The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute convened the Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council, composed of members from academia, the tech industry, and policy makers to assess early education policies and the shift in technology in the classroom. With support from the Joyce Foundation’s Education Program, the Council developed the recently released Take A Giant Step: A Blueprint for Teaching Young Children in A Digital Age.

According to the report, thoughtfully integrated technology can help students ages 3 to 8 learn in an enhanced, modern way and impact their future success in school. “Technology is most productive in young children’s lives when it enhances their engagement in the rich activities of childhood — talking, interacting, manipulating, pretending, reading, constructing, exploring — as well as in children’s reflections on their actions and experiences,” the authors write.

The group paid special attention to teaching underserved students and set forth goals to be met by 2020 — advancing technology integration and infrastructure, a more robust professional training program for early education professionals, the expanded use of public media as cost-effective assets for teachers, and the establishment of a Digital Teacher Corps.

The report has been well received by the tech industry. Daniel Donahoo, who writes the GeekDad blog for Wired Magazine, wrote “Take a Giant Step is exactly the type of policy document that is needed to address the complex nature of what skills and knowledge our children will need for the future world, and the multi-layered approach needed to help them get there. This report does not just say we need to spend more on technology, or that every student needs an iPad. This report looks at the different steps and fundamental changes that need to take place if we are to ensure there is an equitable future where all children have the same knowledge and foundation in 21st century skills and digital technology.”

Download the report.
Read the executive summary.