News

The 74 Million
September 2, 2024
By Emily Tate Sullivan
Tiaja Gundy was just 19 years old when she started working at Federal Hill House, an early learning center in Providence, Rhode Island. It was 2016, and back then, she lacked experience and expertise working with young children. She had no intention of staying in the field long-term. But the work grew on her. Gundy started out as a “floater,” helping with infants, toddlers and preschoolers as needed. She found she loved being around...

Vail Daily
August 31, 2024
By Zoe Goldstein
Eagle County School District held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Gypsum Early Learning Center and accompanying employee housing on Thursday, Aug. 29. Employees and board members of the Eagle County School District, as well as representatives of the construction companies RA Nelson and Haselden Construction Company, gathered on the cleared site that will soon become homes and an educational facility to kick off the journey. The early learning center and housing site already belong to...

nyc.gov
August 29, 2024
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and leadership of the New York City Council today announced a historic joint effort to strengthen early childhood education across the five boroughs and address longstanding systemic issues, while boosting enrollment and connecting families with more Pre-K and 3-K seats. The strategic plan – developed by an unprecedented joint Adams administration-Council working group, chaired by Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana J. Almanzar and Speaker Adams – will be anchored by $100...

Motherly
June 28, 2024
By Katrina Nattress
It’s an election year, and one of the largest hot topic issues for parents is the surging cost of childcare. Nonprofit Moms First, founded by activist Reshma Saujani, vocalized the importance of the childcare crisis to voters by starting a petition urging CNN to address the problem during the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which aired on Thursday, June 27. “The extreme cost of child care is crushing moms all over the country,”...

NC Newsline
June 26, 2024
By Greg Childress
Stephanie Smith’s nearly eight-year run as a home childcare provider in Durham is coming to an end just as the Child Care Stabilization Grants that came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) expire. The childcare veteran with more than 20 years of experience says she can no longer afford to keep the doors open due to rising expenses and state and federal childcare subsidies that haven’t kept pace with the cost of doing business. So, Smith...

Chalkbeat Detroit
June 17, 2024
By Patrick Dunn
In a cozy second-floor room at Brilliant Detroit’s Morningside facility, a small group of moms, grandmas, and caretakers learned about the importance of singing to the children in their lives. Surrounded by children’s art and photos of notable Black Americans, the women listened, chatted, and laughed as they participated in what’s known as a “Six-a-Day” workshop. The workshops, held weekly in multiple locations by the nonprofit Detroit Champions for Hope, teach family and caregivers to help young...

The 74
May 27, 2024
By Susan B. Neuman & Lily Wong Fillmore
In joyful preschool classrooms, three- and four-year-olds play and pretend together. They sing and dance, listen eagerly at story time, and ask endless questions. Nearly everything is new, which fuels an intense enthusiasm for learning. High-quality preschool supports social skills, fosters friendships, and builds a sturdy foundation for kindergarten and beyond. As researchers specializing in linguistics and early literacy development, we celebrate the growing movement to connect preschool instruction with the...

Los Alamos Daily Post
May 26, 2024
By Carol A. Clark
$1.1 billion. That’s how much money Virginia included in the compromise budget for the next biennium early toward early childhood education. “This is the first time that we’ve seen funding levels as high as they are,” Senior Director of Early Education for United Way of Greater Charlottesville Meredith Locasio said. “The bipartisan sponsorship from the governor and the general assembly is a huge historic win for early education.” Locasio says this monumental investment will...

Virginia 29 News
May 26, 2024
By Jacob Phillips
$1.1 billion. That’s how much money Virginia included in the compromise budget for the next biennium early toward early childhood education. “This is the first time that we’ve seen funding levels as high as they are,” Senior Director of Early Education for United Way of Greater Charlottesville Meredith Locasio said. “The bipartisan sponsorship from the governor and the general assembly is a huge historic win for early education.” Locasio says this monumental investment will allow organizations...

Wisconsin Examiner
May 20, 2024
By Sarah Kazell
You hear the refrain everywhere — when it comes to raising children, it takes a village. As an early childhood educator, I know this to be true. It takes a community of parents, child care providers, community members and our elected officials all working together to set the next generation up for success. Unfortunately, unlike all other developed nations, the U.S. supplies bare minimum public funding for early care and education despite decades of research showing...

Chalkbeat Colorado
May 13, 2024
By Ann Schimke
Fourteen preschoolers sang “Eggs, larva, pupa, adults,” on a recent morning, curling up on the grass, wriggling around like caterpillars, lying still, and then flapping their arms in search of wildflowers. The song, along with redwing blackbird calls and a bit of traffic noise, was the soundtrack of their morning circle, which kicked off near a wetland in southeast Denver....

Nebraska Examiner
May 1, 2024
By Cindy Gonzalez
More than 80% of respondents in a new statewide survey agree, and about half strongly agree, that Nebraska lawmakers should support child care and early learning programs as they do for K-12 grades and higher education. About the same proportions believe state legislators should make child care and early learning a higher priority than it is today. And the bulk of parents, nonparents, rural and urban folks alike favored using a portion of a state...

The Harvard Crimson
April 25, 2024
By Katie B. Tian
Nonie K. Lesaux will serve as interim dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education after Bridget Terry Long departs the post at the end of this academic year, interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced in a Thursday email to HGSE affiliates. This decision comes three months after Long’s announcement of her resignation back in January, during which time HGSE released no public information about a search for her successor. The first...

The New York Times
By Dana Goldstein
March 31, 2024
Watch These Cute Videos of Babies (and Learn Something, Too)
SZCF's own Dan Wuori was interviewed and profiled in the New York Times for his incredible work in ECE and for his unique and influential Twitter/X presence. ...

Harvard's Center on the Developing Child
April 1, 2024
After 18 years at the helm, Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., has decided to step down as Center Director at the end of June to dedicate all his time to an external, field facing agenda. Jack is not retiring—in his new role as Founding Director, he will remain an active member of Harvard’s faculty and double down on a portfolio of work that remains aligned with the Center’s core mission. He will focus his...

Early Learning Nation
By Mark Swartz
March 26, 2024
Ellen Galinsky’s The Breakthrough Years is the product of nearly a decade of exploration into the adolescent mind. A companion piece to Galinsky’s previous landmark book, Mind in the Making, which addresses early childhood development, it reaches a surprising conclusion about adolescence. Rather than an ordeal of sullenness and rule-breaking, it is a process of exploration necessary for human development. In other words, don’t fear the teens in your life. Instead, prepare to be dazzled...

Capita
By Elliot Haspel
March 20, 2024
Last week, the Massachusetts Senate made significant strides in prioritizing the betterment of children and families by passing a major child care bill, S.2697. If enacted into law, this legislation would be another step in reshaping the state's child care landscape, setting a course for others to learn from. The bill also includes arguably the strongest guardrails against undue profit-seeking behavior by large corporate for-profit chains ever seen in the United States. This legislative language may...

Alabama Daily News
By Alexander Willis
March 17, 2024
Leadership Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama announced the launch of a new initiative Friday that it says will not only streamline access to child care for its employees, but provide a monthly stipend. The new initiative was born out of a new partnership between Hyundai and TOOTRiS, a child care technology platform that connects employers with child care providers. Providing access to child care for workers in today’s world, argued Reggie Williams, senior manager of human...

March 7, 2024
The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation is please to announce Ellen Galinsky's new book, The Breakthrough Years, out on March 26th. The book provides a paradigm-shifting, yet practical, understanding of adolescence. Click the image above to pre-order/order your copy!...

Alabama Political Reporter
By Jacob Holmes
February 28, 2024
A collaborative partnership involving the Alabama Partnership for Children, the Alabama School Readiness Alliance, and VOICES for Alabama’s Children unveiled the Alabama Child Care Roadmap Tuesday, a strategic plan of recommendations for addressing six core areas of the intensifying challenges facing child care providers, families, children and employers and the overall child care shortage in Alabama. “The gap in child care coverage for children under age 6 is at 40 percent, which is higher than...