First 10 Blog

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What Is Playful Learning and Why Does It Matter? Research shows that play is critical to children’s development and learning, especially throughout their early childhood years. Unfortunately, play has gradually been pushed out of classrooms to make time for more teacher-directed learning experiences. Playful learning is often described as having...

I have occasionally referred to the Collective Impact Model, a powerful approach cross-sector collaboration used by many communities across the country, including Pittsfield. The approach is based on the five conditions shown in the graphic...

Last night at a joint meeting of the Boards of the Department of Early Education and Care and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Boards approved motions to create a joint sub-committee on...

I just learned that tomorrow’s convening at Harvard, The Leading Edge of Early Childhood Education: Linking Science to Policy for a New Generation of Pre-Kindergarten, will be live-streamed at this URL. The event includes an...

NPR’s story on the recent report, Worthy Work, STILL Unlivable Wages, includes several quotations from Deborah Phillips, one of the co-authors of the study: “There’s a disconnect between our 21st-century knowledge about early childhood teaching...

See National Public Radio’s story on a new report from the New America Foundation, Skills for Success: Supporting and Assessing Key Habits, Mindsets, and Skills PreK-12. From the NPR article: … the best tack is...

“At first I wasn’t too thrilled about having to be here, but I was willing to give it a chance to help my son and his father.” Heather Hinckley, talking to The Berkshire Eagle, is...