By Pamela Archer Hamlin On a warm summer morning, I walked into Little Sun People, the renowned Afro-Centric Child Care Center in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with anticipation. Learning from Tameika Bunche-Smith, the visionary behind the “Journey to Nia: Centering Black joy and eradicating anti-Black racism in early childhood” curriculum, had drawn me in. Having previously engaged with her during an online workshop, I was eager for a deeper dive. Equally, the prospect of connecting with Mama Fela Barclift, the driving force behind Little Sun People, added to my enthusiasm.  An Inspiri ..read more

We at DEY stand in support of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) in early childhood education (ECE).  We are dismayed at the actions of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, who reportedly forced Barbara Cooper to resign as head of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education over accusations that an early childhood book of her endorsement and use of the NAEYC DAP book. The National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has been the leading organization in the field of early childhood education for over 90 years. As a highly respected professional association, NAEYC ..read more

As we embark on another year, we are excited to continue advocating for a just and equitable early childhood education for all children. We are proud of our accomplishments over the past 11 years and hope to expand our services and opportunities for supporting educators, families, and advocates. Before we share our plans for 2023, we want to review some of the highlights from 2022.  Launched the DEY Podcast Can you believe it’s been a year since we launched the DEY Podcast with Kisha Reid? We hope you have enjoyed Kisha’s fantastic conversations with Suzanne Axlesson, Peter Gray, Mr. Ch ..read more

I’m Sylvan Taylor, the Schoolwide Enrichment Teacher at The Downtown School, a public pre-K-8th school in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We celebrated our 30th year of innovative, child-centered education last year, and I’m always excited to share the amazing things going on at my school! This is my 10th year overall at DTS, my 5th in this position (and my 19th year working in education in some capacity). I initially came to DTS as a classroom teacher, teaching 4th and 5th grade (teachers’ “loop” with our classes in elementary school), then left for 5 years while my husband ea ..read more

This blog was originally published by The Provincetown Independent. Intervening in racist behavior can produce positive change BY NANCY CARLSSON-PAIGE SEP 28, 2022 Racism is deeply rooted in American institutions and life. Children begin early on to internalize messages about race from TV shows and other screen media, toys, books, what they see around them, and what they hear from adults and other kids. Young children sometimes act out racist attitudes without understanding what they mean. Teachers I’ve worked with have reported encounters with exclusionary behavior (for example, a ..read more

At the annual NAEYC meeting in DC, DEY held our first Research into Practice Session with Dr. Dale Farran from Vanderbilt University, and Kisha Reid, DEY Director of Communication and Outreach. We conceptualized these Research into Practice Sessions as an opportunity to highlight research findings that are important to our work as early childhood advocates and demonstrate how the findings can influence our work as early childhood educators and caregivers.  Dale Farran was part of the team of researchers to conduct the first longitudinal randomized controlled study of state-funded prescho ..read more

In this new role as the first Executive Director of Defending the Early Years, there is so much I hope to accomplish. Since I became a kindergarten teacher almost 20 years ago, the one thing I felt lacking in my professional identity was a place where like-minded early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals could come together to share, learn, collaborate, advocate, and heal. As I joined various professional associations, they usually focused on one or two of these areas but not all. And until I joined the DEY advisory board, none of the grassroots groups I worked with focused spec ..read more

On the pathway towards independence, children fluctuate between feeling big and feeling little. One day they pretend to be powerful superheroes saving the world, and the next day they become helpless kittens curled up on their teacher’s lap. It is exciting to grow up, but it’s also perplexing and a little bit scary. Children express their ambivalence by pulling us close, and then pushing us away. We’ve all witnessed the determination of a toddler who proclaims, “I do it by myself,” and it is easy to assume that when this autonomy is expressed so boldly, that the child is on their way to self ..read more

We at Defending the Early Years are distraught with grief and anger over the senseless murder of young children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas.  We are re-posting a blog written by Diane Ravitch, which conveys our feelings as well.   Another mass murder of little children. More families robbed of their beloved child. More tears. More grief. More empty expressions of sympathy from politicians who send “thoughts and prayers.” There is no point in trying to understand the young man who carried out this atrocity. His “reasons” or motive don’t matter. What matters is that he murdered innoc ..read more

We are Defending the Early Years are distraught with grief and anger over the senseless murder of young children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas.  We are re-posting a blog written by Diane Ravitch, which conveys our feelings as well.   Another mass murder of little children. More families robbed of their beloved child. More tears. More grief. More empty expressions of sympathy from politicians who send “thoughts and prayers.” There is no point in trying to understand the young man who carried out this atrocity. His “reasons” or motive don’t matter. What matters is that he murdered inn ..read more