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March 25, 2021
STARS 2.0: Still Seeing STARS
Last week, we heard of the new $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, President Biden’s massive relief and stimulus bill that aims to support economic recovery for the millions of American families and businesses who lost income due to the pandemic. Those that stand to benefit include an often-ignored group: children in low-income families. The stimulus […]
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January 14, 2021
Two Years of STARS: Supporting Teachers & Ready Students
It’s fair to say that education begins the moment we see children as innately curious and open to the world around them. (That’s every child from birth!) That moment is our cue to be the purveyors of all that feeds a child’s curiosity. With a goal to support child care teachers who spend their days […]
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May 20, 2020
How we can work together to help kids recover their learning
As a community, we are responsible for helping to support our families and teaching professionals in order to advance our society. It’s not just an economic necessity, it’s a moral imperative that we practice a mind-shift now for a new future.
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October 08, 2019
Not just babysitting: initiative aims to improve early childhood education in Akron
By: Jennifer Pignolet, Akron Beacon Journal For a moment, Tequlla Thomas almost had all four 2-year-olds sitting together on their floor cushions in preparation for story time at Lois Lester’s Learning Center. Just as she secured one tiny tot, however, another found interest in a row of books in the corner of the room. Then […]
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August 20, 2019
Governor Mike DeWine appoints Kirstin Toth to Early Childhood Advisory Council
GAR Foundation’s senior vice president, Kirstin Toth, was recently appointed to Governor Mike DeWine’s Early Childhood Advisory Council.
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June 20, 2019
Shooting for the STARS in Akron
By: Michael Douglas, Akron Beacon Journal, Editorial Page Editor Kirstin Toth shared a long article in the New York Times Magazine with the board of the GAR Foundation. The foundation was looking to invest time, energy and money in early education. The senior vice president of the foundation thought the article pointed the way. The […]
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March 29, 2019
Why the first five years matter…to our kids, to Akron, and our foundation
Over the last year, GAR Foundation has been working with key community partners to take a closer look at a systems-focused strategy that will enhance early learning and childcare in Akron. Our work led us to the launch of STARS: Supporting Teachers & Ready Students, a demonstration project that will engage 24 community-based early learning […]
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February 19, 2019
What is STARS?
A new early childhood learning initiative from GAR Foundation called STARS: Supporting Teachers and Ready Students will engage a group of 24 community-based preschools and day care providers in Akron to participate in a two-year program to receive professional development and training on high-quality and engaged learning techniques to advance early learning in Akron. STARS also provides […]
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July 26, 2018
Ohio Early Childhood Race & Rural Equity Report
Gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children emerge much earlier than state and federal policy recognizes and persist long into adulthood–and race and rural geography play a role in these gaps. Groundwork Ohio published the Ohio Early Childhood Race and Rural Equity Report to bring greater understanding among policymakers and stakeholders of how race and location matters to […]
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January 05, 2018
One-Size Does Not Fit All: Unlearning Traditional Education Systems
A recent commentary in EdWeek by Christopher Dede, a professor in learning technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education argues that “the biggest barrier we face in this process of reinventing our (what will soon be) obsolete educational models is not learning, but unlearning. We have to let go of deeply held, emotionally valued […]
Early Childhood Education