A Map in Progress: Integrating Technology in Early Literacy

[Commentary] Today, young children have access to more technology than ever, and families of almost all socio-economic backgrounds are making smartphones and other Internet-enabled devices part of their daily lives. Many early education programs around the country are beginning to determine how they might harness these tools to engage with parents, improve home-to-school connections, and otherwise augment efforts to help children develop early language and literacy skills.

Recently, New America and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop launched an interactive map showing where these programs are located, how they are going about their work, and what evidence of impact they are able to share. We presented the map, which is still “in beta,” at CGI America, an annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, in Denver (CO). The map provides a birds’ eye view of innovation around the country, and is designed to enable users to sort initiatives by type of program, technological tool, evidence of impact, age of children served, and more.