As part of the groundbreaking group Run-D.M.C. McDaniels racked up a formidable list of 鈥渇irsts鈥� in the hip-hop world, with multi-platinum albums, Grammy awards, rock鈥檔鈥檙oll crossovers, sold out stadiums, a Rolling Stone cover, and hip hop鈥檚 first major apparel endorsement.  

But McDaniels, who had been creative and introspective since childhood, also battled depression and personal demons that threatened to steal the joy of his success. Now, he鈥檚 using his influence and ability to rap on command to reach kids with an important message: Your feelings matter. 

He takes this message to schools, and works with Nickelodeon鈥檚 educational arm, Noggin, on a literacy and social emotional learning television series 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the Word?鈥� He also authored a children鈥檚 book, Darryl鈥檚 Dream, about a third grader who finds perseverance and confidence in the face of doubt. 

Ahead of a panel discussion hosted by Big Heart World, Sparkler, Noggin and 麻豆精品, McDaniels spoke with correspondent Bekah McNeel about his love of therapy and empowering words, and about the ways adults can validate the emotions of children while helping them through the tough parts of growing up.聽

鈥淎 lot of the things we go through as adults start in childhood,鈥� McDaniels said. Rather than pushing away anxiety, fear, and sadness鈥攊nsisting that children be happy simply because they don鈥檛 carry the responsibilities of adulthood鈥攈e suggested teachers and parents, 鈥淟et them be engaged from the point where they鈥檙e at.鈥� 

A lifelong fan of superhero comics, McDaniels reminds kids that when Spider-Man and the Hulk and others are not in their superhero form, their alter egos like Peter Parker and Bruce Banner have to deal with bullies, setbacks, and all the problems regular people face. Even Star Wars鈥� Luke Skywalker, McDaniels said, 鈥淗e had parental issues.鈥� 

Parents and teachers, the original heroes in kids鈥� lives, can also model vulnerability so that kids see how to handle tough emotions鈥攊t鈥檚 healthy to have negative feelings, because bad and sad things happen. At the same time, the feelings don鈥檛 have to stop you from reaching your goals. Being appropriately open and vulnerable with kids also strengthens that adult-child relationship, which will also contribute to the child鈥檚 success. People admire strength, he explained, but they connect to vulnerability. 

Those connections are a top priority for University of Michigan researcher and pediatrician Jenny Radesky, who joined Austin ISD educator Rebekah Ozuna and American Enterprise Institute policy analyst Rick Hess in a discussion following the McDaniels interview. The panelists discussed the state of social and emotional learning in their various fields鈥攆rom insight gained during the pandemic to current political pushback, from social media to classroom management. 

While there may be ideological and political debate over whether topics like anti-racism and LGBTQ identity belong in social and emotional learning curricula or in schools at all, Ozuna said every classroom inherently has a 鈥渃ulture and climate鈥� in addition to academic instruction. If the culture of the classroom doesn鈥檛 acknowledge the real struggles students face, she said, little else was going to break through. This became more clear than ever as students and teachers struggled through the pandemic. 鈥淓verything was greatly intertwined.鈥�

Other educators have told 麻豆精品 similar stories in recent years. Here were some of our most discussed and shared articles about social and emotional learning in 2022: 

• COVID Recovery: How Social and Emotional Learning Became a Priority for Schools During the Pandemic
  
• Expert鈥檚 View: CASEL鈥檚 鈥楥onsensus Builder鈥� CEO Aaliyah Samuel on Getting the U.S. 鈥楤ack to the Middle鈥� on Social-Emotional Learning
  
• Youth Trauma: Historic Rise in Child Bereavement as COVID, Drugs and Guns Claim Parents鈥� Lives
  
• Pandemic Isolation: Virtual Nightmare 鈥� One Student鈥檚 Journey Through the Pandemic
  
• Student Relationships: Remembering How to Be Friends 鈥� One School鈥檚 Efforts to Use Talking Circles to Help Kids Reconnect

As in most pre-K classrooms, Geneva Gadsden鈥檚 students 鈥� known as the All Stars 鈥� rotate through different stations, from dress-up corners to building block areas.

But the All Stars, the Happy Owls and other groups of preschoolers at the Whitted School in Durham, North Carolina, also take turns with Chromebooks, spending 15 minutes a day clicking through early literacy activities from , a nonprofit software provider.

When COVID-19 shut down schools, many pre-K programs across the country saw participation drop or sent home paper materials for at-home learning. Not so at Whitted, where students kept rolling along with the Waterford Reading Academy at home.

鈥淚t really was a lifesaver,鈥� said Suzanne Cotterman, early education director for the Durham Public Schools. The district adopted the program three years ago as a pilot, but expanded access to all pre-K families when schools closed. Some families, Cotterman said, couldn鈥檛 participate in scheduled Zoom classes, but 鈥渢he bonus with Waterford is that it allows you to do it any time.鈥�

More than a year after COVID-19 forced preschool programs to shift online, Waterford hopes schools continue to employ virtual models like theirs to help young children prepare for kindergarten. Waterford designed its program to work in classrooms like Gadsden鈥檚 or to be used directly by families at home. Waterford Upstart, the organization鈥檚 signature early learning program, can reach children in rural areas and other communities that don鈥檛 have access to pre-K, said spokeswoman Kim Fischer. But many early education experts oppose spending public funds on computer-based models, saying they can鈥檛 match the experience children get in a high-quality classroom. And they interpret the huge enrollment declines in pre-K and kindergarten this year as evidence that most parents agree.

鈥淚t’s important to understand the limits of digital technology in early education,鈥� said Aaron Loewenberg, an education policy analyst at New America, a center-left think tank. 鈥淪o much of pre-K is about the social-emotional learning that happens via student interaction with peers and well-trained educators, and that sort of learning can’t be replicated by interacting with a computer program.鈥�

While there are other widely used online early learning resources that parents can purchase or find for free, including and , Waterford has been especially successful at garnering public funds for preschoolers鈥� at-home learning.

In 2014, the nonprofit received a $14.2 million to start pilot programs in five more states. And they view President Joe Biden鈥檚 $200 billion universal pre-K proposal as an opportunity for further expansion.

It鈥檚 been a relatively quick ascend for Upstart 鈥� an acronym, now discarded, for 鈥淯tah Preparing Students Today for a Rewarding Tomorrow鈥� 鈥� which received its first grants from the state in 2009 to reach families in rural areas. A 2018 from the Utah Department of Education showed 77 percent of Upstart children had average or above average literacy scores at the end of the program, compared with 71 percent of children in high-quality public preschools and 69 percent in private programs. In math, Upstart children demonstrated no advantage.

鈥楥hildren that you know are behind鈥�

Public funds support Upstart in five states, with most targeting the program to low-income children. Wisconsin made the program available in districts with significant achievement gaps. South Carolina spends about $3 million to serve 1,400 4-year-olds in 17 high-poverty districts. As in Durham, children complete activities with parents at home in addition to attending state-funded pre-K.

鈥淭he big draw 鈥� was the family engagement piece,鈥� said Quincie Moore, director of the state education department鈥檚 Office of Early Learning and Literacy. Upstart provides family liaisons who monitor children鈥檚 progress and answer parents鈥� questions.

She added if additional funds were available, she would consider expanding the program to children not enrolled in a center. 鈥淚t鈥檚 additional instruction for children that you know are behind,鈥� Moore said.

That鈥檚 precisely what worries early-childhood education advocates 鈥� that policymakers might see Upstart as a way to do pre-K on the cheap. The program costs about $2,000 per child, well under the average $5,500 per child states spend on pre-K.

鈥淥ur biggest concern is that using public [money] will interfere with efforts to provide real publicly funded preschool to children,鈥� said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, formerly the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. In a 2018 statement, the organization and another nonprofit, Defending the Early Years, about Upstart, calling it part of a 鈥渓arger set of trends to further digitize and privatize public services.鈥�

Rhian Evans Allvin, CEO of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, expressed in 2020, and said in a recent email that regardless of the pandemic, her views haven鈥檛 changed.

But Fischer, with Waterford, described Upstart as a catalyst that has convinced Utah lawmakers of the importance of early learning. Until 2019, the state didn鈥檛 even have a public pre-K program, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research鈥檚 annual 鈥測earbook.鈥� But in the 2019-20 school year, the state spent almost $7 million on two grant programs supporting preschool centers.

鈥淲e do not see ourselves as competition to any other form of early learning,鈥� said Fischer. 鈥淲e try to fill the gaps wherever there are.鈥�

In New Hampshire, young English learners often fall into those gaps. that if young children are not proficient in English by kindergarten, they can trail their peers in academic outcomes throughout elementary and middle school. That鈥檚 the population the state education department was hoping to reach when it awarded a $440,000 grant to the Greater Nashua Smart Start Coalition, an early learning initiative within the local United Way, to offer Upstart. The program was funded with a federal Preschool Development Grant aimed at better preparing children in low-income families for kindergarten.

Five-year-old Alice Wang, whose home language is Mandarin, would have attended the local Nashua school district鈥檚 pre-K if it hadn鈥檛 been for the pandemic.

鈥淲aterford Upstart kind of became her school,鈥� said Zixin Lou, her mother, who doesn鈥檛 think Alice is any less prepared for kindergarten this fall. 鈥淪he told me, 鈥淚 know how to spell 鈥榤om.鈥� I know how to spell 鈥榳ater,鈥� and 鈥楳om, do you know chickens hatch from eggs?鈥欌��

Between the beginning of the pandemic and April of this year, the number of Upstart users quadrupled, from 20,719 to over 82,600, according to Waterford data. And now, with Biden pledging to offer universal pre-K, the organization sees the potential for Upstart to help meet demand.

鈥淲e have to focus on how we can achieve universal kindergarten readiness as quickly as possible,鈥� Fischer said, adding that it 鈥渃ould take decades鈥� to add enough classrooms to serve all 3- and 4-year-olds. Existing state-funded pre-K programs serve just over a third of the nation鈥檚 4-year-olds and about 6 percent of the 3-year-olds, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research. 鈥淭o be truly universal, the country has to meet children where they are. There are always going to be kids who don鈥檛 have access.鈥�

The question is whether an online program is a sufficient replacement for in-person pre-K. At the start of the pandemic, preschool participation fell by half, and those children who stayed in remote programs didn鈥檛 participate consistently, according to the institute鈥檚 surveys of families.

鈥淧arents have been frustrated and dissatisfied with remote pre-K this last year, and I think they will make that clear,鈥� said Steve Barnett, the institute鈥檚 senior director.

鈥楧eepen their learning鈥�

Much of the skepticism relates to screen time. that young children just don鈥檛 learn as well from screens as they do in a face-to-face setting, and too much screen time can interfere with development, research has shown. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than an hour of screen time for 2- to 5-year-olds, but from Ohio showed that during the pandemic, kindergartners鈥� daily average time online had reached more than six hours.

The AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation, a nonprofit that works with charter schools to implement their preschool model, ran into these concerns when it joined with , Nick Jr.鈥檚 educational streaming service, and , an early learning app, to offer free, online content 鈥� called Ready Grow 鈥� for children in 100 classrooms. Families in the program also received iPads.

In focus groups, parents said the digital materials filled a void when they were 鈥渇eeling overwhelmed and not knowing what to do,鈥� said Chavaughn Brown, who leads Appletree鈥檚 research efforts. Some teachers worked hard to incorporate characters from Nick Jr. programs like 鈥淏lue鈥檚 Clues鈥� and 鈥淧aw Patrol鈥� into their lessons so children would see the connection to Ready Grow. But some parents didn鈥檛 want their children to have any more screen time beyond virtual Zoom classes.

Even so, Appletree will continue to offer a remote option for families this fall. Brown said while she sees ed tech as a supplement to high-quality preschool, there are ways 鈥測ou can leverage children’s love for those characters to deepen their learning in other ways.鈥�

Fischer, with Waterford, said there鈥檚 a false assumption that children using Upstart are spending hours in front of screens. The literacy component takes just 15 minutes, she said. Adding math and science would stretch the time to half an hour, and family liaisons are trained to intervene if they think children are spending too much time on the program.

As use of Upstart grows in other states, Waterford鈥檚 largest footprint remains in Utah. State funding for the program continues to grow, with the organization slated to receive over $24 million in 2022. Upstart is available to any preschooler in Utah.

But educators aren鈥檛 necessarily advertising that fact.

The Granite School District in Salt Lake City, for example, is focused on its own, in-person preschool classes for 3- and 4-year-olds. Spokesman Benjamin Horsley said leaders haven鈥檛 worked directly with Waterford to recruit preschoolers for Upstart.

鈥淲e do feel like there is some value in utilizing digital programming,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he concern has always been, will parents think that an online program is sufficient over in-person instruction.鈥�

Disclosure: The Overdeck Family Foundation provides financial support to and 麻豆精品.