The importance of education in the United States has led to increased recognition of early childhood education programs. Guided by the mission ‘towards the promotion of students’ achievement as well as fostering educational excellence and equal access to education, the Federal Governments have developed different funding models or opportunities to the Americans. Some of the funding opportunities include; the teaching campaign, Pre-School Developments Grants, Child Care, and Development Fund (CCDF) among many other funding programs. According to Cooley (2015), the federal education funding programs believe that, through the improvement of the education system more so the early childhood programs, it would provide a stable and rich foundation of the future and well-being of the nation. This essay discusses teach campaign as one of the federally funded early childhood initiatives, which is ‘ Teach Campaign ’.
The Teach Campaign was initiated in 2011, and was focused towards development of a smooth transition of teachers from the already existing ones to new and younger ones who would take up the teaching role. Cochran-Smith et al (2017) highlighted that the program was developed after it emerged that, in the next 4-6 years, more than a million teachers in service, would retire. This, in turn, called for the development of a smooth change of guards from the retiring generation to new and effective younger teachers. According to Ed.gov, (2019 ), Teach Campaign is focused on encouraging more minorities more so males to pursue a career in the classroom. Less than two percent of America's teachers are African American males.
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One of the key impacts of the program is the increase in education access even to the minority community. With the focus being to encourage minority communities to take up a teaching career, the government funding program is focused on recruiting more teachers from minority groups. Not only would this increase the access to education to the American children regardless of the ethnic identity, but also improve quality and overall community development. The United States Department of Education has focused on revolutionizing the sector by creating and raising awareness of the country’s teaching profession through training and recruitment of a new generation of teachers to help the existing ones. The impact of this program entails improved the quality of early childhood education, increasing education productivity (Cochran-Smith et al, 2017). On the other hand, the funding program would mean an increased employment chance for the minority teacher recruits/trainees. In addition to streamlining the education sector in the country, the program has focused on identifying basic requirements for one to qualify as a teacher in any of the schools in the country. This, in turn, helps in aligning educational goals with student’s needs, an initiative that has led to an improved education system.
In order to remain a success in the country, the Teach Campaign should focus on recruiting, training and supporting the teachers’ at all educational levels. Not only would this establish an element of continuity but also able to ease change implementation such curriculum change. Secondly, the program should sensitize more on the importance of quality early childhood education programs. This would make it a strong foundation or the American children and in turn success in the future with the education system. In order to draw more teachers from the minority groups, increase funding such as education grants, and assure the teacher trainee employment once they complete their training (Cooley, 2015). This would promote an aspect of equality among the Americans more so the minority groups and in turn pulling more personnel to the programs which in turn means the success of the overall teach Campaign program. Finally, for the program to a successful, the stakeholders should focus on changing the negativity surrounding the teaching profession. Teaching is a noble profession, but sometimes it is somewhat blithe with the way it is represented. The different changes in the education system more so the public sector; the focus should be to separate the negative narrative associated with the teaching profession, from the campaign initiative.
In conclusion, since its inception, the Teach Campaign has seen a positive impact on American society. The federal government-funded program has seen improved childhood education, increased participation from the minority communities and also more teacher trainees taking able the teaching profession.
References
Cochran-Smith, M., Baker, M., Burton, S., Chang, W.-C., Cummings Carney, M., Fernández, M. B., … Sánchez, J. G. (2017). The accountability era in US teacher education: looking back, looking forward. European Journal of Teacher Education , 40 (5), 572–588.
Cooley, A. (2015). Funding US higher education: policy making theories reviewed. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management , 37 (6), 673–681.
Ed.gov. (2019). U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Join Congressman Steny Hoyer and Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown in Hosting Town Hall Honoring Teachers and Calling on Local Students to Pursue Teaching Careers | U.S. Department of Education . [Online] Available at: https://www.ed.gov/news/media-advisories/us-education-secretary-arne-duncan-join-congressman-steny-hoyer-and-maryland-lt-gov-anthony-brown-hosting-town-hall-honoring-teachers-and-calling-local-students-pursue-teaching-careers [Accessed 31 May 2019].
