Harvard Honors Pioneers in Early Childhood Education

The Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education recently announced the winners of its 2024 Zaentz Early Education Innovation Challenge. This challenge, now in its fifth year, aims to recognize and reward new ideas and strategic approaches that have the potential to revolutionize early education.

On October 29, 2024, 10 finalists presented their ideas to a panel of judges and a live audience. Winners were selected in two tracks: the Envision track, for those with new ideas seeking to implement them, and the Accelerate track, for those who have already tested their ideas and aim to refine or expand them. The winners received cash prizes of up to $15,000.

The winning teams in the Accelerate track are as follows:

– First Place: YWCA New Britain’s Childcare Business Incubator Expansion, a program that supports family child care entrepreneurs in learning the necessary skills to run and sustain their own programs in Connecticut.
– Second Place: Early Learning Ventures’ Alliance CREDIBLE, a software application designed to streamline administrative processes for early educators to receive federal reimbursement for nutritious meals in Colorado.
– Audience Choice: Friends Center for Children’s Teacher Housing Initiative, a program offering eligible early educators free housing as a salaried benefit to enhance teacher compensation and financial security in Connecticut.

In the Envision track, the winning teams are:

– First Place: Educators for Quality Alternatives’ NEST Parent CDA Program, a Child Development Associate certificate program for high school students in Louisiana.
– Second Place: Joyfully Engaged Learning’s AR Choice Tri-Share, a cost-sharing model for high-quality early childhood care in Arkansas.
– Audience Choice: Appalachian State University’s Immersive Experiential Major Concentration, a bachelor’s degree program with a concentration in child development in North Carolina.

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The judges for the competition included experts in the field of early education such as Junlei Li, Maria Gonzalez Moeller, Casey Peeks, Laura Perille, and Daniel Wilson.

For more information on the Zaentz Early Education Innovation Challenge, please visit the official website.

About The Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative:
The Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education aims to promote knowledge, professional learning, and collective action to create optimal early learning environments. Supported by a generous gift from the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation, this initiative is dedicated to advancing early childhood education.

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