News

By Ann Schimke and Erica Meltzer
April 20, 2022
With just over a year until Colorado begins providing free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, state lawmakers want to inject $100 million into efforts to beef up the early childhood workforce and create more slots for young children. During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, a group of lawmakers announced the legislation, which would be funded with federal COVID relief dollars. The money would go toward several existing grant programs, including one to help child care providers...

By Nico Franks
April 20, 2022
Sesame Workshop is teaming up with Discovery’s educational unit to launch an early learning channel for children aged between three and seven in the US. The Sesame Workshop-branded channel will be available in the fall on Discovery Education’s learning platform. It will include Sesame Street video content as well as lesson plans and educator resources alongside interactive games and activities for kids....

By Dale Mezzacappa
April 19, 2022
Pre-pandemic, Black children in Pennsylvania had less access to high-quality preschool than white children, according to a new report. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that this disparity was due primarily to the way the state funds its two main preschool programs, Child Care Works and Pre-K Counts, and the different standards policymakers have set for them. As overall enrollment in the program grew from 2014 to 2019, Black children’s enrollment in Pre-K Counts declined slightly, before...

By Amy Shoenthal
April 12, 2022
The cost of childcare has risen by 41% over the past few years. Many parents, mostly mothers, have been forced to completely exit the workforce because they simply can’t cover the cost of childcare. The economic impact of the childcare crisis is astronomical and the structure of care, as any parent will tell you, is unsustainable. NeighborSchools is working to fix that. Founder Bridget Garsh is on a mission to make childcare better for everybody, from parents...

By Christina Caron
April 12, 2022
A panel of experts says the latest research supports early intervention for younger kids. The worsening state of mental health among children has prompted an influential group of experts to recommend for the first time screening all children ages 8 to 18 for anxiety, one of the most common mental health disorders of childhood....

By Susan K. Livio and Brent Johnson
April 7, 2022
New Jersey needs to nurture the child care industry to help the state make a full economic recovery from the pandemic, according to state Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, who on Tuesday proposed a $350 million legislative package she said will get more parents back to work. The child care industry, long beset by low wages and high costs, took a beating during the pandemic, said Ruiz, D-Essex, in her first major legislative...

By Connie Matthiessen
April 6, 2022
Council for a Strong America: The name conjures images of tanks and bald eagles — not so much playgrounds and childcare centers. Nor is the organization’s membership — cops, military brass, and business executives — usually associated with issues impacting young children. Still, it’s a link that the Council for a Strong America has forged for several decades. And since the pandemic trained a spotlight on the U.S. child care crisis, the organization’s approach seems increasingly...

By Annette Porter | The Baltimore Sun
March 22, 2022
I was working on a movie not too long ago. We were in post-production, and we needed a voice-over. One of the executives of the film was adamant that the voice needed to be male. A male voice, he said, would add “gravitas” and “grandeur.” There was no discussion, no alternative. The guy wanted a male voice, and that was it. I’m not the first to say it, but Hollywood still has...

By Adobe Communications Team
March 21, 2022
As the past two years have shown, even throughout a pandemic and polarization, creativity can’t be held back. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we shine our light on women creators who continue to make great strides even amidst our struggles.
Below are stories of hope and resilience, and sources of inspiration from 14 female creators — artists, filmmakers, organizers and entrepreneurs — that motivate us to raise our creative voices, to reflect on women's creative...

By Stephanie Jones and Nonie K. Lesaux
March 15, 2022
To succeed in the classroom, children must be able to cooperate with other students and their teachers, focus their attention, control impulsive behaviors and manage their emotions so they can concentrate on the tasks at hand. They need to have a sense of belonging and purpose, be able to plan and set goals, and persevere through challenges....

By Jeff Stein
February 17, 2022
The White House was unable to extend an expansion in the Child Tax Credit amid pushback from Sen. Joe Manchin III
The number of American children in poverty spiked dramatically in January after the expiration of President Biden’s expanded child benefit at the end of last year, according to new research released on Thursday....

By Nora Delaney
February 10, 2022
A new bipartisan report calls for "rewriting the generational contract" to increase investments in America’s children significantly by shifting funds from programs that now go toward supporting older, wealthier adults.
In the report, "Rebalancing: Children First," leading scholars convened by two of the country’s most respected think tanks propose directing more national funds to help children. Currently, more than 40% of the federal budget flows to Americans over the age of 65, compared to only 7.4% spent...

By Anya Kamenetz
February 10, 2022
Dale Farran has been studying early childhood education for half a century. Yet her most recent scientific publication has made her question everything she thought she knew. "It really has required a lot of soul-searching, a lot of reading of the literature to try to think of what were plausible reasons that might account for this."...

By Naomi Martin and Jenna Russell
January 17, 2022
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Leighton Harris, 4, sat with her classmates on a rug before a whiteboard. One of her two teachers praised the little girl’s calm, attentive posture: “I love how Leighton is sitting.’’ A year before the start of kindergarten, Leighton is well-prepared, having already practiced not just her letters and numbers, but also subtle skills key for school success, such as breathing through stress and the art of sitting quietly and...

January 10, 2022
Emily C. Hanno, PhD
The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the education of more than 1 billion children worldwide, with many experiencing shifts between remote, hybrid, and in-person learning. As the COVID-19 pandemic and interruptions to learning continue, we need to understand their consequences for children’s behavioral health to inform response efforts. We used longitudinal data to examine how children’s behavioral well-being differed by learning format....