'It's very Philly, and it's very in your face.' Volunteers knock on doors to aid literacy

Batibot Early Learning Center is a progressive daycare center that offers “socialized tuition” based on what families earn, making it easier for lower-income children to access early childhood education. The center enrolls 25 children and prioritizes hands-on support and therapy for children with developmental delays.

The Wisdom Hub Nursery and Primary School enrolls students alongside those who are differently-abled, allowing them to learn in the classroom together. The combined classroom approach teaches students to embrace diversity, nurturing an inclusive educational environment where each child can thrive. The Wisdom Hub opened in 2013 and has since seen over 300 children with special needs cross into secondary school.

Through the Omama program, Roma women provide individual lessons to Roma children under the age of six living in settlements and disadvantaged communities, where they may not have access to crucial early childhood education. The lessons, which focus on motor skills, cognitive development, and Slovak language proficiency, have benefited roughly 900 children so far.

San Francisco's Black Early Childhood Educator pilot program covers tuition and provides stipends for Black students, as well as support from a case manager and necessary supplies such as laptops. Since the program launched two years ago, 62 participants have received their associate teaching permits from the City College of San Francisco.

The Makoko Dream School is a tuition-free education program serving students who live in waterfront areas. The school is funded through a Parent/Teacher Association levy and has served roughly 1,000 children so far.

Lagos' Project Zero program worked with teachers, youth organizations, and other groups in the education space to reach out to parents of students who had dropped out of school during the pandemic. The program provided them with school kits including everything they needed to re-enroll, such as books, uniforms, shoes, and other supplies.

In California, half of school-aged children are the children of immigrants. Among many other initiatives in the city, a community-wide training project in Fresno aims to improve how adults in the city work with students of immigrant families. One of the challenges of the renewed push for a bilingual approach - finding sufficient bilingual teachers after years of the state's English-only education policies.

Rochester, NY received a $1.2 million grant to encourage suburban students to enroll in public city schools, but only a few preschoolers moved to different schools and no students in upper grades transferred. Some leaders critique the use of funding on what they see as a futile experiment while others see the pilot as offering important lessons for grants going forward.

Child-Parent Centers (CPCs), Chicago-based early care education programs serving low-income children, opened their doors in 1967. A recent study of over 1,500 kids shows that students who enrolled in a CPC, which encourages full family involvement, were 47 percent and 41 percent more likely to go on to obtain an associate’s and bachelor’s degree respectively. Now, the study lead says, the question is “How do we implement these high-quality and highly effective programs at the state and national levels so all children have access regardless of their zip code?”

How can rural African children learn to read when there are no books in their languages? Save the Children helps kids to create their own books, creating a homemade library for their village.