WHEREAS, high-quality education is grounded in the research of child development and is responsive to individual social-emotional, physical, and cognitive needs; and

WHEREAS, federal, state, and city curriculum legislation has resulted in increasing push-down academic demands and scripted didactic curricula which are divorced from child development knowledge in preschool and early elementary grades; and

WHEREAS, pressure to prepare students for standardized assessments often leads to more structured academic activities and to the reduction or elimination of play, recess, and child agency; and

WHEREAS, multiple longitudinal studies have revealed that children who had majority structured academic kindergarten experiences ultimately perform well below their peers who had developmentally appropriate learning experiences, regardless of their demographic group, and research shows a combination of play and direct instruction yields the best results in a range of educational outcomes; and

WHEREAS, the research that supports the importance of play in human development spans multiple fields of study, including education, medicine, neuroscience, psychology, and ethology, and ALL stress that reducing playtime can negatively impact children's social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development, and their academic success; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) opposes developmentally inappropriate practices and works to restore child-initiated play and experiential learning with the active support of teachers in their rightful place at the heart of Early Childhood Education; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT advocates for curricula that are supported by child development and research on how humans learn, and will embark on internal discussions to educate and to seek feedback on corporate curricula and their impact on developmentally appropriate practices; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT will advocate for unstructured playtime for students, the right to agency and active exploration and age-appropriate experiential learning opportunities in every grade from PreK to 12th grade, especially when explorations support Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM).