resources

ACEI E-Newsletter is Association for Childhood Education International.  The specific section or information comes from Association Update and Education News section. The article: Investing in Our Children information seemed particularly relevant to my current professional development. When I read the article, it was focus on women.  The article states: Since the election there has been widespread recognition that America’s changing demography helped drive the president’s victory, and this recognition has helped propel immigration reform to the top of Congress’s agenda.  But the country has been slower to recognize the critical impact of women voters.  The fact is that women voter decided the outcome of this election-despite losing the male vote President Obama was reelected because he won the support of 55 percent of women voters.  The resulting 10 percent gender gap was one of the largest in recent decades.  So as the president seeks to forge a lasting legacy, he should seize this opportunity to take action on policies that will positively impact women’s lives.

The e-newsletter that adds to my understanding, how economists support the early childhood field?

All children should have access to high-quality preschool.  Economists like Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Nobel Laureate James Heckman agree that preschool produces a very high return on investment.  And they agree that many of the benefits such as lower crime and higher worker productivity go not only to the children but also to their families and society at large.

The insight I have gain from exploring the e-newsletter about issue/trend in the early childhood field.  The early childhood investments will help address our growing economic inequality and diminishing rates of upward mobility.  These trends have been exacerbated by the dramatic changes in American’s family structure.  Perhaps the most worrisome change is the increasing number of children who are being raised by low-and lower-middle-income single parents, particularly single mothers.  As one sociologist has remarked, “it is the privileged Americans who are marrying, and marrying helps them stay privileged.” By contrast, lower-income single parents must get by on a single paycheck and without a spouse to help with child care responsibilities.  In part as a result, children growing up in a household with only one lower-income parent are more likely to struggle in school, to earn less income as adults, and to experience a wide range of less-favorable life outcomes.  By investing in these children while they are still young, we have a much greater impact at less cost.