Tanya Lloyd, director of early learning at the Alliance for Community Empowerment, interacts with a child in the Head Start program on Sept. 28, 2023, in Bridgeport, Conn. More than 100 Head Start programs that are due to receive their annual federal funding allocations on Nov. 1 could go without that funding if the federal government is still shut down.
Silas McLellan, a kindergartner in a play-based learning class, plays with toy blocks during Choice Time at Symonds Elementary School in Keene, N.H., on Nov. 7, 2024. After years of early grades becoming increasingly academic, play-based learning is making a comeback.