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?
Dear DEY Community,
In 2012, three early childhood professionals agreed to form a nonprofit organization to give a voice to the concerns of early childhood educators, caregivers, and parents of young children about the impact of school reforms on the developing child. Those concerns included the adoption of the Common Core State Standards and their lack of alignment with child development research. They recognized the danger of pushing academics down into the early years, increasing standardized testing, and teaching to the test, and how these practices led to a decrease in time for hands-on, active learning and child-directed play. And they knew that others shared their concerns and desired a space to address them, through awareness and advocacy. Together, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Diane Levin, and Ed Miller launched Defending the Early Years (DEY).
For June, we are hosting our final two book talks! First, join us on Tuesday, June 2nd, at 7 pm EDT for a discussion with DEY National Advisor and early childhood advocate Kisa Marx about her new book, We Are Who We’re Waiting For: Transformative Change in Early Childhood Education.
Then, on June 10th, at 7 pm EDT, you’re invited to our final book talk with early childhood educator and researcher Alissa Mwenelupembe about her book, Stories of Resistance: Learning from Black Women in Early Care and Education.
We are thrilled to conclude our Research into Practice Book Talk series with two Black women early childhood authors in honor of the Black Lives Matter at School Year of Purpose Black Women guiding principle for the month of June!
Andrea and Kisha discuss Andrea’s journey from a two-year-old childcare teacher to a Maryland State-approved trainer with a focus on educator self-care.
As an educator with over 15 years of classroom experience, Andrea focuses on establishing strong connections with students and adults alike. She creates inviting environments where children are accepted as they are, and parents are met without judgment. Committed to developmentally appropriate practice, Andrea focuses on social-emotional skill-building through open-ended art and sensory invitations. Andrea has a heart for any who feel “othered.” In her trainings, she strives to inspire educators to do the same.
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.
For our final Diversity is Not Divisive Resource, we are sharing our framework for Fostering Healthy Identity in Young Children: Affirming Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in the Early Years. We developed this framework to support early childhood educators, parents, caregivers, and advocates in fostering healthy racial, ethnic, and cultural identity in young children.
We encourage you to use this framework to incorporate guiding questions into daily interactions, model affirming language and behaviors, build empathy and understanding with the scenarios, integrate resources into your curriculum, and create inclusive spaces with visual and material representation. Be sure to watch this introductory webinar on the framework.
In our latest DEY Dialogue: Discussions in Defense of Childhood, Denisha spoke with Kisa Marx and Mike Huber about their new podcast Liberated Learning.
Save the date for our final DEY Dialogue: Moral Injury in Teachers on Friday, May 29th at 3 pm EDT, live on our Facebook page.
Did you miss the livestream? You can catch up on all our DEY Dialogues here.
We’re thrilled to announce the release of our 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.
You can also download individual pages for each topic covered in the toolkit!
DEY has released a 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.
Click on the image to download the framework, and you can watch the introductory webinar recording below.
Also, check out the DEY 2025 BLMAS Resource List here!
From the American Library Association 2/26/2026 In response to H.R. 7661, introduced on February 24, American Library Association President Sam Helmick…
Denisha talks with hosts of the Liberated Learning Podcast, Kisa Marx and Mike Huber.
For our final Diversity is Not Divisive Resource, we are sharing our framework for Fostering Healthy Identity in Young Children: Affirming Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in the Early Years. We developed this framework to support early childhood educators, parents, caregivers, and advocates in fostering healthy racial, ethnic, and cultural identity in young children.
Andrea and Kisha discuss Andrea’s journey from a two-year-old childcare teacher to a Maryland State-approved trainer with a focus on educator self-care.
As an educator with over 15 years of classroom experience, Andrea focuses on establishing strong connections with students and adults alike. She creates inviting environments where children are accepted as they are, and parents are met without judgment. Committed to developmentally appropriate practice, Andrea focuses on social-emotional skill-building through open-ended art and sensory invitations. Andrea has a heart for any who feel “othered.” In her trainings, she strives to inspire educators to do the same.
The project served as community-level advocacy by translating child development theory into practical, visible learning experiences. It reinforced the importance of developmentally appropriate practices that should inform early childhood education policies and decision-making.
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!
Help DEY continue its important work advocating for appropriate education for young children. Please Consider Making a Donation.