Across the country, states and school districts are investing heavily in early childhood education, as they try to give children the foundational academic and holistic skills necessary to succeed in elementary school and beyond. Enrollment in these programs continues to climb. In this Essentials Forum, Education Week’s editorial team will explore the challenges that early childhood education programs face in nurturing young children’s abilities, as they transition from preschool to kindergarten to early grades of elementary school. We will draw from our reporting, as well as from original survey research taken of early childhood educators by the EdWeek Research Center, that examines the biggest challenges in supporting young children, from preschool through early grades elementary school.
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Event Agenda
2:00pm ET
Welcome & Introduction
We’ll highlight key insights from Education Week reporting on early childhood education and give you a preview of the content to come in this event.
Sean Cavanagh is the Managing Editor of Education Week.
2:10pm ET
Interactive Session | How Much Do You Know About Efforts to Support Young Learners, From Preschool Through Early Elementary Grades?
EdWeek’s editorial team will walk attendees through original survey research collected from early childhood educators around the country by the EdWeek Research Center on the pressures they face, and the strategies they use, to support young students academically and holistically. We’ll also connect those findings to our reporting from early childhood education programs.
Madeline Will is an assistant managing editor for Education Week, leading coverage of school leadership and general education trends.
2:20pm ET
Industry Perspective | Learning by Design, Growing Through Play
Sponsor content provided by Learning Without Tears
Playful learning and direct instruction are often viewed as opposites, but effective early childhood classrooms need both. How can we use a simple framework to identify learning experiences that are joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive? How can intentional teaching support and extend children's play?
Playful learning and direct instruction are often viewed as opposites, but effective early childhood classrooms need both. How can we use a simple framework to identify learning experiences that are joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive? How can intentional teaching support and extend children's play?
Sam Deffes
Sr. Literacy Advisor, Professional Learning & Academic Partnerships,
Learning Without Tears
Sam Deffes has more than 20 years of experience in education and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Reading from the University of Florida. She began her career as a classroom teacher at S.P. Livingston Elementary in Jacksonville, Florida, and later served as a reading coach, district literacy specialist, and professional learning facilitator.
2:30pm ET
Q-and-A | Inside Early Childhood Classrooms: What the Research Shows
What should we expect from children during the first year of early childhood education? What strategies are most successful in helping students with early childhood education? We speak with a specialist who conducted classroom observations across the country to find out what really works.
Susan Engel
Senior Lecturer in Psychology; The Class of 1959 Director of Program in Teaching,
Williams College
Susan Engel is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Williams College and the Class of 1959 Founding Director of the Program in Teaching. Her research interests include the development of narrative, curiosity, and invention. Her current research examines how young children pursue ideas. Her scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Cognitive Development, Developmental Psychology, Harvard Educational Review, and the American Education Research Journal. Her writing on education has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg View, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, Salon, and The Boston Globe. Her books include: The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood (Harvard University Press 2012), The Intellectual Lives of Children (Harvard University Press 2021) and American Kindergarten: Dispatches from the First Year of School (University of Chicago Press 2026).
3:15pm ET
Industry Perspective |The $172 Billion Problem Sitting in Your Building
Sponsor content provided by CDA Council
The childcare workforce shortage costs the U.S. economy $172 billion a year, and most of that cost is quietly absorbed by the families and employers connected to your district. This session unpacks what the data actually shows about where that pressure originates, why career and technical education (CTE) pathways are emerging as one of the few levers districts already control, and what early results from CTE early childhood programs suggest about workforce readiness, dual credit outcomes, and long term community impact.
The childcare workforce shortage costs the U.S. economy $172 billion a year, and most of that cost is quietly absorbed by the families and employers connected to your district. This session unpacks what the data actually shows about where that pressure originates, why career and technical education (CTE) pathways are emerging as one of the few levers districts already control, and what early results from CTE early childhood programs suggest about workforce readiness, dual credit outcomes, and long term community impact.
Andrew Davis
Chief Operations Officer,
Council for Professional Recognition
As COO of the Council for Professional Recognition, Davis oversees the Programs Division, which includes operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations. Davis proudly has over 20 years of experience in early care and education.
3:25pm ET
Panel Discussion | What Are the Core Elements of Preschool Curriculum That Students Need?
As preschool enrollment continues to climb, researchers, educators, and advocacy groups are putting more attention how academic resources for early childhood programs should be structured. We look at the key questions about curriculum that providers of early childhood education are asking, and how they’re thinking about ensuring that materials are developmentally appropriate, support teachers, and children with a diverse array of needs.
Sean Cavanagh is the Managing Editor of Education Week.
Dale Farran
Professor,
Peabody College at Vanderbilt University
Dale C. Farran is an Emerita Professor at Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Farran has been involved in research and intervention for high-risk children and youth all her professional career. She has conducted research at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center in Chapel Hill, NC, and the Kamehameha Schools Early Education Project in Hawaii. Currently she is directing an evaluation of the State of Tennessee’s Prekindergarten program. She is a member of the DREME network, identifying early instructional practices that are most positive for children’s mathematics development. She has evaluated several pre-k curricula including Tools of the Mind and Building Blocks. Also, she has developed several classroom observation systems that have been used widely.
Brittnii Pina
Director of Quality Education,
Cincinnati Preschool Promise
Brittnii Pina is the Director of Quality Education at Cincinnati Preschool Promise, where she oversees strategic quality improvement funding, coaching collaboratives, and instructional excellence initiatives to expand access to high-quality early learning. Bringing extensive experience as a lead teacher, adjunct instructor, and educational consultant, her work bridges practice, policy, and research to build equitable early childhood systems. As a board member for the Southwest Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children, she is dedicated to advancing early literacy, curriculum enhancement, and foundational skills that prepare young learners and their families for lifelong success.
Darrell Turner
Preschool Teacher,
Martin Luther King, Jr. Preschool, Richmond, VA
Darrell Turner has 10 years of experience in early childhood education as teacher with the Virginia Preschool Initiative in Richmond Public Schools. As a teacher in a preschool inclusion classroom, Darrell is passionate about making sure that students of all ability levels feel accepted and thrive in their learning environment. Darrell received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Hampton University. He also holds a Masters in Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Richmond. Also, he is dual endorsed in Elementary and Special Education.
3:55pm ET
Interactive Session | What Do We Know About Young Students’ Mastery of Basic, Non-Academic Tasks?
Following instructions. Tying shoes. Toilet training. They’re the sorts of basic tasks that early childhood educators say young children need to develop. How far along do educators say young children today are in these areas, compared with a few years ago? Test your knowledge against the results of a recent EdWeek Research Center survey of early childhood educators.
Madeline Will is an assistant managing editor for Education Week, leading coverage of school leadership and general education trends.
4:05pm ET
Closing Thoughts and Takeaways
We’ll recap the big ideas and key insights from the event.
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