Thank you for your interest in writing for Teaching Young Children (TYC), NAEYC’s magazine for preschool teachers.  

Before submitting your idea:

1. Browse the articles and tips on the TYC website.
2. Review our writing guidelines.
3. Learn more about the decision and publication process.
4. Upload your submission through Editorial Manager. After creating an account, you will see instructions for manuscript submission. You can view tutorials on the Editorial Manager website or contact the TYC editorial staff at [email protected] if you need assistance.
5. Nominate an outstanding teacher to appear on TYC's cover and be profiled in a corresponding feature.

Although we are not able to provide specific feedback on all submissions, we will contact you if your submission is a good match for the current needs of Teaching Young Children. Articles selected for publication are considered a contribution to the profession; authors do not receive fees or royalties.

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Writing Guidelines

Please keep the following in mind when you submit your work:

Audience

The primary audience for TYC is preschool teachers, assistant teachers, and family child care providers who work with preschool-aged children.

Writing Guidelines

TYC publishes a few different kinds of articles and tips, and we need all types for each issue of the magazine. In general, TYC does not publish content or promotional pieces that focus on (or promote) one organization's products or services as editorial content.

We are actively looking for the following types of content:

1. Tips: Short and to the point. Word count - 800–1,200 words. See 8X. Using Music in Your Setting: Tips for the Nonmusician and 5X. Tips for Embedding Assessment into Daily Preschool Routines.
2. Full-length articles: Descriptions of research-based practices and innovative ideas that are grounded in real-life situations. Word count - 1,000–1,500 words. For examples of the variety of topics and stories, see What Will We Make? Using Process Art to Spark Preschoolers’ Development, Creating Anti-Racist Early Childhood Spaces, Playing Around with Number Composition: Games, Stories, and Everyday Problem Solving in the Preschool Classroom, and A New Purpose in Calendar Time.
3. Now Read This: Articles highlighting noteworthy texts for young children with associated activities. See Now Read This! Books that Promote Race, Identity, Agency, and Voice and Now Read This! Supporting Positive Racial Identity with Literacy-Based Math.
4. TYC Feature Teacher nominations. Teaching Young Children features an outstanding preschool teacher in each issue of the magazine. Teachers who are selected appear on the cover of the magazine and are profiled in a corresponding feature. If you know an exemplary preschool teacher who deserves to be honored in this way, please complete the Nomination Form. Nominations are accepted year-round. Read about previous Feature Teachers Garnett Booker, Janice Garcia, and Marjorie Ruiz.

Teaching Young Children publishes 4 times a year, in Spring, Fall, Summer, and Winter. Each issue has a theme, with at least 3 articles related to it. The table below provides the themes for upcoming TYC issues, along with the due dates for submitting articles. 

The editorial team asks that authors submit only one article for a particular theme. Our preferred practice is to publish a particular author only once per 12-month period. Occasionally we make exceptions to best meet the needs of our readers.

We look forward to continuing to highlight current thinking on promising practices in early childhood education, innovations in the field, research and its implications, and interesting ideas for and from preschool teachers.

Issue Date	Theme	Submission Due Date
Summer 2024	Nurturing Multilingual Learners in Preschool While there is recognition about the power of growing in more than one language, early childhood educators may not know how best to support multilingual learners in their settings. In this issue, we will focus on fundamental information about how multilingual learners develop in the language domain. We will also concentrate on responsive practices for teaching multilingual learners, including connections between home and school languages.	November 3, 2023
Fall 2024	Balancing Formats and Choice in Preschool Taking a “both/and” view, preschool education should include a combination of child- and teacher-guided experiences that are informed by learning goals and objectives. This involves intentional decision making about when and how to implement different formats for learning experiences (whole group, small group, one-on-one) as well as about choice (limited to open-ended). We are seeking submissions that highlight how to effectively plan and implement one or more of these formats. We are also seeking submissions that outline how to effectively offer choice during one or more parts of the preschool day.	February 2, 2024

Format and writing tips

• Content must be research-based, reflect developmentally appropriate practice and advancing equity, and include ideas on how to support children and families from diverse backgrounds, including dual language learners.
• Use plain language that is straightforward and easy for readers to understand. It’s also okay for content to be funny and to have some personality.
• Provide specific, practical tips and strategies for teachers.
• Present information using bullets, subheadings, lists, checklists, and high-resolution photographs, if available.

Photos

If you have high-resolution photographs that go along with your content, please include them with your submission.  

Authors are responsible for seeking and maintaining written permission from parents or legal guardians to include photos of children or children's work samples, and for seeking and maintaining written permission to include photos of adults. These permissions must be provided to NAEYC for review prior to publication.

Model release forms must be completed for any recognizable person appearing in the photos (signed by any adult who appears in the photo and by the legal guardian of any child who appears in the photo). If the author did not take the photos, the author must confirm that they have the right to publish the photos and that the photographer possesses the necessary model releases.

The editorial team will reach out upon acceptance to process the forms. NAEYC-approved model release forms are available from the editorial team if needed. Forms must be confirmed and provided to the editorial team before publication. Failure to do so will result in the photos being excluded from publication.

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Decision and Publication Process

Timeline: The Teaching Young Children review and decision process takes up to 6 months from receipt of manuscript. The process is compressed for theme articles. For accepted articles, the time from acceptance to publication is on average 12–18 months for nontheme articles, depending on publication needs.

Notification of decision: We will let you know if your content is accepted for publication, if a revision is requested, or if we will not be publishing the content at this time.

Editing: All submissions are subject to editorial review and revisions, copyediting, and design. We will share edits with you, pose queries, and ask for additional information, as needed.

Copyright and clearance requirements: Before publication, we will provide copyright and clearance forms to ensure that NAEYC has the rights to publish the content. We also require the rights to use all photographs and videos. Photographers must obtain and maintain model releases from the subjects of the photos/videos. 

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 Submit to TYC here!       

Upload your submission on the TYC Editorial Manager site.

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Contact information

Annie Moses, PhD, Editor in Chief, Teaching Young Children

Susan Donsky, Managing Editor, Teaching Young Children

Email: [email protected]

Interested in writing for other NAEYC publications?

Check out our author guidelines for:

• NAEYC Blog
• Teaching Young Children
• Young Children
• Voices of Practitioners