Discussion Essay

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is one of the
few not-for-profit organizations devoted to improving the quality of early childhood education
and fostering family partnerships. NAEYC promotes a vision of excellence in early childhood
education, and the goal is to support the rights and needs of children. Being a member of the
NAEYC can promote my work with diverse families in numerous ways. First, as a teacher of
children, the organization helps me value, understand, and appreciate the different cultural
backgrounds of children and their families, including the socio-cultural and economic challenges
they might face. Teachers must understand their students’ and families’ needs and viewpoints to
make them feel comfortable and valued; this can help them develop social skills and perform
better academically (Scully et al., 2019). Additionally, this resource (NAEYC) can help me
guarantee all families access to early quality, affordable, and equitable childhood education
programs and resources.
NAEYC can help promote successful collaborations among families, communities, and
early childhood care settings. One of the strategies to ensure this happens is by adopting
equitable communication skills, including effective listening and encouraging frequent
communication between parents and teachers. Parents and teachers should frequently
communicate to help parents understand their children’s needs, strengths, and interests. With
effective communication, teachers can meet their children’s educational needs and help improve
their lives in all aspects of life (Scully et al., 2019). Additionally, the organization should adopt
shared planning to allow parents to understand plans put in place by teachers to improve the
learning of their children (Campana et al., 2022). The involvement of parents in the planning

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process helps them to collaborate with teachers to strengthen the interests and abilities of their
children.

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References

Campana, K., Martens, M., Filippi, A., & Clunis, J. (2022). A “library school:” Building a
collaborative preschool-library partnership to support whole family engagement. Early
Childhood Education Journal, 50(1), 71–82.
Scully, P.A., Sites, M. L., & Roberts-King, H. & Chandler, B. (2019). Families, schools, and
communities: Building partnerships for educating children (7 th ed.). Pearson.