In 2023, EdSurge revealed a report variety of tales on early care and schooling — essentially the most we’ve run since we started masking the age group almost 5 years in the past.
So this 12 months, for the primary time, we’re bringing you a listing of the tales that resonated most with you, our readers. Beneath, you’ll discover our 10 hottest early childhood tales from the final 12 months, which may loosely be divided into two camps.
In a single, we’ve got a number of tales that dive into the dire situations of the early studying sector at the moment and what’s at stake now that pandemic-era federal funding has expired. Why is that this area so fractured and fragile? What occurs now that early studying packages have gone over the “fiscal cliff”?
Within the different, we’ve got tales of hope and resilience. In these, our reporters and contributors discover attainable options and promising improvements underway which will supply a salve to this struggling area, now that broad federal funding in early schooling is extremely inconceivable. These tales embrace native efforts, personal sector contributions and public-private partnerships that, in lots of circumstances, will be scaled up.
Try our most-read tales of 2023 under. And if 10 isn’t sufficient, you may learn all of our early childhood protection right here.
The ten Most Common ECE Tales, in Descending Order
10. How a Small City in a Crimson State Rallied Round Common Preschool
By Emily Tate Sullivan
In 2017, kindergarten readiness charges in American Falls, a one-stoplight farming neighborhood in conservative Idaho, hit “all-time low.” Then a college chief launched a marketing campaign encouraging households to “learn, speak, play” with youngsters each single day. That easy mantra turned a motion, and at the moment, the city has embraced a objective of common preschool. Our reporter visited American Falls to search out out precisely how this transformation unfolded.
9. The Youngster Care Cliff, A Cautionary Story
By Rebecca Gale and Dianne Kirsch
What’s the youngster care cliff, and why ought to folks care? These are the questions Rebecca Gale and Dianne Kirsch teamed as much as discover with their graphic story. In a sequence of illustrations, the duo unpacks the kid care cliff, what occurs after federal funding for youngster care runs out and why we have to assist efforts to put money into youngster care infrastructure.
8. Youngster Care Packages See Closures, Resignations and Tuition Hikes After Federal Funding Expires
By Emily Tate Sullivan
It’s been a couple of months since $24 billion in youngster care stabilization grants expired, sending the nation’s early care and education schemes over the so-called fiscal cliff. And not using a stopgap funding answer, the issues these {dollars} helped paper over are resurfacing. We spoke with educators and households in West Virginia to grasp what that historic funding enabled them to do — and the “unimaginable selections” they now face.
7. What to Know In regards to the Rising Reputation of Employer-Sponsored Youngster Care
By Emily Tate Sullivan
Employers are more and more getting concerned in youngster care, providing perks reminiscent of on-site care and month-to-month stipends to offset prices. Final Could, EdSurge revealed an in-depth story about this rising development and the controversy surrounding it. The following month, we ran a separate story concerning the high takeaways from our reporting on employer-sponsored youngster care — our “TL;DR” model.
6. We Want Higher Pathways for Turning into an Early Childhood Instructor
By Jay Lee
“Entry to high-quality early childhood schooling is among the many strongest, confirmed methods to shut fairness gaps and assist communities,” writes Jay Lee, an early childhood instructor in Oakland, California. However there aren’t sufficient lecturers. Why, then, Lee wonders, is it so troublesome to turn into an authorized early childhood instructor? In his essay, Lee explores why constructing inclusive, accessible pathways is essential.
5. Federal Authorities Launches First-of-Its-Sort Heart for Early Childhood Workforce
By Emily Tate Sullivan
Challenges dealing with the early care and schooling workforce have reached disaster ranges for the reason that pandemic started, and the federal authorities has taken discover. No, the feds will not be providing common pre-Ok or capping the price of youngster care (not less than not but), however they’ve launched a first-of-its-kind ECE Workforce Heart to enhance compensation and dealing situations for the sector. They usually’re trying to produce actual options, not simply analysis stories.
4. Who’s Wanting Out for the Psychological Well being of Infants and Toddlers?
By Emily Tate Sullivan
There’s been a number of consideration these days on the psychological well being disaster amongst teenagers. However what about youthful youngsters? Youngsters of all ages — even infants — can undergo from psychological well being points, they usually weren’t proof against the stressors attributable to the pandemic. We talked with specialists to search out out what it seems to be like when infants and toddlers are struggling — and why early intervention is crucial.
3. Did Covid Break Youngster Care or Was It Already Damaged? A Transient Visible Explainer
By Rebecca Gale and Dianne Kirsch
“The U.S. youngster care system isn’t working for anybody. With out sustained federal funding, it would stay damaged,” writes Rebecca Gale, a reporting fellow at Higher Life Lab at New America. This visible explainer, which Gale collaborated on with illustrator Dianne Kirsch, explains why.
2. As Bezos Academy Preschools Unfold Nationally, Early Childhood Consultants Weigh In
By Lilah Burke
5 years in the past, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos introduced plans to donate cash to launch a series of free preschools. As of Could 2023, the Bezos Academy community had greater than a dozen websites throughout Washington, Texas and Florida. Right here’s what has pleasantly stunned early childhood specialists concerning the new Montessori-style packages — and what has left them lower than impressed.
1. What Occurs When You Give Youngster Care Suppliers Cash — With No Strings Hooked up?
By Emily Tate Sullivan
What occurs if you happen to give youngster care suppliers predictable, unconditional money? That’s the query driving the Thriving Suppliers Undertaking, a pilot launched in Colorado and increasing to cities throughout the nation. The initiative hinges on the concept that assured revenue will enhance caregivers’ financial stability and, in flip, enable them and the households they serve to thrive. We take an in depth take a look at the way it works and the way it’s going.
