Introducing zero2eight: Early Learning Nation’s Next Chapter

The Editors·May 21, 2025·1 min read

Dear Readers, We’re excited to announce that Early Learning Nation is relaunching and expanding as zero2eight, a new editorial vertical at the award-winning national education news site The 74. What can you expect as a reader? While we have a new name and location, zero2eight will continue and expand the mission of Early Learning Nation, examining the field of early care and education for children 0 to 8 years old, a crucial period for brain...

Wisconsin is Cutting State Funding for Child Care. Providers are Taking a Stand

Child care providers have long advocated for an equitable system and more support. In Wisconsin, they’re taking action.

Elliot Haspel·May 14, 2025·4 min read

On Monday, child care providers across the country participated in the fourth annual Day Without Child Care, closing their doors and gathering to demand a...

Heat, Floods, Storms Limit Outdoor Play for Young Children, Surveys Show

Parents and child care providers report spending less time outside with children and suffering health and economic harm from extreme weather.

K.C. Compton·May 13, 2025·5 min read

Physical activity is crucial for young children’s well-being. Outdoor play not only supports children’s physical health and their social and emotional development but can also...

RAPID Celebrates Five Years of Surveys

What makes RAPID surveys unique is the priority of disseminating results quickly in a format that is accessible and usable.

K.C. Compton·May 13, 2025·2 min read

When the RAPID Survey Project began in April 2020, everyone involved thought it would be a short-lived, ad hoc undertaking collecting information from families around...

Community Health Workers Can Play a Key Role in Keeping Families Healthy

A report calls for the integration of community health workers into early childhood well-child care.

Mark Swartz·May 8, 2025·4 min read

The well-child visit is standard pediatric practice for the first three years of life. Every few months, parents or caregivers bring their little ones to...

Introducing zero2eight: Early Learning Nation’s Next Chapter

The Editors·May 21, 2025·1 min read

Wisconsin is Cutting State Funding for Child Care. Providers are Taking a Stand

Child care providers have long advocated for an equitable system and more support. In Wisconsin, they’re taking action.

Elliot Haspel·May 14, 2025·4 min read

On Monday, child care providers across the country participated in the fourth annual Day Without Child Care, closing their doors and gathering to demand a...

Heat, Floods, Storms Limit Outdoor Play for Young Children, Surveys Show

Parents and child care providers report spending less time outside with children and suffering health and economic harm from extreme weather.

K.C. Compton·May 13, 2025·5 min read

Physical activity is crucial for young children’s well-being. Outdoor play not only supports children’s physical health and their social and emotional development but can also...

RAPID Celebrates Five Years of Surveys

What makes RAPID surveys unique is the priority of disseminating results quickly in a format that is accessible and usable.

K.C. Compton·May 13, 2025·2 min read

When the RAPID Survey Project began in April 2020, everyone involved thought it would be a short-lived, ad hoc undertaking collecting information from families around...

Community Health Workers Can Play a Key Role in Keeping Families Healthy

A report calls for the integration of community health workers into early childhood well-child care.

Mark Swartz·May 8, 2025·4 min read

The well-child visit is standard pediatric practice for the first three years of life. Every few months, parents or caregivers bring their little ones to...

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Elliot's Provocations→

Elliot Haspel unpacks current events and explores possibilities for flourishing futures

KinderCare Is Now Trading on the Stock Market. What Does That Mean for the Future of American Child Care?

KinderCare, which serves nearly 200,000 children across the country, recently hit the public market.

Elliot Haspel·Dec 3, 2024·6 min read

Research Lab→

Groundbreaking research—from neuroscience, policy and practice—that increases knowledge and helps create more equitable communities and lives

New Research: Young Learners in South Carolina’s Majority Black Schools Facing Greater Suspensions

Stark racial disparities in harsh discipline found in a comparison study of Charleston elementary schools that include pre-K programs.

Jo Napolitano·Oct 1, 2024·7 min read

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

“The End User Is a Dollar Sign, It’s Not a Child”: How Private Equity and Shareholders Are Reshaping American Child Care

An unprecedented degree of investor activity is creating a cascade of risks for the sector, risks which threaten the path toward an inclusive child care system which works well for all children, parents, and early educators.

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Child Care Crisis→

Reporting on the fragile systems of American child care, solutions and advances

Community Health Workers Can Play a Key Role in Keeping Families Healthy

A report calls for the integration of community health workers into early childhood well-child care.

Mark Swartz·May 8, 2025·4 min read

Community Cultivators→

Highlighting how innovators build and sustain global communities from the ground up

Cash Transfers: A Proven Strategy to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center conducted an analysis on how cash transfers impact young children and their families. Here’s what it revealed.

K.C. Compton·Feb 27, 2025·6 min read

Top Takeaways→

Recaps from important conversations, town halls, webinars and virtual events from the Early Learning field

5 Top Takeaways from the Conversation: From Access to Opportunity – The Magic of Children’s Books

Mark Swartz·Jul 30, 2024·4 min read

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The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Is Long Overdue for Reform

With a budget debate looming, here are some of the proposed solutions on the table.

Elliot Haspel·May 6, 2025·6 min read

You’d be forgiven for having trouble keeping up with the alphabet soup...

New Brief Recommends Extending Tax Breaks to Early Childhood Educators

The IRS currently excludes early educators from a federal tax deduction offered to K-12 teachers who spend their own money on school supplies.

Rebecca Gale·May 1, 2025·5 min read

Every year, in December and in May, Susan Morice prepares a special...

Preschool Enrollment, Spending Hit Record Highs, but Access and Quality Gaps Persist

The national preschool landscape remains uncertain, according to new research from the National Institute for Early Education Research.

K.C. Compton·Apr 29, 2025·6 min read

Although the 2023-24 school year saw historic gains for early childhood education,...

Analysis: Public School Pre-K Teachers Are Professionals, But Aren’t Treated That Way

From pay to professional development to coordination with colleagues in higher grades, schools have a long way to go, study finds

Jill Cannon, Elizabeth Steiner and Anna Shapiro·Apr 24, 2025·3 min read

States are investing in expanding their pre-K programs. More than 1.5 million...

‘There Goes My Son’s Help:’ Wave of Washington Head Starts Shut Down as Chaos Engulfs Federal Program

After months of layoffs, funding freezes and uncertainty, Trump's new budget proposal calls for eliminating the anti-poverty early childhood program.

Amanda Geduld·Apr 21, 2025·9 min read

Editor’s note: This story originally published on The 74 on April 18,...

Engaging Local Leaders Is Key to Helping Young Children and Their Families Thrive

A Q&A with Sheri Brady, vice president of strategy and program for the Children’s Defense Fund, about the current policy environment for children.

Mark Swartz·Apr 17, 2025·4 min read

Since November, advocates and experts have sounded the alarm over what the...

History Lessons Matter, Even in Preschool

Stillinger: Nothing is as compelling to a child as another child’s story, so my students learn about young people who helped create change.

Suzanne Stillinger·Apr 15, 2025·3 min read

When people hear that I work in a preschool, they can easily...

What the Looming Child Tax Credit Expiration Means for Your Family

A graphic primer on the child tax credit — and why Congress is talking about it

Rebecca Gale and Dianne Kirsch (Illustrator)·Apr 10, 2025·1 min read

‘Chainsaw Approach’ to Budget Cuts Leaves Military Families as Collateral Damage

Haspel: Child care programs on military bases are shutting down amid spending freezes, leaving families scrambling for care and undermining readiness.

Elliot Haspel·Apr 8, 2025·4 min read

Collateral damage is primarily a military term, and it is perhaps the...

Head Start Providers Shocked as Federal Office Serving Wisconsin Shuts Down Without Notice

Four other regional offices also close Tuesday, but local programs get no official word

Erick Gunn, Wisconsin Examiner·Apr 7, 2025·4 min read

Head Start child care providers in Wisconsin and five other Midwestern states...

Staying Engaged In Uncertain Times

Amid the evolving policy environment, Start Early’s Yvette Sanchez Fuentes says early care and education advocates can build on bipartisan support.

Mark Swartz·Apr 3, 2025·5 min read

Amid the evolving policy environment in Washington, early care and education advocates...

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