Rights & Needs of Young Children
Defending the Early Years
DEY’s Mission
approaches to learning informed by child development theory and evidence-based research.
DEY’s Primary Goals
- To advocate at the grassroots, local, state, regional, and federal levels for education policies based on child development theory and research.
- To mobilize the early childhood community to speak up for age-appropriate standards, assessments, and classroom practices that are based on research.
- To promote appropriate practices in early childhood classrooms and to support educators in counteracting policies and practices that undermine whole child health and optimal learning.
What’s New at DEY?
We are pleased to announce the introduction of a new Gold tier for $8 per month, which provides access to all courses in the Reflective Practitioner Series. Each course includes pre-recorded videos, reflective workbooks, live Zoom discussions, and a certificate of completion (you must submit your workbook).
Our Platinum tier, at $25 per month, includes all RPS courses and access to our other Professional Learning Institute offerings, such as our Fall Book Study. You can also donate a membership to support an early childhood educator!
We at DEY recognize that the challenges facing early childhood education and care are increasing—from harmful policies to funding cuts to directives that undermine our expertise. The In Defense of ECEC: Resistance Collective is a space for early childhood educators, advocates, and parents to come together, build solidarity, and strengthen our collective voice.
We will meet monthly or every other month to strategize a collective response, support each other in dealing with specific issues, and learn together.
In an effort to resist cuts to programs that serve many young children and their families, we have created a new Threat Watch Alert. You can sign up below to stay up to date regarding urgent developments—whether it’s harmful legislation, budget cuts, or shifts in quality standards. You’ll know what’s happening, why it matters, and how to take action—fast. Click the link below to view the Threat Watch Alert webpage and fill out the subscription form to receive Threat Watch Alert emails. And share threats, concerns, and actions on our Advocacy Map!
Rae Pica joins Kisha Reid as they tackle the question Why Play? Pica draws from her work with early childhood educators, time in the field, and the latest research in her new book, which digs deep into the why.
The DEY Podcast with Kisha Reid is a monthly discussion-styled show featuring educators, advocates and other changemakers about their grassroots projects, innovations in education and reimagining early childhood environments. Our goal is to amplify these voices so we can all learn and work toward a more equitable and playful environment for children. Check out all episodes here.
Did you miss our special edition podcast episode live from the Play Empowers Retreat? Listen as Kisha hosts a debrief with guests Heather Bernt Santy, Tiffany Pearsall, Bethany Corrie, Katie Rooney, Kristin Haugen, Alexis Jones, Becky Gamache, Denisha Jones, Ulrica Convers, Sierra Roussos, and Carly Bedard.
Moderated by DEY Executive Director Denisha Jones, these dialogues aim to inspire and reaffirm our dedication to protecting and nurturing childhood. Join us in this important mission of defending childhood and advocating for the well-being of society’s youngest members.
DEY National Advisor Nadia Jaboneta shares Alma And How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal. This is a powerful book about a young Latina girl who dislikes her long name. Her dad goes over each name, explaining why he picked it and how each name connects to important ancestors in their lives.. You can find all of our Banned Book Club features here!
DEY continues to resist the attempts to censor children’s literature that explores race, gender, sexual orientation, and the truth about our country’s history. Each month, we will feature a banned early childhood book that we encourage you to read to the children in your life.
We’re thrilled to announce the release of our newest resource for the campaign, In Defense of ECEC: Restoring the Link Between High Quality and Child Development. This advocacy toolkit is a powerful new resource designed to equip early childhood educators, advocates, and leaders with clear, compelling messaging that links what we know about child development to what we do in practice and policy.
Click on the image to download the toolkit, and you can watch the webinar recording below.
Do you want to explore the toolkit in depth? Become a monthly subscriber to our Reflective Practitioner Series and join our next course: In Defense of Quality- A Reflective Course on Whole-Child Development in ECEC.
DEY has released a new framework to support early childhood educators, caregivers, and parents in supporting young children’s healthy racial identity development. Fostering Healthy Identity Development in Young Children: Affirming Race, Culture, and Ethnicity in the Early Years is a framework designed for early childhood educators, caregivers, and parents to understand the development of racial identity and support healthy development in the early years. Click the image to download the framework.
Did you miss our webinar introducing the framework as part of the 2025 National Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action? You can watch the recording below!
Also, check out the DEY 2025 BLMAS Resource List here!
From The Network for Public Education House leaders just dropped their FY26 education bill, slashing $12.1 billion (15%) in K-12 funding for…
Denisha talks with Rixa Evershed and Aidn White about applying ECEC values Equity, Truth, and Care to global challenges.
DEY National Advisor Nadia Jaboneta shares Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal.
Rae Pica joins Kisha Reid as they tackle the question Why Play? Pica draws from her work with early childhood educators, time in the field, and the latest research in her new book, which digs into the why.
By Katie Rooney Last weekend, I had the incredible pleasure and privilege of attending the Play Empowers Teacher Retreat and…
Our puppetry collective Hermafrodita is based in the south of Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, and thanks to DEY’s mini-grant, we were able to provide a full arts program for kids in three underprivileged child care centers across the city. Our program’s primary objective was to validate and nurture children’s freedom of self-expression, creativity, and identity by widening the scope of gender roles through the arts.
DEY seeks to rally parents and educators to take action on policies affecting the education of young children, by encouraging them to speak out with well-reasoned arguments against inappropriate standards, assessments, and classroom practices.
DEY provides mini-grants of between $200 and $500 to individuals and organizations to help foster work in communities across the country. DEY’s first mini-grant, awarded in 2014, resulted in a rally for play that took place in Minneapolis.
DEY
Are you concerned about the direction that education policy is going? We are, too!
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