Early Learning Nation

A bipartisan moment for the Child Tax Credit: Kevin Mahnken on how proposals to expand the benefit are coming from every corner as the election (and a harsh 2025 deadline) looms. earlylearningnation.com/2024/09/long...

Care for all: Mark Swartz on key lessons for child advocates from the broader $648 billion care economy. earlylearningnation.com/2024/09/care...

The Children’s Agenda: What a Harris-Walz Administration Could Mean For Families - Early Learning Nation Just one day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris gave her first remarks

New today from @brycecovert.bsky.social — The children’s agenda: What a Harris-Walz administration could mean for families. earlylearningnation.com/2024/09/the-...

New today from Kevin Mahnken:

Long a stranger to the spotlight, the Child Tax Credit earns embrace of both parties. earlylearningnation.com?p=9871

☀️ Enjoy the rest of your summer! We'll see you in a couple weeks. ☀️

Happy Friday! Want to catch up this weekend with some great reads on federal family support and indigenous art education? We've got you:

earlylearningnation.com

White House Brings Newborn Baby Kits to More Households - But Real Challenges to Caring for Young Kids Remain - Early Learning Nation New babies may be bundles of joy, but they also bring bundles of bills - and not every family is in a financial position to comfortably shoulder this new

"All of these anti-family policies—no paid leave, costly health care, and lack of child care—have contributed to the unique stress of being a parent in America."

Art and Soul: Teaching Zuni Art Across Generations - Early Learning Nation On a recent Friday afternoon, student artists at the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (ZYEP) were busy getting ready for an evening reception showcasing arts

Programs for kids that elevate heritage-based strengths and traditions can work wonders for entire communities. Meet the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project:
earlylearningnation.com/2024/08/art-...

Research? You want research? We've got research! From neuroscience to policy to social/emotional work, our Research Lab has you covered.
earlylearningnation.com/category/res...

Agents in Their Own Learning - Early Learning Nation Dr. Angela Pyle is director of the Play Learning Lab at University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. This role puts her in an ideal

Play that's child-directed vs child-centered: What's the difference? "Shared agency," says Dr. Angela Pyle. Dig into these approaches in this conversation with Dr. Pyle and Mark Swartz:
earlylearningnation.com/2024/08/agen...

‘Music Zoo’ Gives Preschoolers an Up Close and Personal Experience of Music-Making - Early Learning Nation When University of Arkansas student Jackson Joyce took his saxophone to the Jean Tyson Child Development Center one late spring afternoon, he wasn’t sure

Want to go hang out at the Music Zoo? We thought so!
Preschoolers at the Jean Tyson Child Development Center get sweet introductions to music through music education students at the University of Arkansas/Fayetteville.
earlylearningnation.com/2024/08/musi...

Stress Hormones In Preschoolers Improve With Emotional Knowledge, Study Indicates - Early Learning Nation Picture this: a 3-year-old in a preschool classroom is playing with a popular toy when a classmate asks if they can have the toy. The first child says,

Preschoolers who can identify their emotions show lower levels of stress hormones, according to new research from Dr. Eleanor Brown. This age is critical for socio-emotional skills, but families struggling with poverty may have a harder time supporting their kids' development.

Child Care Down on the Farm - Early Learning Nation The child care movement needs a broad base of support in order to win an effective, publicly-funded system. Now, a new research paper is opening another door by showing how child care is impacting tha...

The child care movement needs a broad base of support in order to win an effective, publicly-funded system. Now, a new research paper is opening another door by showing how child care is impacting that most respected of American icons: farmers.
earlylearningnation.com/2024/08/chil...

Diverse Books Matter. Paula Willey’s Top Recommendations for Pre- and Emerging Readers - Early Learning Nation Raising a nation of readers and empowering our kids with the empathy and understanding to succeed in our diverse world requires social and human fluency

Raising a nation of readers and empowering our kids with the empathy and understanding to succeed in our diverse world requires social and human fluency gained from reading stories that offer multicultural, full-color perspectives.

5 Top Takeaways from the Conversation: From Access to Opportunity - The Magic of Children’s Books - Early Learning Nation It’s no surprise that the entire Early Learning Nation magazine team is filled with readers (and authors, too): voracious, life-long readers, catholic in

You know in your bones the importance of children's books and reading for a myriad of reasons, but we think your mind will be blown and your heart will shine catching up with some of our favorites at the recent CGLR conversation we co-hosted.

Where Should Women Channel Their Ambition? - Early Learning Nation Four years since the COVID-19 pandemic shook U.S. workplaces and its child care systems, parents continue to engage in vital paid work without the support

When we ask if women can have it all, not only are we asking the wrong question, but we unfairly place the onus on individual women to singularly overcome all the structural barriers and odds to climb the ladder. @samhita.bsky.social

5 Top Takeaways from the CGLR Conversation: AI and the Early Childhood Workforce - Early Learning Nation On June 25, the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading held a webinar on the benefits and risks of bringing artificial intelligence (AI) into early education

The AI genie isn't going back in the bottle. So what can educators, advocates, parents and researchers do? This superstar panel's recent conversation with Campaign for Grade-Level Reading covered a lot of ground!
earlylearningnation.com/2024/07/5-to...

Helping Children Make Sense of Their World through Science - Early Learning Nation A recent report by a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine committee declared the need to promote science, technology, engineering and

"Why?"

The perennial question of young kids everywhere is the key to unlocking the magic of understanding the world around them. This new, researched-back curricula developed by The Next Generation Preschool Science team taps into kids' natural curiosity and playful learning:

8 Top Takeaways from the Conversation: The Future of Child Care Reporting From Those Who Cover It - Early Learning Nation You don’t have to work in journalism to know that the field is changing rapidly. Newspapers are continuing to vanish at an average rate of more than two a

Journalism is experiencing some of its deepest hardships structurally since its inception, and when we lose the news, it's harder to make good policy happen. Here's what several of our favorite #childcare journalists had to say about the current state of the industry, and where we go from here:

Diapers are Missing from the Safety Net. American Families are Paying the Price. - Early Learning Nation Did you know that infants require up to 12 diapers per day? Did you also know this can cost families anywhere from $80 to upwards of $100 per month per

Unacceptable: Nearly HALF of families surveyed by the National Diaper Bank Network last year reported not having enough diapers. The impacts of diaper need ripple out through a family in devastating and unexpected ways--and no, simply switching to cloth diapers isn't the answer!

Breathing Free in Iowa with Karin Stein of Moms Clean Air Force (EcoMadres) - Early Learning Nation With more than 1.5 million members, Moms Clean Air Force unleashes the power of mothers on behalf of Mother Nature. Early Learning Nation magazine

What's the strongest force in the universe? Moms, of course. And what happens when moms get mad about--and then organize against--climate change? Moms Clean Air Force. AND, what happens when Latina moms mobilize for Mother Earth? EcoMadres!

5 Top Takeaways from the Child Trends Conversation: Next Generation Leadership for Black Child and Family Well-Being - Early Learning Nation While we’re taking Early Learning Nation Studio on the road less often during the pandemic, we’re offering recaps—Top Takeaways—from important

“We need each other more than we’re allowed to believe.”
This and many other gems await you in our top takeaways from Child Trends' recent conversation about the future of Black leadership in advocating for family policy that supports and strengthens our communities.

How Crystal Rountree is Deepening the Cross-Generational Magic of Jumpstart - Early Learning Nation What do you get when you put a young child and a young adult together in a classroom? Magic, says Crystal Rountree, CEO of Jumpstart.

Who's in the mood for actual ✨magic✨? We definitely are! Look no further than the work that Crystal Rountree, the new CEO of Jumpstart (and the first Black woman to lead the literacy tutoring nonprofit), is doing.
earlylearningnation.com/2024/07/how-...

Green Spaces: A Vital Key to Young Children’s Mental Well-Being - Early Learning Nation As mental-health professionals, pediatricians, parents and educators weigh how to address what is widely viewed as a mental health emergency facing

The mental health crises we're witnessing across many communities of young kids worries us all. And while we probably all assume the positive benefits of green space, two researchers have set out to quantify and dig deeper into those relationships.

Elliot’s Provocations: Care is No Ordinary Good - Early Learning Nation A recent column by the popular center-left writer Matt Yglesias reinforced for me yet again why we need a different foundation for our care arguments.

Recently, columnist @mattyglesias.bsky.social argued that using workforce rhetoric to support #childcare policy no longer holds water for a variety of reasons, but @ehaspel.bsky.social thinks there's a larger framing issue when we talk about child care as a commercial good versus a national value.

Early Education Is the Most Segregated Learning Space - Early Learning Nation It’s been 70 years since the Supreme Court’s pivotal Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that racially segregated schools are unequal and

The extreme segregation we see in early education settings is a direct result of our fractured systems, argue researchers Casey Stockstill and Halley Potter. But, we can change this! @kendrahurley.bsky.social reports:

earlylearningnation.com/2024/07/earl...

Pumping the Brakes on Private Equity’s Run on Child Care - Early Learning Nation Rebecca Slaughter has a simple explanation for how private equity affects our economy: “When markets are competitively healthy, they have benefits across

Is it good when owners of small-scale child care centers are able to make a profit in their business? It's rare, but almost certainly worthy. Should the focus of child care be on extracting the most profits at the expense of quality, workers' needs and the actual care of children? Not so much.

Vikings! Tax credits! Military families! Summer care and advice!
Did you miss any of our exclusive articles during the month? No worries, we've got you: check out our monthly roundup, and sign up to get it in your inbox here:
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If Only Child Care Costs Were Transparent, Searches Would Be Simpler and Easier - Early Learning Nation In the midst of my search for a new child care provider for my one-year-old, I’ve braced myself for the hard numbers. In the United States, the cost of

"I realized that what frustrates me most about our child care search isn’t just the lack of numbers. It was the way this whole experience seemed to disregard the humanity of everyone involved."

Book Review: How to Raise a Viking: The Secrets of Parenting the World’s Happiest Children - Early Learning Nation While Helen Russell’s clever, well-researched exploration of the parenting culture of Denmark and other Nordic countries might not fully map onto the

It’s no secret that American society must make fundamental changes in how we support parents and children if we are to move forward in a functional, even sensible way. In Helen Russell's "How to Raise a Viking," resources abound that might help move that needle. K.C. Compton reviews: