Research that Benefits Children and Families Option 2

If I possessed the means and knowledge to conduct my own research I would conduct a study on childhood obesity in low-income areas, how to prevent it and how it could help those low-income communities in a positive way. As we know childhood obesity is a growing epidemic and a lot of early learning programs are beginning to take the initiative to introduce healthy foods to the students they serve. What I would I like to do is to speak with families and learn their concerns with healthy foods (i.e too expensive, not enough tasteful options, time consuming, etc.) I would find out what is the reasoning behind buying unhealthy foods, where does the relationship with food stem from, or do they simply not know what to look for or what is considered healthy. Bringing families in together and teaching children and their families about healthier options, building a better relationship with food could be something that connects school and home, a consistency children need. Families can see how the school cares and build a great partnership, thus bringing a positive change to the community and families.

Your Personal Research Journey

The topic I chose to further research is High Quality teachers with the subtopic being compensation. Prior to this course I had already began research on the compensation of teachers across the country then narrowing it down to just my state. The reason being is that I have had experience working in the field and the pay is not all that great, especially if you are trying to provide for a family. During my time working in preschools, this was one of the topics that came up in the break rooms a lot. While teachers loved what they did, they couldn't understand why their pay wouldn't increase, even with them gaining more education it didn't seem that raise once a year was barely budging.

With me having experienced that and knowing what I know now, I have decided to help make a change in that specific area. One way in doing that is finding organizations that share the same cause. I came across one of NAEYC's programs, called Power to the Profession. It's a national collaboration to define the early childhood profession by establishing a unifying framework for career pathways, knowledge and competencies, qualifications, standards and compensation. I am still researching ways to get involve, but that is a start.

Also, I look up salaries through indeed.com which has all preschool positions and the national average salaries of each position. I also found a site that had a list salaries for preschool teachers in the TN area.



Resources

http://www.indeed.com/salary/Preschool-Teacher.html
http://www.naeyc.org/profession
http://www.earlychildhoodteacher.org/jobs/tennessee/