The NAEYC website does not have much outside links. However,
there are a few outside links under their Public Policy tab. They had a link
titled Government Links which I decided to check out. They had different
resources on federal, state and local government. The governmental information is
about children and families, early childhood education programs, and publicly
funded programs. I decided to check out the website for the Administration of
Children and Families. The Administration of Children and Families promotes the
economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals and
communities. They provide numerous resources for children and their families
raging from adoption assistance to finding health insurance and information for
runaways. It was great coming across this website. I will definitely be coming
back to this site to see that else they have to offer.
There was a section titled Take Action Now that I decided to
look into. I felt that this section would have information relating to the
issue of the week. They call it the Children’s Champions Action Center. Under
this section, you can write to your congress and find out different issues and legislation's. I decided to search for bills that dealt with this week’s issue
on excellence and equity. One bill from the Senate Bill #S.322 was to set the United States on track to
ensure children are ready to learn when they begin kindergarten. I
wanted to find out more about the Bill, but they only posted which members of
the Senate sponsored the bill and on what day it was sponsored. I clicked on a tab
titled detailed text; however, it stated that the text of S.322 had not yet
been received from the GPO yet. I hope to come back within a few weeks to find
out more about the Bill.
One thing I learned this week is that they actually have a
section titled 10 Things About NAEYC. They offer 10 ways to explore the NAEYC. I
was wondering why I did not see this from the beginning of when I started to
explore their site. I thought this is a great for those who are new to the
organization and the website.
Dorcas,
ReplyDeleteI find myself visiting the NAEYC website often when working on our assignments for this class. I really enjoy it! I looked a little into the bill you mentioned, S. 322. I used to work on Capitol Hill, so I can give you a little info on what to expect with regards to the bill. So, the bill was literally introduced to the Senate on Feb 13th, which means the bill was "read aloud" and then based on the substance of the bill, it was referred to the appropriate committee. In this case, because the bill solely deals with education, it was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. This means, this Senate committee may or may not bring it up on their agenda (the committee's current Chairman decides this). If it is lucky and brought up on the agenda, then the committee can discuss it, hold a hearing on the topic inviting experts in the field, etc. If the Committee decides this bill is of enough importance, they can vote on it being submitted for a vote from the Senate as a whole. Then, if the Senate Leader decides the bill is of enough importance, he/she can decide to include it on the calendar. Depending on its controversy, it will be voted on. Then, if it passes in the Senate, this same bill is sent over to the House (of Representatives) for consideration. And the bill goes through the same process, but on the House side. If it passes through all the stages on the House side, it is ultimately sent to the President to be signed into law. However, the chances of all these pieces falling into place are pretty slim ... not to disappoint, but chances are high that the bill will just sort of "sit" in the Senate committee for awhile ... unless there's this sudden push in Washington to discuss early childhood education.
I hope this all made some sense! I typed a lot, but even left out quite a bit of info!
Thanks again for sharing the info on NAEYC's website,
Lydia
Thank you Lydia so much for this. Now I have a better understanding of the bill!
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