Last month in Palm Springs, California, leaders from the Center for Whole-Child Education (formerly known as Turnaround for Children), the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), and the Next Education Workforce initiative — all components of Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC) — joined forces for the first time at a major conference, presenting at the Aurora Institute Symposium 2023.

Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College is hosting its 5th Annual Early Childhood Conference! This free, online conference is designed to bring together current MLFTC early childhood students, alumni, educators and community members to highlight new and exciting work that’s happening in the field of early childhood education (birth to age 8). Session tracks will focus on Literacy & Language, Teaching & Learning, Virtual Learning, Dis/ability & Inclusion, Wellness and Advocacy. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected students’ lives in multiple ways and it has deepened the divide in educational opportunity and achievement of Arizona students, especially students living in high poverty areas. Instructional loss led to unfinished learning, with assessments and related studies indicating that this has disproportionately impacted students from low-income backgrounds. Research has also illuminated that lost educational opportunities have affected student socio-emotional development since the pandemic through increased anxiety levels and higher levels of loneliness.

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