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Case Studies

Universal, Public Preschool Found to Help Students Long After They Graduate

Proof that Investing in Universal Preschool Can Pay Off

Bryce Covert·May 21, 2021·5 min read

Is universal, public preschool good for children? Is it worth spending billions of dollars on, or will that money be... Read More

A Marriage of True Minds: Start Early and the Early Learning Lab

Mark Swartz·May 19, 2021·3 min read

Businesses merge all the time. Nonprofit mergers rarely occur, but experts have long pointed to the potential advantages of joining... Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty

An Indictment of U.S. Policy and Clarion Call to Fix It

K.C. Compton·May 18, 2021·5 min read

Thanks to U.S. public policy going back decades, nearly 40 million people in this country live below the poverty line... Read More

Promising Practices in Alabama Using a Shared Leadership Model for Early Learning Coaching

Judy Jablon, Alison LaRocca and Tara Skiles·May 13, 2021·8 min read

In September 2018, Tara Skiles sent an email to Judy Jablon at Leading for Children (LFC) that read: “We are... Read More

The United States Used to Have Universal Child Care–Will We Do It Again?

Bryce Covert·May 7, 2021·5 min read

Universal child care is getting a turn in the spotlight. President Joe Biden has proposed universal preschool for all American... Read More

Gardening with Kids: Get Those Little Hands in the Dirt and Embrace All the Senses

Claire Raffel·May 6, 2021·6 min read

“His name is Spencer,” declared the kindergartner proudly holding out her hand. “Spencer the Slug.” Other students jostled for a... Read More

How Two Zaentz Fellows Are Adapting to—and Shaping—the Early Education Landscape

Mark Swartz·April 22, 2021·3 min read

The fellows program of the Zaentz Early Education Initiative at Harvard University cultivates new leaders in this vital and rapidly... Read More

The Bridgeport Baby Bundle: Thinking in Systems, not Programs

Mark Swartz·April 15, 2021·5 min read

In a 2016 Atlantic feature, Alana Semuels calls Fairfield County, Conn., the epicenter of American inequality. “Bridgeport,” she writes, “an... Read More

OPINION: How a Faulty Generalization is Sabotaging Early Childhood Policy

Katharine B. Stevens·April 9, 2021·4 min read

Making incorrect generalizations about a phenomenon based on just one or two instances of that phenomenon is a common error... Read More

Playful Learning in Pittsburgh: The Park as Classroom

Mark Swartz·March 24, 2021·3 min read

“Have a belief in yourself that is bigger than anyone’s disbelief,” said August Wilson, playwright of the great “Pittsburgh Cycle.”... Read More