In 1966 Joan Ganz Cooney and her colleagues proposed the idea of using television to educate underserved preschoolers. They would later found the Children’s Television Workshop and of course the legendary program Sesame Street. Their Workshop model paved the way for all of the educational children’s program that we have today. Forty years later they have established the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, a great website with a positive and timely focus. Here is their mission:

The mission of The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is to catalyze and support research, innovation and investment in digital media technologies to advance children’s learning. Nurturing foundational and “21st century” literacies. The inaugural focus of the Center—given the national need—will be on determining how technology can help elementary-aged children develop the fundamental building blocks of literacy. These include the vital reading, writing, speaking and listening capabilities that all children must develop during the primary grades. A special emphasis of the Center will be on struggling readers who risk educational failure if they do not catch up to their peers by grade four.
Another important focus of the Center is to leverage the potential of interactive media to promote “21st century” literacies that students will need to compete and cooperate in our connected world—competencies such as critical thinking and problem solving, second language competency, inter-cultural understanding and media literacy. www.joanganzcooneycenter.org

Link to Sesame Workshop: www.sesameworkshop.org