
Talking to Babies and Toddlers: Why it Matters
When my children were small, we talked to them all the time. In the car, while they were in the stroller, while we ate dinner. We...

The Benefits of Intergenerational Programs
A three-year-old sits on a sofa with an octogenarian, reading a Dr. Seuss book. At a table nearby, several preschoolers and elderly...

An Urban Preschool Grounded in Nature
Just off the Branch Avenue exit of route 146 in Providence, there is an outdoor classroom. On the banks of the Woonasquatucket River,...

High-Quality Early Learning Necessary for All
Last week, I met with the manager of operations and the communications coordinator for the Rhode Island Association for the Education of...

Re-Imagining Our Educational System
Recently, New America published an article suggesting that it is time to re-envision elementary education. Authors Lisa Guernsey and...

How Poverty Impacts Brain Development and Learning
A new research study published in Nature Neuroscience shows that children who live in poverty actually have smaller brains than their...

Making a Commitment to Rhode Island's Children
Last week, the 2015 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook was presented to a room filled with health care and education professionals, policy...

Funding in Danger for Home Visiting Parent Education Programs
Over the next forty-five days, Congress will decide the fate of an innovative, research-backed program that most of us have never even...
A Recipe for Disaster: Common Core Standards for Kindergarten
This week, Defending the Early Years and the Alliance for Childhood released a report titled Reading Instruction in Kindergarten: Little...
The Rise in Kindergarten Readiness Assessments
Nationally, there is a growing trend towards assessing all incoming kindergartners to ensure that teachers and schools are meeting their...