(Webinar) Ideal Learning 101: How to Create an Equitable and Child-Centered Early Childhood Program

Hosted by the Bank Street Education Center and the Trust for Learning

This webinar will focus on the Principles of Ideal Learning, which draw from well-known early childhood approaches, such as Montessori, Reggio Emilia, HighScope, Tools of the Mind, Bank Street College of Education, Friends Center for Children, and Waldorf, and form the foundation of high-quality early childhood education.

These principles encompass multiple approaches, models, and traditions, and recognize the varied contexts in which early educators and care providers work. Essential beliefs threaded throughout include a commitment to play, equity, relationship-based interactions, an ecologically-focused and child-centered perspective, and a strength-based approach with children, adults, and families.

The event will feature ideal learning coaches from the Bank Street Education Center and members of the Ideal Learning Head Start Network This network of Head Start leaders from across the country works to facilitate the integration of ideal learning approaches into Head Start, ensuring that children from low-income communities can access innovative, holistic, and high-quality early learning experiences. Our panelists will provide an overview of the principles of ideal learning and then discuss their experiences implementing the principles at their sites.