Expanding Resources NIEER

The website I chose to study is  The National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER). the website address is http://www.NIEER.org.

The purpose of NIEER is to research and provide information on research that relates to the early childhood education field. The research assists educators and other professionals such as administrators and politicians in making the best decisions about early childhood education given the most current research data. NIEER often works on the national and international levels to advocate for best policy and practice based on their research.


I subscribed to the biweekly newsletter for NIEER. The newsletter covers a variety of topics. The most recent one I received had several topics. One in particular caught my eye.

"Large number of K-3 Students Missing School"

This topic stated that in the 2009-2010 school year, 62% of preschoolers and 14% of kindergartners were chronically absent, making the effectiveness of the programs invalid.The study focused on certain inner city schools in the Chicago area. These schools serve a high number of low income children, African American children, and children with disabilities. Cause for the large amount of absenteeism stem mostly from parents who feel that early education is unimportant. However, it can also be from transportation issues or illnesses. Whatever the reasons, many schools are taking measures to combat the absenteeism by collaborating with community programs that can help inform families about the importance of early childhood education and about getting their young children to school on a consistent basis.

The newsletter went on to talk about how early educators around the world were celebrating International Literacy Day and gave a calendar of important early education conferences throughout the globe.The newsletter has an "Early Education News Roundup." In this section the editors at NIEER search the world newspapers for any stories that relate to early childhood education. Among the topics were funding, increased enrollment, playing politics, and how early learning programs improve children's potential. The newsletter provides links to all of these articles.