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DEY publishes blogs written by our Executive Director and podcast guests. Many others, both members of the DEY family and friends and colleagues, have written blogs on various topics, which we have published and publicized.
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September 18, 2023

January 24, 2023

October 14, 2022

August 19, 2022

March 12, 2022

January 14, 2022

January 6, 2022

December 1, 2021

March 15, 2021

February 20, 2021

I know it may sound Pollyanna-ish but I believe early childhood education can save the world! Not the current state of early childhood education drowning in the push down of academics and ignoring the power of play, but my vision of early childhood education that capitalizes on children’s unlimited imagination, boundless energy, endless curiosity, and faith in fairness to create a space where they can be free.
January 26, 2021

by Judith Van Hoorn, Pete Van Hoorn, and Rebecca Wheat “Our son Grant came over with some food for Cooke…
May 26, 2020

It is no secret that I am a play advocate. I believe in the power of play to support children’s…
May 12, 2020

by Mary Bell, M.M. MAT, has been inspired by young children’s wisdom, creativity, and sense of wonder throughout her 30…
April 29, 2020

Senator Stuart Adams of Utah recently endorsed Waterford Upstart Online “preschool” programs. We disagree and we sent a letter explaining…
March 9, 2020

by Jim St. Clair Jim St. Clair is a former kindergarten teacher in New York and Boston. He is a…
March 7, 2020

It is a new year and we at Defending the Early Years are excited to continue our work promoting policies…
January 13, 2020

December 16, 2019

Denisha Jones and Marcy Guddemi led DEY’s Annual Organizing meeting, held during the NAEYC conference on November 23 in Nashville,…
December 9, 2019

It has been one year since I became the Director of Early Childhood Organizing for Defending the Early Years. Through…
November 18, 2019

Dr. Denisha Jones, DEY Director of Early Childhood Organizing, interviews Becky Slone. Becky Slone has worked in the field of…
October 15, 2019

For my final reflection from the 1st True Play Conference in Anji, China, I want to discuss a theme…
September 27, 2019

Written by Erika Christakis, Early Childhood Educator and Author of The Importance of Being Little: What Young Children Really Need…
September 18, 2019

Welcome back to my five-part series on my trip to the 1st International True Play Conference in Anji, China. At…
September 11, 2019

by Blakely Bundy, Co-Director of DEY and former Executive Director of The Alliance for Early Childhood, located on the North…
August 15, 2019

As the Director of ECE Organizing for Defending the Early Years, I developed a plan that would support our work…
July 19, 2019

New York Times, July 7, 2019 Virtual Pre-K Closes a Gap But Exposes Another
July 7, 2019

Defending the Early Years (DEY) and Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) issued a statement urging The Audacious Project, housed…
June 19, 2019

Part three in my five-part blog series reporting on my experience attending the first annual True Play Conference in Anji,…
June 18, 2019

Phyllis Doerr, a kindergarten teacher from Newark, NJ, is greatly concerned about what is happening in kindergartens today, setting kids…
June 7, 2019

Part two in my five-part series on true play will focus on the five principles of Anji Play. Founded by…
June 3, 2019

As a play advocate and a protector of childhood, I was immediately drawn to learning more about the play revolution,…
May 23, 2019

Makai Kellogg is an anti-bias educator in the DC area. She teaches at School for Friends, serves as the Equity and Diversity…
March 1, 2019

At the last DEY organizing meeting during the NAEYC conference in Washington, DC, I met Heather Siskind who is the…
February 12, 2019

by Craig Simpson I am a retired Early Childhood educator of more than 40 years much in the Commonwealth…
February 8, 2019

A new study in American Educational Research Journal ostensibly found that teaching advanced academic content in kindergarten is beneficial in…
February 5, 2019

February 4, 2019

The experts at Defending the Early Years find fault with the premise of the article which pits family support and…
January 30, 2019

Diane spoke with Stephen Henderson on Detroit Today, Detroit Public Radio, January 11, 2019 on the topic of the impact…
January 11, 2019

Diane spoke on NPR Morning Edition with Jasmine Garsd, January 10, 2019 on the topic of the impact of digital…
January 10, 2019

NPR article, published Jan. 2, 2019: Why Millions of Children Can’t Read and What Better Teaching Can Do About Itby…
January 4, 2019

Last month I announced that Defending the Early Years would be collecting stories of resistance with the goal of…
January 3, 2019

Defending the Early Years, an early childhood education initiative launched by Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Dr. Ed Miller, and BU Wheelock…
November 15, 2018

Education in the United States, and especially early childhood education, is a decentralized patchwork of local, state, national, and private…
November 15, 2018

DEY Statement on Protecting Immigrant Families We oppose separating children from their families because it is inhumane and has lifelong…
October 27, 2018

October 18, 2018

October 2, 2018

September 4, 2018

The American Academy of Pediatrics has just released a new report that strongly endorses the important role of play in…
August 24, 2018

Back to school was always my favorite time of the year. I loved going to school so much that I…
August 16, 2018

Some of my biggest pet peeves as a college professor are students who refuse or do not know how to…
August 1, 2018

As a teacher educator I spend a considerable amount of time reflecting on my practices. Especially when my school is…
July 9, 2018

By now, most of us have heard about or seen the harrowing pictures of children as young as 12-months-old being…
June 22, 2018

Some of my readers might not know this, but in 2014 I decided to return to school as a part-time…
June 7, 2018

by Alison McDowell Alison McDowell is a parent of a public school student and a member of the Alliance for…
June 4, 2018

In April, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel about the OECD’s new International Early Learning and…
May 24, 2018

Diane Levin reflects on how young children’s play has changed and how we can encourage it again. Click to download.
April 23, 2018

by Dr. Marcy Guddemi Marcy Priess Guddemi, PHD, MBA, a national consultant, is an expert on preschool children’s…
April 19, 2018

It’s April in the U.S. and that can only mean two things, taxes and testing season. For those people removed…
April 18, 2018

When asked why we do not have enough preschool teachers, most people would immediately say its because the pay…
April 2, 2018

People have a hard time understanding what I do all day at work. They are not perplexed that I…
March 16, 2018

“A DEY shout-out to early childhood activists who testified on Monday, March 12 at a meeting of Philadelphia’s City Council’s Education committee…
March 14, 2018

Last month I wrote about addressing anti-blackness in early childhood classrooms with the goal of affirming black as beautiful in…
January 31, 2018

We can all agree, that a high quality early childhood education is in the best interest of not only all…
January 23, 2018

Presented at the DEY Organizing Event at NAEYC 11/17/2017 by Marcy Guddemi, PhD, MBA, National Consultant Thank you, everyone,…
January 5, 2018

Most early childhood educators are aware of anti-bias work and many use an anti-bias curriculum in their classrooms. But…
January 2, 2018

December 18, 2017

This past summer I was invited to give the Thomas Wright Lecture at Sarah Lawrence College as part of the…
December 11, 2017

December 4, 2017

November 26, 2017

View the live stream here. To view the Live Steamed broadcast of DEY’s Annual Organizing meeting during the 2017 NAEYC…
November 21, 2017

By now we should all know how essential play is to the healthy development of all children, but we…
November 21, 2017

by James St. Clair Some years back I was asked to sit in on a meeting for a 3rd…
November 2, 2017

On Saturday, October 14th, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel titled Reclaiming Childhood and Restoring Teacher Voice…
October 18, 2017

Backpack Full of Cash was shown at the recent Progressive Education Network Conference in Boston. Following the showing, DEY’s Nancy…
October 16, 2017

DEY’s Senior Advisor, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, and her son, Matt Damon, participated in the recent screening of Backpack Full of Cash….
September 18, 2017

by Rae Pica Note that this piece was originally posted on the NAEYC Hello website. It is re-published with…
September 17, 2017

“As teachers, we are fighting for kids to play.” – Bianca Tanis, Special Education Kindergarten Teacher”Policymakers’ de-emphasis on play…
September 10, 2017

August 3, 2017

This is a re-posting of a blog written in October, 2016.by Emily Kaplan I had a student once, a…
July 7, 2017

I recently read an article in the Washington City Paper entitled, “A DC Teacher’s Bold Vision to Improve Scandalously Poor…
June 2, 2017

by James St. Clair Something is missing in kindergarten. I know this because for the past year I’ve been…
May 16, 2017

This post is reprinted from the Mission Hill School Newsletter, 4.28.17. DEY Co-director Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin is a also teacher of…
April 30, 2017

by Brandi Byers My son is a pre-kindergarten student at an inner-city public school in Phoenix, Arizona. He is…
April 26, 2017

Don’t Use Kindergarten Readiness Assessments for Accountability More than 40 states either have or are in the process of developing…
April 4, 2017

In January, proponents of school choice held their annual National School Choice Week to “raise public awareness of all…
February 22, 2017

DEY was represented at the recent tribute to Diane Ravitch, held in New York City. Left to right: Diane Ravitch;…
December 13, 2016

On November 8th, 500 kindergarten and pre-k teachers on Long Island came together for the first time in a conference…
November 16, 2016

by Tama Koss Caldarone Tama Koss Caldarone lives in Florida with her husband and two children, ages 6 and…
October 28, 2016

October 21, 2016

Dr. Diane Levin, DEY Senior Advisor, and Dr. Denisha Jones, a member of DEY’s national Advisory Board and DEY’s…
October 19, 2016

We live in a world where technology will continue to take us to new places. From driverless cars to…
October 11, 2016

On July 7th, our newest member to DEY’s National Advisory Board, Ruth Rodriguez-Fay, made the following speech at the First Focus…
July 20, 2016

Our fight for public education is only good if we fight for social justice. – Denisha Jones, SOS, United…
July 13, 2016

Save Our Schools Coalition Set to March in DC on July 8th! www.saveourschoolsmarch.org For the last ten years the…
July 8, 2016

by Diane Levin In May, I was in Kathmandu, Nepal, working with colleague, Professor Kishor Shrestha, Country Coordinator of Global…
June 1, 2016

Today’s post is written by second grade teacher and guest blogger, Emily Kaplan. On Saturday, May 21st Emily presented…
May 25, 2016

The 2016 Network for Public Education Conference, held April 15-17 in Raleigh, NC, is truly an experience—something hard to describe. For a few…
April 20, 2016

DEY Senior Advisor Nancy Carlsson-Paige and DEY National Board member Denisha Jones will join Susan Ochshorn and Michelle Gunderson…
April 14, 2016

The following are some responses to yesterday’s New York Times article: Testing for Joy and Grit? Schools Nationwide Push…
March 2, 2016

January 28, 2016

January 9, 2016

December 1, 2015

Please Support DEY #GivingTuesday Join people around the world today, Tuesday, Dec. 1st, known as #GivingTuesday. This is a…
December 1, 2015

October 31, 2015

Here at DEY we strive to understand the complications and confusions that many of you are facing around the…
September 18, 2015

On Twitter this week, a teacher asked DEY why our concerns regarding the Common Core State Standards and young…
August 12, 2015

July 15, 2015

Last weekend the Network for Public Education (NPE) hosted their second annual national conference. It was, to say the least,…
May 3, 2015

Today’s post is written by DEY’s Senior Adviser Nancy Carlsson-Paige. She just posted the comment below on Diane Ravitch’s…
March 9, 2015

March 3, 2015

February 17, 2015

February 9, 2015

Resistance to over-testing and high stakes testing continues to mount across the country. Here are some inspiring examples: Karen…
November 29, 2014

DEY will be presenting and exhibiting at NAEYC’s Annual Conference in Dallas, TX on November 5-8th! If you are attending,…
October 20, 2014

New York State Parents Fight to Reclaim Student Education from Excessive Testing and Data Collection
Please see the exciting press release below. Here at DEY we are happy to help spread this news from New…
September 18, 2014

Please read and share DEY’s feature article, Are the Common Core State Standards failing our kids? in the current issue of…
August 31, 2014

We encourage you to take 15 minutes to view this powerful Tedx talk from Dr. Peter Gray. “Dr. Peter…
July 29, 2014

The Gesell Institute of Child Development is known as the oldest voice in child development on our country and…
May 7, 2014

Massachusetts public school parent Ricardo D. Rosa has publicly opted his child out of high-stakes testing. His letter to the…
March 25, 2014

February 16, 2014

Bailey is a former special education teacher and principal from Tennessee who is committed to getting education reform on…
February 3, 2014

“What can the larger world of American education take away from one school’s experiences?” A Year at Mission Hill was…
December 27, 2013

Back from Washington, DC and beginning to reflect on all that happened. Here are just a few initial thoughts –…
November 24, 2013

November 19, 2013

Today we share more examples of resistance to the current education “reform” movement… In New York City, parents at…
November 12, 2013

This piece was written by our colleague Blakely Bundy. Bundy is the Outgoing Executive Director of The Alliance for…
October 6, 2013

Early childhood activists have been organizing in the UK. Last week the Save Childhood Movement in England – “a growing collaboration…
September 20, 2013

August 20, 2013

Here at DEY we are always happy to share news of parents, teachers and citizens standing up – to…
April 27, 2013

Contact: United Opt Out National Email:unitedoptoutnational@gmail.com Website: http://unitedoptout.com OCCUPY THE US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 2.0 The Battle for Public Schools…
March 25, 2013

Barbara Beatty, professor of education at Wellesley College, recently wrote a piece Huffington Post. Her article, The Looming Fight Over…
March 20, 2013

Defending the Early Years has joined the recently formed Network for Public Education. We strongly encourage you to join as…
March 8, 2013

March 3, 2013

More than 136 Massachusetts education professors and researchers have added their voices to a growing national rebellion against high-stakes…
February 20, 2013

DEY would like to introduce you to Stephen Round. Stephen Round is a second grade teacher who, like many…
February 20, 2013

There is a bit of a standardized testing revolt brewing in Seattle! About a week ago, the teachers at Garfield…
January 20, 2013

The following letter ran in the December 12th edition of the Boston Globe. See below how grandmother, and retired librarian, Lani…
December 12, 2012

August 22, 2012
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