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A gift for the children: 29 ECE teachers complete Head Start courses

29 ECE Head Start teachers

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In July, 2015, Congresswoman Aumua Amata announced a substantial $2.3 million grant from the US Department of Education (USDOE) to the Territory of American Samoa.  At the time, Aumua said, “It is crucial that we do all we can to prepare our young people for the future through their education, and these funds will help further that mission.”

The American Samoa Head Start Program was in its third year at the time, and its mission was to promote school readiness for children from low-income families.

 With continued USDOE funding, the ASDOE Early Childhood Education (ECE) program — under the federal program known as Head Start — continues to serve as a critical foundation for education in the Territory. 

While Head Start funding is vital, it is not easily obtained. The criteria for teacher preparation that must be met as part of annual assessment and continued use of federal funds is rigorous, and with good reason.

So it was with appreciation and optimism on July 2, 2018 — last week Monday — that 29 ECE Head Start teachers were awarded Child Development Associate (CDA) Equivalent Course Completion Certificates to meet those federal requirements, enabling them to serve as Assistant Teachers in American Samoa’s ECE Centers.

Following welcoming remarks at Monday’s ceremony by ECE Acting Director Lesieli Miscoi, the Head Start Teacher Requirements were enumerated by ECE Education Program Director Angela Amata.

The highlight, of course, was the moment when certificates were handed out by UH Manoa Principal Investigators, Dr. Deborah Zuercher and Laura Laolagi.

RIGOROUS REQUIREMENTS

 According to Dr. Zuercher, it is the vulnerable nature of preschool children, which makes necessary the “rigorous and unique requirements” for preschool teacher certification. 

 “Just as a driving permit is required before it is legal to get behind the steering wheel, so it is that teachers must obtain a permit called an equivalent Child Development Associate (CDA) credential in order to enter an ECE Center as an Assistant teacher,” she explained.

When ECE teachers earn the equivalent of an Associate Arts degree in Early Childhood Education, they are qualified to serve as lead teachers in ECE Centers.

“Thanks to support from Governor Lolo, the First Lady, ASDOE Director Dr. Ruth Matagi-Tofiga, ECE Director Milaneta Tinitali and Acting ECE Director Lesieli Miscoi, 29 individuals have completed the required University of Hawaii Early Childhood courses to earn the equivalent of the Child Development Associate Credential and are now qualified as ECE Center Assistant Teachers,” she said.

Dr. Zuercher also noted that Bernard M. Lagud, Regional Director of Administration for Children and Families (ACF) expressed his affirmation for the ASDOE ECE and University of Hawai`i/American Samoa Community College course pathway.

 “The University of Hawai`i adds Head Start federally-approved upper division ECE courses to build on the solid foundation that was laid through the Associate Arts (AA) degree at the American Samoa Community College,” she explained.   

She went on to say that Lagud has requested that all current American Samoa ECE Center teachers who need qualifications be enrolled in a federally approved early childhood course pathway this fall, when the grant assessment will be reviewed.

“ASDOE Director Dr. Ruth Matagi-Tofiga, ECE Director Milaneta Tinitali, Acting ECE Director Lesieli Miscoi and ECE Education Program Director Angela Amata have all worked hard to meet Federal Head Start requirements across the years and are to be commended for positively impacting preschool children through their vision and efforts,” Zuercher told Samoa News.

 She added, “It’s all about the children! Head Start is a national commitment to give every child, regardless of circumstances at birth, an opportunity to succeed in school and in life. There is no degree at the University of Hawai`i that is more important than a teacher education degree!”

She said that she is thankful that the University of Hawai`i is able to provide courses that have been approved to meet the minimum Federal Head Start CDA and AA in Early Childhood equivalencies, and “sincerely hopes that ECE teachers can go beyond these minimum requirements to earn their Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood degrees.”

“We need to ensure that there are qualified ECE teachers in the future.”

ECE IN THE CONTEXT OF HISTORY

What does all of this mean in terms of our youngest members of society? The history of ECE gives us some clues.

According to Wikipedia, early childhood education (ECE, sometimes referred to as nursery education) is a branch of education theory which relates to the teaching of little children, both formally and informally, up until the age of about nine, while infant/ toddler education—a subset of early childhood education— denotes the education of children from birth to age two.

Not surprisingly, it emerged as a field of study during the Enlightenment, particularly in European countries with high literacy rates. It continued to grow through the nineteenth century as universal primary education became a norm in the Western world.

Early childhood care and education did not, however begin with the Enlightenment.

Throughout history, a concern for children’s social development has been global in scope, and has always been an integral part of human society.  Arrangements for fulfilling these societal roles have evolved over time and remain varied across cultures, often reflecting family and community structures as well as the social and economic roles of women and men.

Historically, such arrangements have largely been informal, involving family, household and community members. The formalization of these arrangements emerged in the nineteenth century with the establishment of kindergartens for educational purposes and day nurseries for care in much of Europe and North America, as well as in Brazil, China, and India.

It goes without saying that parents are a child's first teachers, and therefore an integral part of the early learning process. However, childhood attachment processes that occur during earliest years (from birth to two years) can be influential to future education. With proper guidance and exploration, children begin to become more comfortable with their environment—provided they have that steady relationship to guide them.

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

Early childhood education often focuses on learning through play, based on the research and philosophy of Jean Piaget, which posits that play meets the physical, intellectual, language, emotional and social needs of children.

Children's curiosity and imagination naturally evoke learning when unfettered, and learning through play will allow a child to develop intellectually.

This is the earliest form of collaboration among children. In this, children learn through their interactions with others. Thus, children learn more efficiently and gain more knowledge through activities such as dramatic play, art, and social games, according to Piaget.

Wikipedia notes that “many oppose the theory of learning through play because they think children are not gaining new knowledge. In reality, play is the first way children learn to make sense of the world… and as they watch adults interact around them, they pick up on their slight nuances, from facial expressions to tone of voice. They are exploring different roles, learning how things work, and learning to communicate and work with others. These things cannot be taught by a standard curriculum, but have to be developed through the method of play.”

 Preschools understand the importance of play in problem-solving and have designed their curriculum around that to allow children to have more freedom. Once these basics are learned at a young age, it sets children up for success throughout their schooling and their life.

Early Childhood programs provide real life props and activities to enrich the children's play, enabling them to learn various skills through play.

In recent decades, studies have shown that early childhood education is critical in preparing children to enter and succeed in the classroom, diminishing their risk of social-emotional mental health problems and increasing self-sufficiency later in their lives.

 To that end, Dr. Zuercher said, “ECE Centers need to follow rigorous standards to provide a learning environment in which the child will be taught to rationalize everything and to be open to interpretations and critical thinking.The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) published a final rule on September 1, 2016 revising the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) to strengthen and improve the quality of Head Start programs to help children.”

THE ROLE OF ECE

It has been said that “it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” By providing education in a child's most formative years, ECE has the capacity to preemptively begin closing the educational achievement gap between low and high-income students before formal schooling begins.

 This is enormously important in both inner city schools and rural or remote areas, where children of low socioeconomic status (SES) often begin school already behind their higher SES peers.

On average, by the time they are three, children with high SES have three times the number of words in their vocabularies as children with low SES.

Participation in ECE, however, has been proven to increase high school graduation rates, improve performance on standardized tests, and reduce both grade repetition and the number of children placed in special education.

Beyond benefitting society, “ECE also significantly impacts the socioeconomic outcomes of individuals. For example, by age 26, students who had been enrolled in Chicago Child-Parent Centers were less likely to be arrested, abuse drugs, or receive food stamps, while they were more likely to have high school diplomas, health insurance and full-time employment.”

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) places strong emphasis on developing the whole child – attending to his or her social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs – in order to establish a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and well-being.

‘Care’ includes health, nutrition and hygiene in a warm, secure and nurturing environment; and ‘education’ includes stimulation, socialization, guidance, participation, learning and developmental activities.

 According to Dr. Zuercher, “The Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five (ELOF) presents five broad areas of early learning, referred to as central domains. The framework is designed to show the continuum of learning for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, and is grounded in comprehensive research around what young children should know and be able to do during their early years. University of Hawai`i ECE courses align with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework.”

Decades of research provide unequivocal evidence that public investment in early childhood care and education can produce economic returns equal to roughly ten times its costs.These gains include: child care that enables mothers to work as well as education and other supports for child development that increase school success, labor productivity, prosocial behavior, and good health through adulthood.