THE ATTACHED FILE IS MY PROGRAM STANDARDS. PLEASE READ SO QUESTION 1 CAN BE ANSWERED CORRECTLY 

RESPOND TO PEER 1 THEN PEER 2 ON A SEPARATE PAGE. PLEASE READ THEIR RESPONSE AND FOLLOW GUIDED RESPONSES

Guided Responses

1. Extend their thoughts on how to incorporate their standards into your program. 

2.  Offer at least one online resource for each of their standards to extend their information.

PEER 1

Standard 3-  This standard’s focus, is on the commitment from parents, teachers, and care givers to their child and student. It emphasizes a group effort for student success, and enables learning opportunities for these adults to improve on their skills to ensure they are effective in their efforts. There are 2 goals with this standard. They are: sharing information about children’s development and learning, and supporting development and learning by engaging families. 

Suggestions for supporting student success: 

1) Create a culture in your classroom where parents feel they are welcome at any time. I believe in having an open-door policy with my families.  This can be achieved by personally reaching out to each family and inviting them into the room to read to the kids, help with art projects, fieldtrips, special events, etc. If parents know they are welcome, they will come and be supportive in your teaching. This will also enable them to watch your teaching. Giving you an opportunity to model teaching techniques, word choice, classroom management, and many other useful tools that the parents can add to their tool belts. 

2) Communicate Daily!!! I know as educators we tend to get swallowed up in the rhetorical teaching tasks, but we can never forget that our parents need and deserve to know what is going on. I have always encouraged myself, and my staff to speak with each parent at least once per day. Share with them the happenings of their child’s day. What their child did well, and what skill their child is working on mastering. Parents love to hear about their children, and when the communication lines are open, we will be better equipped to support our families both at school and at home.  

3) Have a parent resource board either in your room or in the lobby of the center. Make sure your parents know about it! Include all the community resources available to them that support their parenting efforts. Include resources on your weekly/monthly newsletter. There are always great articles popping up, SHARE THEM!!!! Also- plan your family night with your families in mind. Be aware of their needs and remember them as a ‘whole’ person, not just a parent. I’ve had plenty of parents come sit in my office in tears, because they needed a listening ear, or reassurance they were doing a good job as a parent, or because they lost their job. Communicate with them, not at them. Get to know them and their families, I promise it will improve the development and learning for both the child and the parent. 

Standard 4- :  This standard is simply put- every parent should be an advocate for their own child, and every other child. This is to ensure that every child receives the same treatment, education, and opportunities. There are 2 goals with this standard. They are: parent and other family members need to know how the early care and educational program work. The second goal is to ensure that the education and early care staff know how to support and empower the families to maximize their children’s growth 

Suggestions for supporting student success: 

1) One of the many reasons I wanted to be in education was to ensure that every child had a voice. Sharing this passion with fellow parents has proved to be so powerful. When I was offered the opportunity to join the Policy Council Board with Head Start, I knew I was going to be their voice. Our families need to know that their voice counts. We shouldn’t shy away from including them or telling them about opportunities for them to learn the policies and procedures. We should invite them to learn and participate in these types of councils.  

2) Maintain a transparent center and classroom. Make sure the rules and regulations are clearly posted on parent boards, family boards, or in the lobby. Frequently include brief summaries and discussions with the parents at family nights- allowing questions and real organic conversations to take place. 

3) This suggestion is two- fold. First, train the staff to know how to support their families. Sometimes we just assume that our staff understand how to reach each family, and this leads to cracks and holes in our system. Take the time to tackle special circumstances, such as a teacher who for the first time has a special needs child in the class. The second part to this suggestion, is to meet one-on-one with the families. Talk about their child’s strengths and areas they are working on. Find out if the parent has specific concerns for their child, and if they do, be prepared to give them a list of resources that will help guide them in the decisions. Also- know your community and the resources available to the families. Know who your community partners are, and how they can assist the families.  

Supporting student success is essential for student success because children need us. They do not know how, and cannot navigate this world without support and encouragement from their parents, teachers, and care givers. Children need to know that they are not alone in this process of school. They need us to be there for the when they soar and when they fall, knowing that they are equally supported at home and school. 

Speaking up for every child is essential for student success because our children don’t know that they have a voice, or how to use it to advocate for themselves. No matter how much we want every parent to be 100% involved in their child’s education and growth, there are going to be families who just don’t see the importance. These children will need someone to be their voice! On the flip side, just as we want every educator and early learning center to be 100% involved, there will be some who aren’t’. These parents will need to know what and how they can make change happen, to ensure their child is receiving high quality care and education. 

PEER 2

Standard 1: Welcoming all families into school community is essential for students success because it helps build their child’s development. Also, when families are involved with their child’s school life their child feels more comfortable within their education. When parents feel welcomed they are more likely to be involved with their child’s academics and will continue at home. Now some ways to welcome families is at home visits, parent teacher conferences, open house, classroom parties, etc. 

Standard 2: Communicating effectively is essential for students because the communication with family’s needs to be engaging, meaningful on the education of the children. Also, families need to be aware of important issues, events, etc. Parents to know that they can communicate with their child’s teacher and be heard and taken seriously.