As we reach the midway point in NAEYC’s centennial year, we’re reflecting on where we’ve been as the membership organization for tens of thousands of early childhood education professionals. We’re also looking ahead to what’s next and engaging in many conversations, in person, virtually, and through our new podcast, Small Talk: Big Ideas About Little Learners.

Are you listening?

Already, we are reaching thousands of listeners across the United States, Canada, and a few other countries, and I’m so grateful for the wonderful colleagues and friends who have joined us as hosts and guests. I’m also grateful for you, our members and listeners. We launched this new channel to elevate your voices and your work. The trailer for our first season features many of you talking about both your challenges and the joy you find in teaching our youngest learners. Our hope is to advance to a broader audience our collective understanding of early childhood education and our shared vision of creating a world where each and every child thrives, learns, and reaches their full potential. This work is so valuable, and your voices need to be heard, especially during NAEYC’s centennial and this election year.

In our initial episodes, you’ll learn from the experience and wisdom of two of my predecessors—Mark Ginsberg and Rhian Evans Allvin—who joined me to talk about the past 25 years of leadership at NAEYC. You’ll take away many examples about communicating the importance of play from Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, who authored a chapter of NAEYC’s book on developmentally appropriate practice. Kathy joined me to discuss ways educators can help families embrace the importance of play in developing their children’s minds.

NAEYC’s policy and advocacy lead, Daniel Hains, has talked about compensation with Berna Artis, the executive director of the District of Columbia Association for Early Childhood Education, and Owen Schochet, a senior researcher at Mathematica. Together, they examined the results of the nation’s first experiment in leveraging tax dollars to equalize early learning professionals’ salaries with those of K–12 educators. This episode hits close to home and helps us understand what’s at stake as successful programs across the country fall victim to budget cuts.

Alissa Mwenelupembe, who leads our early learning division, has hosted a conversation with former NAEYC leader Jerlean Daniel and Washington, DC, teacher of the year finalist Rahshita Lowe-Watson. These educators talk about the ways early learning professionals partner with and advocate for families—too many of whom struggle to access basic needs and community services for things like food, housing, immigration assistance, and mental health support.

I hope you will continue to engage with us, not only by listening to the podcast but also by participating in our Value. Voice. Vote. campaign and by reading the articles in this membership magazine and our quarterly journal, Young Children. Please explore our books and professional development resources, and plan to join us in Washington, DC, this winter for our Annual Conference.

In the meantime, we continue to record Small Talk, and as always, we appreciate your feedback and ideas for future guests and topics. Thanks for listening.

In gratitude,

Michelle Kang
Chief Executive Officer of NAEYC

Photograph: © NAEYC. Copyright © 2026 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.