Research Report

Report Aims to Create a More Digital Early Education System

If educators and parents want to create a more effective educational system for the youngest kids they must focus on policies that embrace technology and develop teacher and parent training to ensure its successful use. That’s the findings of a new paper out from the New America Foundation.

The report argues that game developers can help be a part of the solution by ensuring their games make use of the latest research and knowledge about how young children learn.

Author Lisa Guernsey, director of the foundation’s Early Education Initiative, said she also sees an opportunity for game developers to help build this digital learning system of the future.

Private entities (for-profit and nonprofit) are obviously very busy in this arena: Thousands of apps for young children are already present in app stores such as iTunes and Google Play. Yet developers, it appears, tinker away with little input from early childhood professionals or researchers who study child development. Parents and educators face a ‘digital wild west.’

Lisa Guernsey, New America Foundation

The report also highlights the major challenges facing efforts to unleash digital technologies in the classroom.

In her work, Guernsey points to recent surveys that point out a lack of professional development for teachers to improve their comfort with digital tools s well as a lack of effective guides to help parents select games and apps for young children.

Guernsey also identifies infrastructure problems within schools and pre-K programs where Wi-Fi may be spotty and the availability of tablets or other technologies limited.

Key Findings

  • Only 29% of pre-K programs have Internet connections that allow children to access multimedia or games.
  • Another report warns that 72% of primary and secondary schools lack the Internet infrastructure they need now.
  • Supplying teachers with electronic white boards, mobile computers, and high-speed Internet access but with no training made no difference in preschoolers’ math skills.

The full report is available at the New American Foundation website.