First 10 Blog

Bookshelf of selected books for young children and a First 10 sign, with a First 10 Sanford team member standing in front of the bookshelf.

Maine began working with First 10 Director David Jacobson in 2018, implementing  First 10 practices in 13 schools across the state. This early work led to the creation of a state-level, cross-agency team that promotes connections between early education initiatives. Currently, the Maine Department of Education provides a state level...

I introduced the East Boston YMCA’s experience with the BPS Opening the World of Learning (OWL)/Building Blocks curriculum in the first post in this series. In the second, I discussed the impact of longer, more structured units,...

In last week’s post, I began describing the East Boston YMCA’s experience implementing the Boston Public School’s prekindergarten classroom, introducing the range of changes that the new curriculum has brought about. This week I discuss...

How does classroom practice change as a result of Birth-Third work? How do children, teachers, and leaders experience these changes? Having summarized the strategies of the first five Birth-Third Alignment Partnerships in Massachusetts (Boston, Lowell,...

Be sure not to miss this important policy brief from the Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation: Beyond Subprime Learning: Accelerating Progress in Early Education. The report presents a vision for early education (on page...

The Executive Office of Education has created a new website: Building the Foundation for College and Career Success for Children from Birth through Grade 3.  According to the announcement, We designed this website to achieve two...

See The Early Learning Assessment Literacy Challenge at New America EdCentral for an article on the effective use of assessments in early childhood education. The article includes a number of embedded links to useful guidance documents, including Early...