The Perks of a Play-in-the-Mud Educational Philosophy

The poaching of rhinos in South Africa has seen a rapid increase since 2007, jumping from 13 deaths then to 1,215 in 2014. After concluding that guns alone were not the solution, a patrol of local women from impoverished areas were brought together in the Balule reserve to focus on efforts in removing snares, stopping bushmeat kitchens, setting up roadblocks and implementing educational opportunities in poor communities and schools. Since their start, the area has seen a 76% reduction in snaring and poaching incidents.

Since Upstart launched in rural Utah in 2009, 30,000 children have completed the online personalized preschool alternative from their homes. Upstart provides participating families with computers and internet access in addition to planned group gatherings intended to simultaneously encourage students' socio-emotional development. Following Utah's success with the program, an additional seven states are now piloting the model.

In 2004, the Media Initiative set out to develop a trauma-informed curriculum for preschoolers in Northern Ireland. Using puppets, cartoons, and professional development, the social-emotional lessons have empowered students to better address conflict and communicate more effectively with each other. A Boston-based teacher education program is one of many who travel to Ireland to observe the program in action each year.

In California, half of school-aged children are the children of immigrants. Among many other initiatives in the city, a community-wide training project in Fresno aims to improve how adults in the city work with students of immigrant families. One of the challenges of the renewed push for a bilingual approach - finding sufficient bilingual teachers after years of the state's English-only education policies.

A six-week, half-day kindergarten jumpstart program in Billings, Montana is helping students to get acclimated to the classroom before formally entering school. While the "preschool-lite" offerings are not meant as a stand-in for a comprehensive preschool experience, they are a step towards closing the achievement gap, local officials and school administrators say.

A number of barriers prevent young children in Appalachia from enrolling in formal preschool classes. In response, a fleet of buses is traveling to remote communities to teach students academic and social skills.

Online kindergarten readiness certificate programs in several states are offering low-income families, without reliable preschool programs, an alternative to expensive private care centers. Acknowledging criticism of the model, a North Carolina State Representative noted, “We simply don’t have the money to provide a quality pre-K experience to every child in North Carolina, even though I absolutely agree that a face-to-face, high-quality pre-K is the best option. But when it’s not an option for the child, I refuse to ignore that child.”

Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee created a special show for displaced Syrian children conducted entirely in Arabic. The show teaches children lessons like counting and the alphabet, but it also teaches them emotional coping skills, which is very important for refugee children. The show is accompanied by trained early childhood development facilitators who visit homes and interact with the children playing games or reading books.

Parents are enrolling children in outdoor preschool programs where most of the schooling happens outdoors as an alternative to traditional preschools.

New Jersey schools are working to make climate education widespread by implementing general education standards that include climate change education in every grade and subject. These new education standards have been inspiring students to brainstorm solutions to climate-related issues like reducing food waste and increasing coastal resiliency. The state has also earmarked $5 million to help local teachers attend professional development sessions to teach them how to create new climate change-focused lesson plans.