Advocacy & Legislation in Early Childhood Education Advocacy & Legislation in Early Childhood Education Advocating for Early Childhood Education Rasmussen College COURSE#: EEC 4910 Doreen Anzalone July 15, 2019 Advocating for Early Childhood Education · What is advocacy? Advocacy is how we support our children. We as teachers give advice for our children or we listen. We let the children and families know that we believe in them and we will be there for them. Teachers, admin, staff can advocate for children as long as they are in school. Advocates are also trained people and they are not lawyers. One of their responsibility is to stay up to date with the regulations of the educational laws. · Why is advocacy important to early childhood education? Its important to help the families because they might be vulnerable in society. We as teachers need to make sure our children and families are being heard. We as teachers need to make sure their wishes and views are being considered when it’s about their child or family. Its because we are helping the family make life decisions about their children and even their family life. Its also important to make sure we are not judging the family or having or our own personal opinions about what is going on when we are helping advocate for the family, we need to make sure we are stating the facts for the family. · What is your role as an early childhood educator in making legislative changes? Our role is to be able to email them or decide how to get a hold of them and let them know our questions, comments or suggestions on things that need to be changed, updated. We need to let them know so we can support our school, children, and families. It is our role as educators to stay aware of the laws. The Federal laws we need to make sure we are aware of the · Family Education Rights & Poverty Act · The No Child Left Behind · Individuals with Disabilities Education Act With these laws and many more they need to hear from schools in the United States. The federal laws mean we need to address the issues. These issues usually involve infringement of the student’s rights and they are to protect the rights. The state laws depend on the state you are in. The state laws this is where you would go if you have a problem or need to voice about · Teacher Retirement · Teacher evaluations · Charter schools · State Testing requirements · The required learning standards · Much more Your school board is also a great place to help with policies and regulations and any revisions that need to be done. · What ethical issues must early childhood education professionals consider related to advocacy and why do those issues exit? In NAEYC the code of Ethical Conduct and in their it describes how any educator is required to act and what they do and not to do. At times as an educator as staff we tend to do what is the simplest or sometimes, we want to please others but when it comes to this, we must remember to follow our responsi.

1. Advocacy & Legislation in Early Childhood Education
Advocacy & Legislation in Early Childhood Education
Advocating for Early Childhood Education
Rasmussen College
COURSE#: EEC 4910
Doreen Anzalone
July 15, 2019
Advocating for Early Childhood Education
· What is advocacy?
Advocacy is how we support our children. We as teachers give
advice for our children or we listen. We let the children and
families know that we believe in them and we will be there for
them. Teachers, admin, staff can advocate for children as long
as they are in school. Advocates are also trained people and
they are not lawyers. One of their responsibility is to stay up to
date with the regulations of the educational laws.
· Why is advocacy important to early childhood education?
Its important to help the families because they might be
vulnerable in society. We as teachers need to make sure our
children and families are being heard. We as teachers need to
make sure their wishes and views are being considered when it’s
about their child or family. Its because we are helping the
family make life decisions about their children and even their
family life. Its also important to make sure we are not judging
the family or having or our own personal opinions about what is
going on when we are helping advocate for the family, we need
to make sure we are stating the facts for the family.
· What is your role as an early childhood educator in making
legislative changes?
Our role is to be able to email them or decide how to get a hold

2. of them and let them know our questions, comments or
suggestions on things that need to be changed, updated. We
need to let them know so we can support our school, children,
and families. It is our role as educators to stay aware of the
laws. The Federal laws we need to make sure we are aware of
the
· Family Education Rights & Poverty Act
· The No Child Left Behind
· Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
With these laws and many more they need to hear from schools
in the United States. The federal laws mean we need to address
the issues. These issues usually involve infringement of the
student’s rights and they are to protect the rights. The state laws
depend on the state you are in. The state laws this is where you
would go if you have a problem or need to voice about
· Teacher Retirement
· Teacher evaluations
· Charter schools
· State Testing requirements
· The required learning standards
· Much more
Your school board is also a great place to help with policies and
regulations and any revisions that need to be done.
· What ethical issues must early childhood education
professionals consider related to advocacy and why do those
issues exit?
In NAEYC the code of Ethical Conduct and in their it describes
how any educator is required to act and what they do and not to
do. At times as an educator as staff we tend to do what is the
simplest or sometimes, we want to please others but when it
comes to this, we must remember to follow our responsibilities
and follow the code of conduct. Advocacy is important but we
need to make sure we are always remembered to have
confidentiality when dealing in these situations and we always
need to have the appropriate paperwork like signed release
requests before we can just talk to anybody about what is going

3. on with the family
· What strategies/tips would you use to help families advocate
for their children.
I would let them know that they need to be kept informed, they
need to build a relationship with child’s teachers they need to
be and stay part of the team, know their child’s rights, they
need to remember to talk to their child, stay clam and remember
to ask questions when they have them. I would let them know
that I can go to meetings with them and help them where they
need the support. I can write a letter and support them that way
if they feel I do not need to go to the direct meeting with them.
Part 2 of Assignment
Parent Involvement is so important due to the more parents stay
involved the better we will have achievement. Parents
involvement it helps their child stay in school more and not
want to skip school as much which means better attendance.
Your child tends to have higher grades when parents are
involved it shows better social skills for their children and they
tend to have better behavior so at the end of the day, week, year
your child will be better off if you are involved and stay
involved as much as you can. We also have families where dads
tend not to want to be in the picture of their child and they need

4. to stay involved for the child it helps the child earn better
grades, helps keep children out of jail, teenage pregnancies,
earn higher degrees and go on to school, they tend not to have
to repeat a level in school so all in all I understand it is hard
work and takes time but please stay involved in your child’s
time at school.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Part 3 Assignment
To whom it may concern,
I am Jessica Gauthier. I am a teacher for Head Start. I have
worked for a Head Start program for nine years. I have earned
my Associate Degree and will be receiving my Bachelor’s
Degree in September 2019.
I am writing due to the reduced nutrition meals that children are
receiving in schools and how families can't afford the meals at
school. Breakfast and lunch at school might be the only meals
that children receive. We at school are serving our children a lot
of prepackaged food; this is not nutritious at all, and we
sometimes wonder why we have a rise in child obesity in the
United States. The prepacked food does not help with the brain
development of our children and how does that help with our
children being able to concentrate in school or get good grades.
Comment by Doreen Anzalone: Reduced number of
nutritious meals….
We need a way to help fund our schools better and provided
better on packaged foods for our children. We do have such
programs as Farm to School, Farm to Institution Purchasing. We
need to have more advocate for our USDA program.
Comment by Doreen Anzalone: “provide a better option
than prepackaged food…

5. We need to provide our schools with more training and
technical assistant and more money or grants to provided better
food for our children. We need parents to come and eat the
meals and be able to advocate for their child on how much-
prepacked menu their child is eating. We need to come up with
a program that allows all children to be able to have free
breakfast, lunch, and even maybe a snack. I think that if this
should vary state to state and county to the county due to the
counties being in poverty should get free breakfast, lunch, snack
yes, we have some counties that do not need it. I feel we should
not be limiting children who forget their money at home or their
meal ticket that child should be able to eat anyways. This would
include all children despite race, sex, color. I want to sit down
and discuss more options with you and hear more of your
opinions on some of the suggestions you must be able to help
change things. Comment by Doreen Anzalone: To provide…
Comment by Doreen Anzalone: “I believe that if this
varies among the states, then the counties with the most poor
families should get free….There are counties that do not need as
much support.
Sincerely,
Jessica Gauthier
References
The Enduring Importance of Parental Involvement. (2015, April
29). Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2014/11/18/the-
enduring-importance-of-parental-involvement-2/
Making Healthy School Lunches Free for All Should Be a
National Priority. (2018, December 21). Retrieved from

6. https://civileats.com/2018/12/14/making-healthy-school-
lunches-free-for-all-should-be-a-national-priority/
NAEYC. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2016/ethical-
responsibilities-dilemmas
School Meals - FAQs. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/faqs
Teaching Strategies that Advocate Your Students. (n.d.).
Retrieved from https://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies-
advocate-your-students
What is advocacy? (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.seap.org.uk/im-looking-for-help-or-support/what-
is-advocacy.html

7. 1 in 4
Drop out
When parents are not involved in their schooling.
Student Improvement
It is linked to improved behaviour, positive attitudes and better
attendance.
Improvement in Reading with strong parental involvement
40%
Improvement in Math with strong parental involvement
42%
Future Behaviors
Parental involvement in schools is associated with lower
alcohol use and at-risk behaviors later in life..
51%
Of students enjoy school when parents are involved

8. Success Rate
From Kindergarten to 5th Grade, students are twice as likely to
succeed in school when parents are involved in their education.
52%
Of students receive more A’s or straight A’s with parental
involvement
Education Lorem
Parental Involvement
Education Infographic
Sales 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
8.1999999999999993 3.2 1.4 1.2
Sales 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
8.1999999999999993 3.2 1.4 1.2
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Dear Martha McSally,
My name is ____________and I am writing to you because I
feel that LGBT children and families are being unfairly treated
in early childcare settings. These parents and families
continuously go through rejection, disrespect, intimidation and
exclusion. This is no way to treat children and families of any
diverse background. I am asking you to help educate and
produce resources for educators to include in their curriculum to
introduce LGBT families in early childhood without the
negative stigma.

10. I feel very strongly about this issue, as I have also endured
negativity myself being in a same sex marriage. There is at least
one child in almost every early childhood center who has a
parent that is LGBT and they receive the message that they are
not safe or welcome. This is staggering to me. Children start at
a young age name calling and treating children different and
they need to be taught the correct way to accept differences.
It’s important to acknowledge everyone’s commitment helping
children in their care. Educators need to recognize parents’
rights to their own beliefs and consider other perspectives. It’s
important for adults to be accepting about differences because
they are modeling to the children in the classroom. It’s
necessary for families to feel a sense of belonging and develop
a cultural identity. Having a good relationship with the educator
can help the family feel that they belong.
I believe that a lot of the barriers in early childhood education
are attitudinal. Teachers are not accepting of LGBT families
and that in turn puts a negative acceptance on the child without
even realizing it. Teachers often encourage gender approaches
to play and relationships based on heterosexual assumptions.
You would will never hear an ECE teacher watch two boys play
together and say, “Oh, what a cute couple!” Supporting only
heterosexism in early childhood fails to recognize how
children’s identities are constructed and how the sexual
identities play a role in social justice. Early childhood teachers
need to gain confidence in establishing new ways in interacting
with children (Campbell, 2009).
As I previously stated, the LGBT families in early childhood
settings are being unfairly treated. The children don’t feel safe
or welcome and that is something I am not able to accept. I am
asking for support on this issue and help with changes that can
be made.
Would you be willing to meet me for a meeting to further
discuss this issue on Friday, December 14th at 1:00pm?
Sincerely,