The award-winning nonprofit education news publisher The 74 announced Wednesday the addition of Early Learning Nation to its rapidly expanding network of websites, newsletters and editorial coverage.
Founded by the Bezos Family Foundation in 2018, Early Learning Nation has evolved into an acclaimed independent magazine dedicated to coverage of the news, policies and research shaping early learners, their families and the broader child care system.
“The key issues affecting America’s K-12 students begin well before kindergarten and continue well beyond high school graduation,” said Steve Snyder, CEO of The 74. “Our partnership with Early Learning Nation underscores The 74’s commitment in broadening our editorial priorities and deepening our coverage of equity, solutions and progress as we follow children from cradle to career.”
The 74 has hired Marisa Busch to oversee integration of Early Learning Nation and the expansion of the site’s broader mission. Busch previously served as an Editorial Director at EdSurge, where she played a key role in launching the organization’s early childhood coverage. She brings more than 20 years of education experience to The 74’s national newsroom, both between education outlets and a decade spent in classrooms as an educator and instructional coach serving students from early childhood through middle grades.
Busch will partner closely with Chief Creative Officer Emmeline Zhao and Editor in Chief Nicole Ridgway, who joined The 74 this summer after a lengthy tenure at CNN Business, to expand Early Learning Nation’s brand and footprint.
“As the new home of Early Learning Nation, The 74 is well-positioned to expand awareness about the challenges and success in early learning and the science of the developing brain,” said Bezos Family Foundation President John Deasy. “We look forward to following their coverage about the factors affecting young learners, their families, and their communities and seeing how the discourse is extended to a wider demographic of readers.”
Over the past year, The 74 has launched and expanded an array of special initiatives focused on students, families and educators.
In August, The 74 introduced its newest national newsletter, The Catch-Up, offering rolling updates on the state of learning losses after the pandemic as well as breakthrough efforts to catch students up specifically in the arenas of math and reading.
The publisher also recently scaled its partnership with the University of Southern California and the Annenberg School of Journalism, where a new cohort of undergraduate and graduate students are being trained by 74 journalists to cover students and education issues through the lens of LAUSD, the nation’s second-largest school district. That program has produced a wide-ranging series of impactful features that have been published at both The 74 and LA School Report. Many have also been syndicated by national and local partners, including the LA Daily News.
In recent semesters, The 74 has ramped up its coverage of America’s most innovative high schools and how the K-12 system is evolving to better prepare today’s teenagers for the future workforce. Across multiple road trips, feature articles and documentaries, the newsroom has helped spotlight campuses, educators and communities that are rethinking the conventional high school experience.
Since launching in 2015, The 74 has been widely recognized for its expanding slate of education coverage. Its work has been cited thousands of times by outlets across the industry; in 2023 alone, The 74 was credited or co-published by nearly 400 outlets. The organization has also won multiple awards from the Online News Association, Institute for Nonprofit News and the Education Writers Association.
