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Early Childhood Belief Statement

Children have a right to a quality childhood which includes the following: 

  •  Environments that:
    • respond to and promote individual differences and appreciation of individual capabilities
    • value differences across families, their backgrounds, and use these to support individual and community learning. 
    • foster development where children can explore and initiate their own learning
    • surrounds children with caring adults who foster self-confidence, appropriate decision-making, and, social and emotional growth and expression.  

Families are recognized as children's most important teacher and are supported by the following:

 

  • Responsive, respectful, reciprocal partnerships with professionals.
  • Ongoing opportunities to:
    • share about their children's learning and needs
    • actively engage in the development of learning opportunities for children
    • continue learning about child development and strategies to support health development and growth.
    • shape policies and development of early learnings programs/systems. 

Communities need a comprehensive system of early childhood services in which:

  • The community:
    • shares a responsibility/role for all children's well being (i.e. social, emotional, physical, and intellectual)
    • believes that nurturing care, health and education of young children are inseparable, and, that assessment is inclusive of multiple sources of information. 
    • views everyone as  learners and teachers
  • Partnerships are developed within the community for children to be successful
  • Early learning systems/programs are ready to serve all children based on the child's development and unique background. 
  • Services are nondiscriminatory, multicultural, multilingual, and have integrated curricula that fosters the development of all children, and supports all families. 

Public policy must be designed to:

  • Recognize the early learning experiences are foundational for lifelong learning. 
  • Develop a comprehensive early childhood system that address the whole child and value and support the needs of families.
  • Allocate and provide funding/incentives for early learning partnerships, and, encourage the collective participation of all major stakeholders in the community
  • Value early childhood professionals (including monetarily) on a basis comparable to other educators for their contributions
  • Bridge career opportunities with a common early childhood certification system. 
For questions about this information, contact Sherry Kimball (608) 267-9625