do it by working alone. Collaboration, or the purposeful cooperation between stakeholders to address challenges and achieve common goals( Kinsella-Meier & Gala 2016; Hong et al. 2019; Mitchell et al. 2020), is essential to quality early childhood education( Del Grosso et al. 2014). This includes in advancing equity.
As posited in NAEYC’ s position statements, relationships are critical to promoting early learning( NAEYC 2019, 2020, 2025a). From local to state levels, professionals establish relationships to collaboratively ensure that children and families have access to the services they need. This happens in a variety of ways and goes beyond simply working together( Mitchell et al. 2020). Rather, it occurs when educators, families, specialists, agencies, higher education faculty, and others work to achieve common, interdependent, and long-term goals that support innovation and improvement( Hong et al. 2019).
As evidenced throughout the broader literature and 100 years of NAEYC content and reflection, collaboration leads to a more informed, supported, and inclusive workforce that honors the voices of all stakeholders. We( the authors) are a group of faculty in higher education across Vermont who have benefited from our collaboration and relationships. As such, we approached the call for articles for this celebratory issue of Young Children through the lens of collaboration: What did it look like, and how was it reported in the earliest issues of the journal?
To answer this question, we reviewed the first decade( 1945 – 1956) of the publication, then known as the Bulletin of the National Association of Nursery Education( or Bulletin). As we examined each article, announcement, and editor’ s note, we looked for collaboration among professionals to support the inclusive development of early childhood educators and children.( See“ Rationale for Choosing This Decade and Focusing on Collaboration” on this page for information about how we approached our work.) In this article, we highlight the Bulletin’ s dedication to collaboration from its very first issues and call out the ways in which this collaboration promoted inclusion for children with disabilities and for refugee children. By looking to the past, we can inform current and future practices, maintaining our commitment to collaboration as we work to help all children succeed.
Rationale for Choosing This Decade and Focusing on Collaboration
We are professors representing different Vermont colleges with early childhood teacher preparation programs. We meet quarterly with other faculty and stakeholders to discuss early childhood education in our state, review state legislation, and provide program updates. Collaboration is integral in our work and was on our minds when we met to discuss how we use Young Children( YC) in our practice.
For this article, we chose to review the early history of YC( 1945 – 1956), then known as the Bulletin of the National Association of Nursery Education. During this time, World War II ended, and the Baby Boom era began. The surge in births during this period created an increased need for child care to support working families, especially as more women entered the workforce in the 1950s.
Each author reviewed three to four years of Bulletin issues, with a focus on the evolution of collaboration and collaboration’ s impact on inclusion. As we reviewed these early issues, we saw the start of a flourishing organization and the beginning of a resource that would continue to impact the early childhood education field.
Spring 2026 Young Children 71