In 2024, EdSurge published dozens of articles about early care and education, up from just a few when we first started covering early articles five years ago.
The situation on the ground remains extremely difficult, and like other news organizations, crisis-centered headlines fill our digital pages. But as the pandemic continues to recede into the past, and the historic funding that comes with it, many of our 2024 articles focused on the programs and people who are moving the field forward.
Our coverage last year also aimed to break down the arbitrary walls between early childhood education and K-12 education. Stories focused on themes such as climate change education, social-emotional skills, and kindergarten readiness to emphasize continuity from early childhood to elementary school.
Below are the 10 most popular early childhood education articles of 2024 in descending order based on website traffic. Click here for more coverage from the early days.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
For decades, home visiting programs have supported families across the United States and promoted positive parenting practices that foster safe and nurturing environments for children. In recent years, many of these programs have had the opportunity to reach more children by tailoring their services to the needs and priorities of home-based child care providers. We explore how these models work and speak to child care providers who are benefiting from them.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
“A public policy disaster,” author Dan Uhri describes the U.S. early childhood education system in an interview about his new book, “The Day Care Myth.” Uri, who has worked on early childhood policy for decades, said the current system is more costly to taxpayers and harmful to children, families and early childhood educators than any “devil’s plan” anyone could devise on their own. I believe there is. He suggests a better approach.
Written by Debbie Tannenbaum
“We’ve discovered that there are many ways to encourage even the youngest students to be creative with digital tools,” Debbie Tannenbaum, a technology coach at the school, wrote in an essay. But she says it starts with giving teachers the confidence and skills they need to integrate technology into their classrooms. Tannenbaum shares what early childhood educators have learned about using technology to support young learners.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
Elementary school teachers and leaders across the country report that children entering kindergarten are in worse conditions than their predecessors. They have underdeveloped social-emotional skills and fine motor skills. Some people still cannot go to the bathroom by themselves. Recognizing this alarming trend, some school districts have implemented unique solutions to support early learners as they prepare for school. Let’s take a closer look at two of them.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
AI seems to be everywhere now, but it is rarely discussed in early care and education. At a panel discussion at SXSW EDU in March, early childhood education leaders actively engaged in the conversation about this early technology and discussed practical and intentional applications of AI for early childhood educators.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
In December 2023, EdSurge published an in-depth study of a new child care model in Michigan called “Tri-Share” that received a lot of attention. Under this program, childcare costs are split equally between employers, employees, and the state. In this follow-up, we highlight two states and one county where adaptation is underway to see if Michigan’s success can be replicated elsewhere.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
Sociologist Casey Stockstill didn’t set out to write a book exploring racial and class divisions among 4-year-olds. But after two years of observing and studying two seemingly similar, high-quality preschools in Madison, Wisconsin, the differences were too profound to ignore. We spoke with Stockstill about her new book, False Starts: The Segregated Lives of Preschoolers, and how it has shaped her understanding of early education as the great equalizer. I did.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
What began in Kentucky as a novel idea to reshape the early childhood workforce, in effect reinvigorating the broader labor market, quickly spread across the United States. More than a dozen states are considering or currently implementing policies that would make early childhood educators eligible for free child care for their children. This solution is simple but effective and has bipartisan support.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
Despite historic funding poured into early childhood education in the wake of the pandemic, the sector, and the people who work in it, continue to struggle. As one researcher puts it, early childhood educators earn an average of $13 an hour, which puts them in the bottom 3 percent of workers nationwide, despite their important job of “nurturing children’s brains.” We take a look at that and other findings from recent reports.
Written by Emily Tate Sullivan
Kindergarten readiness has been on the decline in recent years, worrying teachers, school leaders and child development experts. As we enter the new school year, we asked a number of educators and researchers, “What skills are most important for the success of children starting kindergarten?” Their answers were surprisingly consistent. ABCs and 1-2-3s are good to have, but social-emotional skills are non-negotiable.
