International Contacts

I continue to try to contact an early childhood professional abroad, with no response, and  I enjoyed listening to several short podcasts on World Forum Foundation Radio.
TJ Skalski is a principal at Mother Earth Children's Charter School in Alberta, Canada. In this podcast, she describes her school as a charter school with an indigenous focus. The school struggles with high turnover of administrative staff. She is the fifth principal in five years, and the sixth superintendent has just started. She sees that the school must reinvest in children, and give them hope of achieving beyond what they can see. She describes her community as being trapped, and reflects that she was inspired to achieve by her family, their values and their work ethic, which she believes is missing in her students. Her school aims to make native culture and language a priority to preserve and strengthen her community. 
http://www/worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio/php

Ms. Skalski's description of difficulties in her native cultural setting is similar to many of the problems in the public school system near where I live in Ohio, though the cultures are different. Lack of committed leadership trickles down to staff who are less invested in the children than they should be. Many children are stuck in poverty, not completing high school, and not able to make a positive impact in the community. Strong, committed and courageous leaders in education are in short supply for the need, it seems.

The Global Children's Initiative has been launched by The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University to gather interdisciplinary information that advances the outcomes for children around the world. They work towards informing high level policy-makers about the science of child development for use in economic development decision-making in three areas; early childhood development, mental health, and children in crisis and/or conflict. The reputation of Harvard University may lend solid credibility world-wide to the science of early childhood development as a basis of economic prosperity. Such a source of factual, and credible information about children's development and the international discussions of research and practice, is sure to be a tool for improving the lives of children and the communities they live in.

http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/