Sharing Web Resources-Update

As I continue to explore the website for Child Care Aware of America (http://www.naccrra.org), I am learning more about the various resources that they have to offer for child care providers. For providers who wish to continue working on professional development, Child Care Aware of America offers a professional development training center (http://naccrra.smarthorizons.org/index.html). In the training center, there are numerous courses available, depending on the goals that the provider is looking to accomplish. For example, a provider can work on their Child Development Associate (CDA) initial certification and their renewal. Providers can also take specialized courses that are geared toward certain curricular areas that their students may be struggling in. Some of these specialized courses include child-directed activities, early literacy, and music activities. There are also professional development trainings that are geared specifically toward center-based or family-based child care providers, which can be beneficial since general trainings may not necessarily include topics or issues that are more relevant to center-based or family-based environments.

One article from the website that gained my attention was Child Care Aware of America Supports the Child Care Protection Act of 2013, which can be found at http://www.naccrra.org/news-room/press-releases/2013/3/child-care-aware®-of-america-supports-the-child-care-protection-act-. This particular bill that was recently introduced would require comprehensive background checks for all child care providers. As of right now, this process is only mandated in 13 states in the U.S. Since in Ohio, we are required to submit to regular fingerprinting for background checks if you work with children (I had to do this when I was a lifeguard for my local YMCA), I was shocked to hear that this is not a mandatory process for all individuals who could be working with children. This truly scares me to think that I could move to another state and place my children in a child care program where the staff could potentially be sex offenders or have been convicted of child abuse!

It took me a little while to search the website for an example of the support of early childhood education provided by someone other than educators and the federal government, but I did come across an article from New Mexico that described the movement to amend the state constitution to allow for funding toward pre-Kindergarten programs (http://coreissues.usa.childcareaware.org/latest-news/amendment-would-boost-early-childhood-education/). Even local business owners, such as Victor Limary-owner of Talin Market, support the move to provide state-funded preschool. The article states that by investing in the education of young children, the state is investing in the future of the local businesses by increasing the talent pool. This act is still in the making though because there are still several opposing groups, such as a local chamber of commerce that does not currently see that a current investment in the state's young children will bring a greater economic return in the future. I am curious to see if this amendment ends up passing!