 Pictured from left to right: James Larson, Rashida Mitchell, Tracey Dunn, Secretary Ben Carson, Kimberley Biagioli, and Douglas Desper
 With every change of administration comes the excitement of meeting the new Secretary. A time when senior officials meet their staff members and those that support the federal government mission. What better place to do this than at the child development center. Secretary Carson was elated to see the smiling faces of the children and very excited to be a part of a facility that is a pioneer in quality early child care programs for federal employees. One of the things that he commented on was the engagement of the children in the activities and energizing sounds of learning through play.
On Tuesday, February 20, 2018 Secretary Carson toured The Children’s House, getting a chance to see all of the children in all of the classrooms. During his visit, he spoke with staff, took a group photo with the Board of Directors, and handed out mandarin oranges to the pre-kindergarten children.
It was great visit enjoyed by all!
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 Meet Grace M, Oakley, children’s book author, mother of four, and an Infant Toddler Teacher at Federal Kids Care, Inc. in Newark, New Jersey. Grace has a degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and especially enjoys working with younger children as they moving through stages of development. After working with preschool-aged children for many years, she became interested in how infants and toddlers develop in their own unique ways. Upon doing so, Grace became fascinated with observing, and seeing more clearly, how the six to eighteen month children moved through the stages of development to become the preschoolers she previously taught. Throughout her day she enjoys observing young children exploring, walking, building, and going about their day in child care. Her observation is that that children are unique in their development and this diversity enriches everyone’s experience in child care. Imagine Learning Inc. at Federal Kids Care is fortunate to have an Infant Toddler Teacher who enjoys her career as much as Grace does!
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Recent research from Yale University found that thousands of children—including a disproportionate number of boys and black children—are being suspended from school before reaching kindergarten. As a result, early childhood policymakers have made tremendous efforts in the last few years to find successful programs and initiatives that will help keep challenging children in preschool. Suspension and expulsion rates are greatly lowered when teachers feel competent about working with challenging young children and supporting their emotional development.
"If you have a preschool program and you expel the children who need it the most, you're sabotaging your rate of return," said Walter S. Gilliam, a Yale University associate professor of psychology who has been at the forefront of this research. "No child is more in need of a school-readiness-boosting preschool experience than a child who is being expelled or suspended from a preschool."
The research also indicates that large class sizes and long preschool days correlate with higher rates of expulsion, as were classrooms that reported frequent use of flashcards and worksheets and less time in the day devoted to learning through play. The more children per teacher, and the longer the preschool day, the more likely a teacher would resort to expulsion. Teachers who reported a high degree of job stress tended to resort to expulsions more so than other teachers.
As a result of this research, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) led the development of a collective statement against suspension and expulsion in the early years, signed by over 30 national early childhood organizations. The statement expressed their support behind the research and recommendations of the joint policy statement written by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Education.
This past month, NAEYC, the accrediting body for GSA Child Care Centers, included a new assessment item (1E.1) in their streamlined system that addresses this issue. This item will be assessed starting this summer during the NAEYC renewal visits. Boards need to work with their Provider to ensure they have an effective policy that meets the new standard.
To view the specific language of 1E.1, you can access it in this document here.
Boards should expect Providers to start talking about new policies in this area that will meet the NAEYC guidelines. They should also be discussing the provision of increased mental health support for children and increased professional development for teachers and caregivers. And finally, the process should include provisions for when children exhibit persistent and serious challenging behaviors to have your program develop a systematic process for transitioning the child to a more appropriate setting, instead of relying on expulsion.
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