Early Childhood Development

'Creating Innovators'

Tony Wagner | Posted 05.17.2012

Read More: Early Childhood Development, Montessori, Steve Jobs Quotes, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Montessori School, Childhood Development, Malcolm Gladwell, Entreprenuership, Mit, Harvard University, College News

In more than one hundred and fifty interviews for this book -- lengthy conversations with scores of innovators and their parents, teachers, and mentors -- passion was the most frequently recurring word.

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(Graduation) Hats Off to Mothers

Anne Mosle | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Early Childhood Development, Women, Education, Women's Issues, Mother's Day 2012, Solutions, US Poverty, Postsecondary Education, Aspen Institute, Early Childhood Education, Higher Education, Social Capital, Impact News

With Mother's Day flowers still fresh and commencements kicking off this week, let's turn our energy toward saluting the achievements of resilient student mothers.

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Blank Disk Or Software Included: Are We Born With Ethics And Morals?

KidSpirit | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Infants, Morality, Empathy, Children, Cognition, Ethics, Early Childhood Development, Religion News

Do we have a sense of right or wrong from day one? If put in an extreme situation, could an ordinary person grow up to be a psychopath?

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Honor Maurice Sendak with Play

Darell Hammond | Posted 05.09.2012

Read More: Playground, Children's Literature, Early Childhood Development, Where the Wild Things Are, Imagination Playground, Maurice Sendak, Children's Books, Playgrounds, Parents News

Where The Wild Things Are shows us that children need to be free to roam, explore and invent in order to understand their place in the world that surrounds them.

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And Life Is NOT Going to Be the Same

Misha Lyuve | Posted 05.07.2012

Read More: Child Development, Personal Development, First Step, Personal Growth, Children's Health, Children, Early Childhood Development, Video, Culture News

Can I be jealous of children for a second? They are lucky to experience transformational moments in abundance. As adults we require, for the most part, a very conscious effort to reach them.

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Lifting Up Our Youngest Learners

Josh Anderson | Posted 05.01.2012

Read More: Early Childhood Development, Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Programs, Head Start, Pre-Kindergarten, Early Head Start, Chicago Education, Pre-K Education, The Week of the Young Child, Chicago News

As a community, we must continue our commitment to raising the bar for our early learning centers and closing the school readiness gap for our city's future leaders.

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Penny Wise and Pound Foolish: NYC's Budget Cuts to Leave Lasting Wounds

Richard Buery | Posted 05.26.2012

Read More: Early Childhood Development, After-School Programs, Mayor Bloomberg, Budget Cuts, After School Programs, New York Early Childhood Care, New York Education Budget, Early Childhood Education, New-York-After-School, New York News

The mayor has consistently demonstrated his commitment to New York City's children. That is why the mayor's proposed cuts to early childhood education and after-school programs are so jarring.

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Learning Routines and Routines to Learn

Dr. Rebecca Palacios | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Childhood Routines, Child Routines, Early Childhood Development, Early Childhood Education, Family Routines, Morning Routine, Parents News

An invaluable survival strategy for parents and teachers of young children is the establishment of daily and weekly routines.

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The Overextended Toddler

Rhiana Maidenberg | Posted 03.24.2012

Read More: American Values, Kid-Activities, Toddlers, Early Childhood Development, Early Childhood Education, Parenting, Childhood, Overextended, Parents-Toddlers, Parents News

Is the primary job of a parent to give our kids every possible opportunity to prove themselves tiny geniuses (the American model), or is it our job to make them self-sufficient and confident citizens (the more European model)? I'm not sure that we can do both at the same time.

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Play Today, Lead Tomorrow

Darell Hammond | Posted 03.20.2012

Read More: Early Childhood Development, Education, Imagination Playground, Play, KaBOOM Playgrounds, World Economic Forum, Schwab-Foundation, Business News

Unstructured play gives kids the space they need to tinker and take risks -- both vital for the budding entrepreneur. Yet, too frequently these opportunities are being taken away from our kids.

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Being the Change That I Wish To See In the World

Soiya Gecaga | Posted 03.18.2012

Read More: We the Change Foundation, Kenya Children, Early Childhood Development, Kenya Orphans, Kenya Violence, Kenya Refugees, Kenya, Orphans, Good News News

Upon my return to Kenya, I initially thought I would get involved in peace and reconciliation activities. However, I couldn't help but notice the hundreds of very young children that I saw running around unsupervised on a daily basis.

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Actions and Action Figures: Gift Giving as Brain Development

Judith Sandalow | Posted 02.26.2012

Read More: Attachment, Early Childhood Development, Brain, Children, Raising Children, Brain Development, Early Childhood Attachment, Gifts, Holiday Gifts, Learning, DC News

Actions and action figures both speak louder than words when it comes to telling children that they are unconditionally loved and have a safe environment where they can develop -- physically, emotionally, mentally -- as they should.

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Trusting Relationships Are Central to Children's Learning -- Lessons From Edward Tronick

Ellen Galinsky | Posted 01.31.2012

Read More: Edward Tronick, Early Childhood Development, Trusting Relationships, Child Behavior, Child Development Research, Video, Parents News

It now may seem more obvious that trusting relationships enhance children's learning, but it wasn't obvious not so long ago when Tronick became interested in the subject.

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Fishing Naked in Finland: What've PISA Scores Got to Do With It?

Susan Ochshorn | Posted 01.30.2012

Read More: Creativity, Early Childhood Development, Pisa-Scores, Play, Common Core Standards, Early Childhood Education, Innovation, Education Reform, Finland Education, Nordic Education, Education News

Since 2001, when the PISA results went public, this Nordic nation's 15-year-olds have ranked at or near the top of all industrialized nations in reading, science, and mathematics. And we haven't yet stopped talking about it.

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Corporate Loopholes: The Tip of the Iceberg

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 01.04.2012

Read More: CEO Pay, Corporate Excess, Economy, Deficit Reduction, Corporate Taxes, Wealth Gap, Early Childhood Development, CEO Compensation, Corporate Tax Loopholes, Budget Cuts, Budget, Corporate Greed, Early Childhood Education, Super Committee, Politics News

Some days it feels like America may be speeding towards a proverbial iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is the budget deficit; and the failure to invest in our human capital is the rest of the iceberg that will sink America's ship of state. But as the super committee struggles to make difficult decisions in the coming weeks to reduce the budget deficit, one of the proposals it is considering is reducing the corporate tax rate. This would be a step away from investing in human capital, and a step towards balancing the budget on the backs of our youth, who need health care and nutrition, quality education and good jobs to build a strong America. Children did not cause the budget deficit and they must not be sacrificed to help solve it.

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Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Stupid

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 12.21.2011

Read More: Child Poverty, Poverty, Homelessness, US Poverty, Living-in-Poverty, Children in Poverty, Income Disparity, Poverty in America, New Poverty, Unemployment Rate, Economy, Employment, Jobless, Jobs, Joblessness, Early Childhood Development, Unemployed, Unemployment, Jobless Rate, Early Childhood, American Dream, The American Dream, Youth, Job Cuts, US Economy, Job Market, Education, Long-Term Unemployment, Job, Unemployment Crisis, US Economic Crisis, Jobless Claims, Early Childhood Education, Schools, Job Creation, Politics News

"The Economy Stupid" were the words on the now famous sign in successful presidential candidate Bill Clinton's 1992 war room. Today, that sign should be in the war rooms of all candidates.

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Early Learning on the Brain: Policymakers, Take Note

Susan Ochshorn | Posted 12.11.2011

Read More: Magnetic Resonance Technology, Early-Childhood-Development, Brain Research, Early Childhood Education, School Readiness, College Board, College Completion, Education News

As state lawmakers across the country struggle with competing priorities, continuing to slash investment in early learning, it's time to do a little memory recovery, and take a crash course in neuroscience. The synapses of our youngest citizens are firing right now.

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Spongebob Squarepants vs. Caillou: Both of These Things Are Not LIke the Other

David Kleeman | Posted 11.15.2011

Read More: Child Development, Early Childhood Development, Television, Research, Caillou, Children, Screen Time, Spongebob, Children's Television, SpongeBob SquarePants Study SpongeBob SquarePants Kids Brains, Media News

It's impossible to conduct a thoughtful debate, or to build family media literacy, if we allow the conversation to be hijacked by pseudo-science that lends itself to flashy headlines.

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Is Poverty Not "Sexy" Enough?

Morna Murray | Posted 10.30.2011

Read More: Early Childhood Development, First Focus, Race-to-the-Top-Early-Learning-Challenge, Harlem Children's Zone, Congress, Promise Neighborhoods, Child Poverty, Kids Count, Childhood Poverty, Impact News

One in five children now lives in poverty, up from 17% in 2000. This is an increase of 2.4 million children. These are not just statistics. They are real children, waking up hungry and suffering.

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Women's Ascendant Role in African Reform

Anne Goddard | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Women's Rights, Child Protection, International Development, Africa, Liberia Civil War, Liberia Refugees, Liberia, Children's Health, Anne Goddard, Childfund International, Education, Early Childhood Development, International Women?S Day, Childfund, Ecd, Impact News

Uprisings are sweeping across Africa's northern coast. As the unrest continues to unfold, the prominent role that women have taken on is noteworthy.

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Early Childhood Education: Two Essential Questions

Roger Ochoa | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Kids Reading, Education, Education Reform, Schools, Early Childhood Development, Early Childhood Education, Early Education, Education News

Early childhood education does not begin and end in the classroom. Families need to be empowered with tools to help their children learn.

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Good Night, Sleep Tight

Meredith Lopez | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Toddlers, Early Childhood Development, Menendez Brothers, Milestones, Parenting, Mothering, Baby Health, Motherhood, Babies, Healthy Living News

18-month-old babies are really just a blend of teenagers, cavepeople, and puppies. They're moody, whiny, stubborn, willful, strongly opinionated, hyper, distractible, and stupidly curious.

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Leaving the Littlest Ones Behind

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Early Childhood Development, Child Poverty, Education, Early Childhood Education, Achievement Gap, Impact News

According to a new study, gaps in child development are already apparent when babies are just nine months old. Our nation simply can't afford not to significantly increase investments in early childhood development.

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Westside Preschool Is No Daydream for Young Entrepreneur

Anthea Raymond | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Daycare, Early Childhood Development, Education, Lausd, Culver City, Childcare, Preschool, Los Angeles News

With his mother's help, David Frank converted a Culver City home into a preschool. Things began slowly, but within six months, the place was full. Today, there's a two-year-long waiting list.

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Brain Differences Between Poor and Rich Kids

Dr. Susan Neuman | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Education, Poverty, Research, Brain, Early Childhood Development, Brain Research, Healthy Living News

This study emphasizes the devastating effects of poverty on children's achievement, but we must be wary about its conclusions.

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