The Dream Study

If I could study any topic in the early childhood field, and I was not restricted by the reality of the present I would research the methods of involving parents in their child's education.  I would specifically look at the theory of parents being involved versus parents being engaged.  I would attempt to uncover the true difference between the two, and how to best engage parents to help children to accomplish their highest potential.  



I believe the positive contributions would be immense.  Children would be more prepared for elementary school, and their parents would be better equipped to support their children through the elementary grades. Programs would have more support, parents would learn more about being educators themselves, and families would have more tools.  The child's first and most important teachers could partner most effectively with the child's classroom teacher to provide the child with the best possible foundation for their educational career.  

My Research Journey

The topic I have chosen for this simulation is the effect positive teachers-child relationships has on child outcomes.  As a Head Start teacher we use the CLASS observation tool to evaluate our classroom environment, management, and interactions.  Since we began using this tool a few years ago it has improved the outcomes of all of our 90+ classrooms.  I have found that it has helped to focus teachers on how to interact with their students form the positive and negative interactions to more in depth interactions that cause children to dig deeper and think through what they are doing when playing.  I want to look more specifically at how these interactions affect outcomes. 

Through the first two weeks of this class I have found it difficult to decide what to research.  There are so many questions I have about early childhood.  It is difficult to narrow it down to one.  It is also difficult to get a concrete topic that isn't subjective.  When looking at relationships the data that is collected is a lot of asking people how they feel.  One person's good feeling is anothers mediocre feeling. 

I would appreciate any help in narrowing down my topic.  Sometimes when doing research my mind becomes focused on one hypothesis, but if an outsider takes a look it may help me to see the obvious.