Research that Benefits Children and Families

If I could conduct a research study without restrictions, I would choose to research parenting styles and the  affect each style observed has on the child's behavior.  I am a believer that parents are the child's first and most influential teacher.  Seeing the correlation between parenting style and behavior would be very interesting to me.  As I gain more experience as a teacher (17 years so far), I see how many parents are very lax in their parenting responsibilities.  Children, then, come to school with expectations of getting their way or not having to follow directions.  It is a tough battle, at times.  I would hope through a study on this topic, parents would be able to see that children need parameters to feel safe and free to explore their environments and that for society to operate efficiently and fairly, all citizens need to adhere to the same rules.  Parents can begin to instill these concepts in their children before they ever begin school. 

My Personal Research Journey

My chosen topic for our research simulation during this course will be the benefits and challenges of a universal approach to early childhood education in our country as a way of improving programs and offering quality to all children.  The articles we read in the courses "Effective Programs and Practices" and "Current Trends and Issues in Early Childhood" got me thinking about the current way we approach early childhood programming, recent efforts to raise the bar of quality, and how going to a universal system may or may not be the answer.  I previously gave my opinion that a universal system would be a good idea, but I want to research it further to see what has been written to determine if I could fully support such an effort. 

So far in our research simulation project, I found the first step of narrowing my question down to three sub-topics to be thought provoking and somewhat difficult.  There is so much to consider with the topic of universality.  It took me quite a while to zero in on what I really wanted to know more about.  My other sub-topics were to research the effects state quality rating systems and NAEYC accreditation has had on program quality and how a universal system could be merged into what is currently being done for quality enhancement.  I felt the effects of becoming accredited through a state effort or NAEYC has already been documented and well-known and because a universal system isn't in place yet, there might not be enough information about how to merge it with current efforts.  Although, I would like to know about these things, I will leave them for future research. 

The resources so far in this class has been very beneficial to me.  Reading research has always been like reading another language for me, with the exception of the beginning and ending information.  I felt relieved to know that the middle part wasn't crucial to read for novices.  Putting the information into the chart helped me gain better understanding of how to look at an article and get the most important, and relevant, information from it. 

I hope as this course progresses, we will all be better at reading and understanding the articles of research that will help us become better educators.  I would be interested to know what others' processes were in choosing their sub-topics and if has led to any clarity about your chosen topic.