Sesame Workshop, The Primary School and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative have partnered for a new curriculum that will help early childhood educators meet the needs of their students.

The new curriculum will integrate social emotional learning into early childhood literacy lessons, in accordance with Sesame Workshop’s Framework for School Readiness. Based upon 50 years of Sesame Workshop research and development, the venture has two key goals: promoting social emotional learning with literacy as a foundation for future success and making these resources widely available.

“We know that reaching children in their earliest years can change the trajectory of their lives,” says Priscilla Chan, co-founder and co-chief executive officer, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. “By joining the expertise of Sesame Workshop and The Primary School, I am optimistic that educators, students and families will benefit from exceptional tools that can help young children thrive.”

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is supporting the work of the program through a three-year grant. Sesame Workshop and The Primary School have been piloting this new curriculum over the past two years at The Primary School’s flagship site in East Palo Alto, Calif. By the end of 2020, the curriculum will be digitized and made available online for use in additional qualifying early learning classrooms across the country. 

After gathering extensive input and feedback from educators, school leaders, students, their families and an advisory board of education experts, the curriculum will be refined and shared with more schools the following year. In the grant’s third and final year, the partners will focus on researching, identifying and developing additional ways to support early learning.

Sesame Workshop’s program follows a recent partnership with Weyo for an AR app based on classic “Sesame Street” characters.