Technology and Young Children:
Alliance Urges NAEYC to Take a Stand
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the nation's largest professional organization for early childhood educators, is updating its position statement on Technology and Young Children. The Alliance for Childhood supports the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the 70 early childhood experts who have signed a letter urging NAEYC to take a strong stand to limit screen time in the lives of young children. Let NAEYC know your concerns. The deadline is July 30.
Learn more
Read the CCFC letter
Respond to NAEYC’s call for comments
The Alliance works with other organizations to advocate for play for all children, both in school and out. It also promotes the profession of playwork. Playworkers support children’s play in parks and other settings without dominating or directing it. For fact sheets, videos, booklets, and more on play and playwork, click here.
New from the Alliance: Where Do the Children Play? A newly revised and expanded edition of the Study Guide to the PBS documentary film, with essays by scholars and teachers on the history, psychology, and politics of children’s free play and the growing movement to bring it back into children’s lives. A selection from the book; ordering information.
The Alliance for Childhood warns that states considering adopting the new academic core standards could set in motion a spate of inappropriate and harmful testing of young children.
For background information on the Core Standards and the Alliance's position click here.
Crisis in the Kindergarten:
Why Children Need to Play in School
Research shows that many kindergartens spend 2 to 3 hours per day instructing and testing children in literacy and math—with only 30 minutes per day or less for play. In some kindergartens there is no playtime at all. The same didactic, test-driven approach is entering preschools. But these methods, which are not well grounded in research, are not yielding long-term gains. Meanwhile, behavioral problems and preschool expulsion, especially for boys, are soaring. A flier and 8-page summary of the report, including recommendations for action, are also available.
Fact sheet on kindergarten testing, with advice especially for parents.
On May 28, 2009 the Alliance co-hosted a Congressional briefing on early education with the Forum for Education and Democracy.
A webinar hosted by KaBoom! and featuring the authors of the report was recorded on June 2, 2009.
Click here for media coverage of Crisis in the Kindergarten.
The Alliance is teaming up with the Association for Childhood Education International and others on an international campaign to promote a healthy and creative childhood for all children. Today’s world is increasingly designed for the convenience of adults with little thought for providing a rich experience of childhood. As a result there has been an erosion of childhood in the U.S. and other countries. The Decade offers opportunities for individuals and organizations from many disciplines to work together on behalf of children’s well-being.
The formal launch date for the Decade will be fall 2010, and more material will be posted then.
Play in the News
Recent articles on the importance of play:
The Creativity Crisis
Po Bronson and Ashly Merryman, Newsweek
July 10, 2010
Is Children's Play Innate?
William Crain, Encounter
Summer, 2010
Helping Your Kids Avoid Stress
Stacy Hawkins Adams, Richman Times-Dispatch
March 7, 2010
The 3 R’s? A Fourth Is Crucial, Too: Recess
Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times
February 23, 2010
Playing to Learn
Susan Engel, The New York Times
February 1, 2010
Click here for more...
A Decade of Advocacy
For the Sake of Children
The Alliance was founded in 1999 so that educators, health professionals, and other advocates for children could join forces to reverse the decline in children's health and well-being. Its public education and advocacy campaigns focus on restoring play to children's lives, the overuse of computers and other advanced technologies in childhood, the commercialization of childhood, and the impact of high-stakes testing on children and their schools. The Alliance has published reports and position statements. It is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization based in College Park, Maryland, with partners and affiliates all over the U.S. and in Europe and South America.
