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Okay - to be fair - this was discussed at our board meeting today. A member school was told by their licensing person that their supervisor did not like mixed age classrooms and that maybe it would be a problem in the future. It was suggested that our website should offer advice in advocacy issues like this one. I agreed.
Then, I was browsing the Montessori Public Policy Initiative(MPPI) Website - just for fun and I came across a research paper on the mixed age classroom. Don't you love it when stuff like this happens? So I don't know who needs it, but if you do - here it is - and also I guess I just started us writing blogs. Have a question? Topic of interest? Throw it out there.... send it to us and we'll see how we can help! Trisha Willingham
5 Comments
Elizabeth Anne Kariel
12/8/2019 08:15:26 pm
I just finished working on a two year study of child care licensing in Virginia. Let me know if you want to talk. Licensing standards most likely will be changed in the next few years, hopefully for the better, as some of the current ones are outdated and poorly written. As far as advocacy, remember that child care licensing is primarily about safety. Your article is interesting but what you'd really just have to advocate for is safety issues. That's the focus of licensing.
Elizabeth Anne Kariel
12/9/2019 09:29:37 am
So, probably THE safety issue that licensing would worry about in a mixed age classroom is that the "big" kids would hurt the "little" kids. So, ALL you would need to focus on in advocacy is how you prevent that. Don't complicate it with too much philosophy.
Trisha Willingham
2/2/2020 04:17:28 pm
Beth - Thank you for this -- we would love to hear about your work on this! Can I put you in touch with our advocacy chair, Shanna Honan?
Elizabeth Anne Kariel
1/18/2021 12:23:41 pm
Hi, I'm sorry, I just saw Trisha's reply to me from 2/2/2020. Yes, you can put Shanna in touch with me. I could talk with her on the phone.
Elizabeth Anne Kariel
1/27/2021 07:33:14 am
I assume that your Montessori advocacy group knows that child care licensing in Virginia is moving from the Department of Social Services to the Department of Education on July 1, 2021. That's just the first step. I hope that you are involved and following what's going on at the state level with licensing. Leave a Reply. |
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