NAEYC, better known as The National Association for the Education of Young Children, defines early childhood as the time frame before a child turns eight.

The organization states this to be the period in which children experience the most rapid growth and development. It’s at this point where their brains develop faster, making 0-8 years the most critical in a child’s life.

It’s during these years that children lay the foundation for their self-esteem, social skills, moral outlook, and their perception of the world. It’s also during these years when children develop their cognitive abilities.

Experts in education and life encourage early childhood education as a means to propel healthy development and nurturing of all the fundamental foundations in children.

Moreover, studies published in the National Center for Education Statistics show that parents realize the importance of early childhood education.

Reason being, the enrollment in prekindergarten education level has improved from a mere 96,000 to over 1 million plus within the last 30 years.

The US Department of Education doesn’t demand children to be enrolled in early childhood education programs. However, extensive research proves that early childhood education plays a critical role in learning.

Published findings show that children enrolled in Head Start programs profit by receiving formal education before reaching kindergarten.

The youngsters that attend Head Start programs exhibit higher IQ scores and are more well behaved compared to children that start kindergarten without having gone through such programs.

Further, youth who were enrolled in formal education systems before kindergarten learned more quickly than those that didn’t pass through the same programs.

The federal government sponsors Head Start programs. It equips the schools with teaching staff and tools to cater to children coming from low-income families. Most kids targeted range from the ages of 2 to 5.

The children are taken through programs that enhance their cognitive, social and emotional development.

Some parents also set aside time to teach their young from their homes, readying them for kindergarten.

Statistics show that, in as much as quality daycare programs help kids develop intellectually, they benefit more when their parents create the time to educate them.

Child education experts state that young children learn more and understand better without pushing them hard. They respond more to teaching when they get to mingle with their family and peers.

They also respond well when they’re treated kindly by both instructors and their parents.

The same findings published demonstrated that kids absorb more when educational activities and direct instruction make up a small percentage of their learning activities. It mainly applies to children attending pre-school programs.

Early childhood education proves to benefit children that attend smaller classes with fewer kids taught by experienced teachers trained to handle this age set. From an early age, children enrolled in early education programs exhibit the following:

• Enhanced attention spans
• Minimal to zero special education instruction in subsequent school years
• Improved social skills
• Better grades

Studies conducted for 30 plus years show children enrolled in pre-school programs have a higher tendency of graduating from high school, going to college, and have low behavioral problems.

Most of these kids were found not to engage in criminal activities in their adolescent and young adult years.

Further studies show that apart from benefiting youngsters with typical development, children with learning or physical disabilities benefit from attending pre-school programs.

Children that grow up knowing another language in their developmental years stand a better chance of grasping grammar at a young age.

Parents that decided to educate their young ones instill creative ideas and activities that help children understand things better and faster. Children who were homeschooled before joining kindergarten proved to have higher IQs and more confidence in class.

Early Childhood Education Strengths

Recently published scientific studies show that learning and mental development starts immediately after birth. From 0-3 years is the stage in which critical brain and neural development occur.

It goes to prove that children benefit greatly when they receive education before attending kindergarten. Parents are encouraged to educate their young ones before enrolling them into kindergarten.

A sizeable number of parents start educating their kids during the critical developmental years.

Some parents neglect to create the time to educate their young ones due to a different number of factors, including extended work schedules.

Some are ignorant of educating children at a young age. Such aspects negatively affect children, and the effects often reverberate throughout society.

A study initiated by the Abecedarian (ABC) project was based on two groups of young children. One group gained pre-school education, while the other didn’t attend preschool. The study established that children with pre-school education scored higher on reading tests in subsequent school years.

The study also revealed that the children who didn’t receive any formal education before enrolling in kindergarten were more prone to struggle in class and ended up exhibiting delinquent behaviors and substance abuse in their early adult years.

Early childhood education has proven that children can become socially and economically prosperous.

Moreover, experts insist that greater emphasis on early education helps in alleviating criminal behavior and substance abuse in adolescents and young adults.

Research conducted recently and published by the National Association of States Boards of Education show that it’s a futile task to come up with national educational goals without effecting pre-school programs.

What Needs To Be Done

Improving early childhood education through high quality pre-school education programs is a necessary step in combating social and economic anomalies.

Kids should start receiving education before enrolling into kindergarten to boost their brain development in their early years.

Regardless of the differences in opinion pitted for or against formal pre-school education, kids receiving some form of schooling in their early years have a better chance in succeeding in life than those that didn’t.

That said, however, there isn’t a one-size fit all instructional setting best suited for all kids. Indeed, some children benefit immensely from attending pre-school; however, it’s not necessarily the best educational setting for all young kids.

Research findings place parents as the best source for introducing their kids to early childhood education.

They (parents) are, however, encouraged to evaluate their child’s unique personality before coming up with programs that will suit them, as not all early childhood education programs will prove to be beneficial to the child.

The teaching force is every school system’s most precious asset.

Moreover, the most critical investment districts, schools, school boards, administrators, and parents can make to enhance the schooling system is making sure that the teaching fraternity continues learning.

Teachers that increase their knowledge and skills by participating in high-quality professional learning contribute towards the nation’s goal of adequately educating our future working generations.

Professional development is a never-ending process that gets teachers taking individual and collective examinations and gain more extensive teaching experience by improving their practice.

Professional development is aimed at empowering individual teachers, and communities of educators in creating complex decisions that play a role in distinguishing and solving problems, bringing together theory, practice, and student outcomes.

Professional development opens the way for educators to accord students with learning opportunities that better prepare them to tackle the outside world successfully gaining their foot either in employment or business arenas, and become quality citizens.

What Are The Benefits Attributed To Professional Development?

Professional development helps in deepening and broadening content knowledge. It’s also mandated with creating a robust foundation in the methods and teaching of specific disciplines.

Professional development provides knowledge in teaching and learning processes. It ought to be cemented in and should also reflect the best available research findings. Its contents need to be aligned with the curriculum and standards educators use.

Professional development should cultivate measurable improvement in student achievement. It has to engage intellectually and should breakdown the complexity that is teaching.

Professional development should offer sufficient time, support, and resources teachers require in mastering new content, teaching methods, thus integrating the knowledge and skill acquired into the practice.

Professional development is a preserve of educators liaising with experts in this field to create tangible courses/curriculum. It ought to take numerous forms and should be site and/or district specific and job-embedded.

Professional and Career Development

Statistics provided by the Department of Education show that states, as well as districts, usually result in categorizing all teachers in a single criterion.

Unfortunately, this approach waters-down the efficiency and productivity of the workforce management.

Only by carefully managing individual talents and careers is it possible to organize the teaching workforce making them become more efficient and productive.

Currently, the professional and career development practice in place has failed time and again in distinguishing developmental ways for independent educators.

It fails miserably in identifying effective teachers to retain, advance, and assigning them to fields that they excel and will impact student learning. The practice also performs poorly in identifying underperforming educators.

New Educators Sourcing and Preparation

States, districts, and schools make a huge difference when they invest in getting educators thoroughly prepared before, and when they start teaching a classroom.

In return, the teachers improve their performance and stick to teaching thanks to the support they receive. The educators are enrolled in innovative programs designed to help them improve productivity.

These programs are centered around critical proficiencies that are critical in helping educators become more productive in the classroom.

The teacher preparation processes help them progressively fine-tune and build on their training. The teaching models come with course programs that offer rigorous clinical experiences.

Some of the programs put in place to foster teacher professional development include the following:

The New Teacher Project: TNTP is a project that targets teachers’ professional development. It’s designed to have more highly effective educators working/teaching in schools with high-needs.

The project scouts for, facilitates placements and continues training educators in the selected schools. The project has developed and implements an alternative certification path.

Urban Teacher Residency United: URT is an alliance of teacher residency schemes. It offers educators a 12-month residency program that brings together classroom traineeship with aligned sequences of master’s level scholarly work.

Mentor teachers are assigned to matching residents, and as the trainees progress with the course, they graduate from co-teaching to taking up the lead-teaching role.

Once they’re done with the residency, they graduate and serve in the school district for a minimum three years; they are accorded the chance of taking part in on-going induction programs.

What Needs To Change For Teacher Professional Development To Thrive?

The current teacher evaluation practice falls short. It fails to make substantial variations between high performing and low performing educators.

Policymakers are urging states and districts to adopt systems that help in making proper decisions derived from various forms of evidence.

Student learning evidence plays a role in identifying effective teachers to have them advance and pointing out the low performing teachers who require support.

Incorporating extremely thorough and careful teacher evaluation systems is a lengthy investment approach that pays back by producing a more profound workforce.

The evaluation systems help in supporting and adopting new approaches in career development and talent management.

The Most Effective Professional Development Practices

Numerous research findings prove that for professional development to succeed in improving teaching practice and student learning, there are a minimum of five key components that need to be adhered to, they include:

Content Focus: zeroing in on activities that focus more on the subject matter, content, and in the ways, students consume the content.

Active Learning: creating opportunities for educators to observe, receive feedback, analyze student work, and make presentations.

Coherence: creating goals, activities, and content that mirrors school curriculum and objectives, students’ needs, teacher knowledge and beliefs, state, district, and school reforms and policies.

Sustained Duration: continuous professional development activities throughout the school year should cover 20 plus hours of contact time.

Collective Participation: Peer educators (either in the same subject, grade, or school) should take part in professional development activities together; this helps in fostering interactive learning communities. 

Conclusion

Implementing the key points in this article at the state, district, and school levels will help in creating professional development programs that encourage educators to continue learning and honing their skills.

In return, their input will help students and the school perform better. Professional development systems should be continuously evaluated to help teachers get the latest and best ways to enhance their skills and continue working as career educators.

Teaching is a challenging profession. Staying true to the job proves difficult for some educators and data published as recently as last year shows a massive exodus of teachers leaving the profession for more satisfying careers.

Tackling high workloads, getting zero to minimal support, work-life balance, and the lack of recognition are some of the problems that cause teachers to leave the classroom and look for other jobs.

Moreover, additional data shows that the lack of job security and significant low pay compared to other professions also makes a substantial number of new teachers look for other jobs that guarantee them security and better payment.

To reverse the effects resulting from massive resignations from teachersstates are working with education stakeholders to come up with tangible solutions.

States are liaising with school districts in implementing professional development and peer assistance targeted at newly recruited teachers.

Research conducted in recent years shows that around three-fourths of new teachers have gone through an induction program. They have also had the chance of having a mentor teacher working with them, showing them the ropes.

A significant number of states fully fund mentoring programs, that are run and overseen by expert and experienced teachers with release time to be in class coaching new teachers regularly.

To help teachers stay in the profession, published data shows the importance for beginners to undergo systematic and intense mentoring in their first year of teaching.

The mentoring programs incorporate weekly support and in-classroom coaching during the first year to help new signees fine-tune their skills, and learn how to plan for lessons.

Such support plays a vital role when it comes to problem-solving issues that crop up in the classroom.

The experienced teacher will help the new one take practical steps to de-escalate situations in the most amicable ways.

Having mentors work with the new employees ensures that new teachers don’t just survive, but become competent, capable, and have reasons to stay in the teaching profession.

Changing Teacher Preparation Programs

Previous teacher preparation programs had teachers taking several courses, followed by an eight-week student teaching stint at the end of the sessions.

The past program saw candidates learning things in the abstract which they mostly forgot by the time they got assigned into a classroom.

Moreover, given the advancement in society, practices they underwent in their student-teaching classroom do not necessarily reflect the ones described in their courses. Fortunately, this antiquated, fragment program is being phased out.

A lot of today’s teacher education programs have been designed to offer strong clinical experience linked to coursework.

The programs offer courses that adequately prepare trainees in curriculum development, assessment, and differentiated instruction. The courses play a huge role in keeping teachers practicing the profession.

Data from the Department of Education shows teachers that adequately prepare for the profession have higher rates of staying in teaching as opposed to educators that didn’t get the critical preparation elements.

Teachers that have undergone student teaching have lower rates of leaving the profession after the first year of teaching than those that haven’t student taught.

Furthermore, teachers that have had coaching, been observed in their classrooms, and attended classes to see other teachers are more likely to stick to the profession after the first year.

Teachers that attend courses on child development, curriculum, and learning tend to stick with the profession more than the educators that didn’t participate in these courses.

Carefully managed student-teaching placements play a significant role in helping new teachers embrace the profession and wanting to stick around to continue educating students.

College and Schools Collaboration

School districts should encourage colleges and schools to collaborate to help new teachers settle well into the profession.

The collaboration should create clinical sites for training teachers in workable programs that have courses connected in the clinical work and the context of carefully mentored student teaching.

In the initiated programs, students are taught specific practices that they take to their classrooms and incorporate them into their teaching.

They capture the experiences either in writing or video, and bring them back into the clinic to debrief, learn how to solve problems that cropped up. They then help to create customized practices that are in tune with the classroom.

Collaborative planning between faculties in schools and colleges play a more significant role in helping new teachers learn, adapt, and appreciate the profession.

Today, robust programs modeled under such initiatives, enroll students in student teaching from the time they start the clinic until the point when they finish with the program.

Such initiatives have seen many teachers that would have given up, find joy in teaching and balancing their work-life.

Supportive Environment

Unfortunately, schools and education leaders will not always change policies that affect the teaching profession. However, to retain teachers not just in their schools or districts, but in the profession, there are many support systems they can apply.

Teachers are happier in environments where they succeed with the students when they get the support they need and have colleagues that encourage them to work as a team.

New teachers that are starting the profession are enthusiastic and collaborative oriented people. To keep them this way, schools and districts need to incorporate a few things including:

• Building professional learning communities
• Structuring group collaboration for planning curriculum
• Encouraging ongoing inquiry into practice

Schools and school leaders that foster such environments grant teachers continuous opportunities to learn and grow in the profession.

They provide them with the tools they need to use in their job, making it easier for them to create budding relationships with parents so that they can partner up on behalf of the students.

To achieve a supportive environment and better retain new teachers, schedules may have to be reorganized, specific systems targeting mentoring need to be incorporated into schools, districts may need to restructure and evaluate their current practices to create better environments for new teachers.

In return, teachers will be much happier, successful in their work, and stick to the teaching profession. 

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a process in which kids and adults learn how to:

Understand

Make responsible decisions

Create and maintain positive relationships

Manage emotions

Feel and show empathy for others

Set and achieve positive goals

Social Emotional Learning goes beyond a lesson or program; it’s a process that cuts across multiple contexts daily. It concerns the way teaching and learning happen and also what you teach and where you learn.

In the United States, SEL centers on five core competencies. These elements span across different settings including: classrooms, schools, districts, families and the community at large.

The core elements go further to inspire minds, educate hearts, and help students navigate the world when they’re better prepared. The five core competencies include:

1. Responsible Decision Making: Making logical choices regarding personal behavior and social interactions based on social norms, ethical standards, and safety.

• Relationship Skills: Listening properly, communicating clearly, cooperating with others, seeking and offering help when required, negotiating constructively, and resisting the urge to fall into inappropriate social pressure.

• Self-Awareness: Familiarizing yourself with your strengths and limitations, achieving well-grounded optimism, a sense of confidence, and having a growth mindset.

• Self-Management: Learning effective ways to manage stress, being in control of impulses, motivating self to set and achieve goals.

• Social Awareness: Learning and understanding the perspectives of other people and empathizing with them; acknowledging and accepting others from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Creating Learning Environments

Social Emotional Learning is a concept that is deeply ingrained in us. It plays a role in how students and adults interact in the classroom and the outside world.

SEL helps kids access equitable, supportive, and welcoming learning environments. SEL is taught in the classroom, and it plays a considerable role in granting tomorrow’s workforce the tools they need to succeed.

As for the teachers, SEL brings about a positive teaching and learning climate that leads to increased academic success.

Students who go through Social Emotional Learning come out better prepared to solve problems, communicate and manage emotions properly.

Jones. Greenberg, & Crowley (2015) found that students who participate in Social Emotional Learning starting early in life and continuing all through their schooling benefit from endless and impressive benefits later in their lives.

In the report, the research conducted shows that social-emotional skills development right from kindergarten leads to students with a higher likelihood of attaining a college degree, and landing well-paying jobs.

It also lowers their chances of getting into trouble with the law or suffering from substance abuse as adults.

A Teachers College Study in 2015 showed that for each dollar that goes into Social Emotional Learning, an equivalent of $11 is collected as return on investment. 

Further,SEL practices come in handy when it comes to reducing and closing the achievement gap. SEL plays a fundamental role in damaging the school-to-prison pipeline.

It helps children brought up in poor backgrounds gain critical foundational skills they need to excel in their Higher Education and attain gainful employment.

Moreover,SEL comes with restorative justice programs that help reduce suspensions and keep more kids in school who later turn into worthy members of society.

Social Emotional Learning Benefits

A lot of studies conducted around SEL show how beneficial it is to children and adults. Students that undergo SEL programs demonstrate improved academic progress coupled with improved college and career readiness.

Some of the contributions provided by Social Emotional Learning include better educational outcomes and student well-being as it helps students learn, know, understand and manage emotions when relating to peers and adults, thus reducing conflict levels. They learn how to conduct themselves when socializing with others and learn where to draw a line.

Other benefits attributed to Social Emotional Learning include:

Instructional Time

Numerous research papers state that almost ten minutes of instructional time gets lost in behavior issues in every lesson. It amounts to an equivalent of 30 days lost in a school year.

However, implementing SEL programs in learning institutions has shown a reduction in behavioral issues.

College Ready

As more schools incorporate Social Emotional Learning, they are in return, profiting from higher attendance and experiencing fewer dropouts. Students going through SEL programs improve their academic performance.

SEL programs continue to prove that they’re a better alternative to producing higher academic outcomes as opposed to using various universal interventions.

A collection of 213 studies that evolved around 270,000 students published that learners receivingSEL programming averaged 11% points higher than students who never went through Social Emotional Learning.

Career Ready

The U.S. Department of Labor published reports indicating that the modern day employer is looking to hire job seekers possessing the following Social Emotional Learning skills:

Self-esteem

Problem-solving

Listening and communication

Goal setting

Besides, twelve of the sixteen skills identified by the World Economic Forum (W.E.C.) critical for the 21st-century workforce fall under social and emotional skills.

Students who go through SEL in their schooling career come out better prepared and have higher chances of gaining employment.

Kids that are fortunate enough to go through significant SEL programs profit from gaining the five core skills mentioned in the top paragraphs of this article.

Gaining the five core skills enables them to prosper both in class and in the outside world.

Ready For The World

Social Emotional Learning contributes to a variety of improved life outcomes. A significant number of studies conducted around SEL conclude that students taking part in comprehensive Social Emotional Learning programs exhibit healthier behaviors.

They go on to show that SEL extends to healthier impacts alongside improved in-school behavior, including improved physical health and handling stressful situations more rationally and calmly.

SEL helps students that tended to go towards violent behavior, learn how to harness that energy and direct it somewhere else, such as engaging in physical sports, including football and various martial arts programs.

It goes to show that Social Emotional Learning, when embraced globally and used to offer tiered support, will not only improve students’ overall quality of life but will produce well rounded adults.

They, in turn, focus more on saving the planet and improving things humanity has disregarded or obliterated!