Laura Bornfreund

My mission is to transform kindergarten and strengthen the transition into the early grades of elementary school, ensuring that all children have access to high-quality instruction and learning experiences that align with the science of learning and development.

Forthcoming Book

Making Space for Joy, Play, and Rigor in Kindergarten

Over the last decade, I've visited pre-K, kindergarten, and early grade classrooms in 17 states and the District of Columbia to find places that provide kindergarten that combines challenging content taught in the ways young children learn best. The pictures on the left are just a few examples of play-based learning and exploration happening in kindergarten.

Recent Writing

Deeper Learning in KindegartenGreat First Eight is a full-day, whole-child, open educational resource (OER) curriculum designed for children from birth to eight years old and for classrooms with a number of children from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Making the Early Grades MatterFor this blog post, I asked SRC team members Soumya Bhat, Mimi Howard, Kate McKenney, Eugenia McRae, and Nicole Sharpe, and authors of the brief “Making the Early Years Matter,” what they learned about the K-2 years.

Enabling Smoother Transitions into KindergartenState and local leaders could change policies and practices to smooth the transition into (and through) elementary school grades and reap better outcomes for children, their families, and their educators.

State Laws Requiring Play-Based LearningWhile some education officials may believe there is no time in elementary school for play, there has been a growing shift toward purposeful play or play-based learning as an instructional strategy in pre-K, kindergarten, and the early grades.

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