The "Reggio Emilia" philosophy developed in Italy after World War II, combined child-initiated learning with teacher-directed activities - usually involving art - became popular in the early 1990s after Newsweek magazine described the Reggio Emilia approach to preschool education as the best in the world. 

In Manhattan, affluent parents scramble to get their toddlers into the handful of private and expensive preschools based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy.There are now about 1,200 North American Reggio Emilia Alliance programs across the country, most of them private. 

Public Preschool Program in Englewood Uses Italian Approach
New York Times 
By Susan M. Sipprelle 
Englewood New Jersey March 1, 2009

IN a small classroom here, sunlight streams through bottles filled with orange, red, blue and green water arrayed along a window ledge. Woven baskets and glass jars holding birds’ nests, wire, feathers, pine cones, pipe cleaners, beads, tissue paper and paints sit within a child’s easy reach on open shelves. Children’s artwork hangs from the walls.

Children in Englewood’s Reggio Emilia-based prekindergarten use this art studio as a laboratory to investigate ideas together with their teachers. Recently, a teacher asked several of the school’s 4- and 5-year-olds to help solve a problem: How would visitors to the school find its new indoor garden?

The children chatted among themselves and came up with a sign " a big green circle like a green traffic light " that would show visitors the way to go. 

“How do we know that green means go?" a teacher, Breigh Miller, asked. 

Anisa Sharisf, 5, said: "Because green is light and bright. With the sunshine in back of it, it goes."

In Manhattan, affluent parents scramble to get their toddlers into the handful of private and expensive preschools based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy developed in Italy after World War II. The approach, combining child-initiated learning with teacher-directed activities — usually involving art — became popular in the early 1990s after Newsweek magazine described the Reggio Emilia approach to preschool education as the best in the world. 

There are now about 1,200 North American Reggio Emilia Alliance programs across the country, most of them private. The Englewood school district program, which the state says is New Jersey’s only public Reggio preschool, serves 125 children who share five classrooms and an art studio in a drab brick building with the Bergen Family Center, a social services agency.

“I wanted to offer a public prekindergarten program that was the equivalent or better than the expensive private schools nearby,” said Barbara Berger, the director of the program, who helped bring Reggio Emilia to Englewood about seven years ago. 

Parents of children enrolled in the program appreciate the respect its teachers give children, its dual-language (Spanish-English) classrooms and the heavy emphasis it places on art.

“I like its ethnic diversity," said Darius A. Hicks, 31, a minister. He and his wife withdrew their son Darius, now 4, from a private preschool after they attended an open house and talked with Ms. Berger about the program. 

“It’s a blessing to have it as a public program," said Reginald Jenkins Jr., 42, a lawyer whose daughter, Ellary, 5, attended the preschool. He said that the prekindergarten is fulfilling its mission - teaching kids how to think.

This month, the Englewood school district and the Bergen Family Center will host their second Reggio Emilia conference, featuring two of the approach’s leading experts: Amelia Gambetti, Reggio international coordinator from Italy; and Lella Gandini, the program’s United States Reggio liaison. Over 300 educators from 100 schools across the country are expected to attend the conference, tour the prekindergarten classrooms and learn more about the approach.

There are critics who challenge the ability of Reggio Emilia’s seemingly spontaneous and relatively unstructured classrooms to help young children learn basics like letter and number recognition and simple math concepts.

The approach’s passionate advocates resent such objections.

“Reggio Emilia requires a more rigorous and challenging curriculum than any other method," said Sonya Shoptaugh, a Reggio consultant who has worked with the Englewood prekindergarten teachers.

The approach encourages children to explore and test new ideas that are expressed through different vocabularies, including language (both oral and written), clay, paint, dance, wood and music. Reggio Emilia teachers use observation and conversation with children to develop and deepen curriculum. 

“It’s a rich, collaborative way of learning, where the child is seen as part of the social network,” said Roseanne Regan Hansel, a program development specialist with the New Jersey Department of Education’s Division of Early Childhood Education.

Half of Englewood’s 200 public school kindergarteners are graduates of its Reggio Emilia program. 

“The program helps kids learn essential vocabulary for early reading and school learning,- said Richard Segall, Englewood’s superintendent of schools. "The Reggio Emilia kids are just so far ahead in how they approach the world."

In 2010, the Reggio Emilia preschool is scheduled to move into Englewood’s Donald A. Quarles School, which will evolve into an early childhood learning center. In its new home, the prekindergarten will be able to accommodate more children. The school’s kindergarten will begin to incorporate Reggio Emilia-inspired practices. 

“As a result of their increased exposure to Reggio Emilia, our teachers are changing their attitude about what kids can accomplish," Dr. Segall said. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/nyregion/new-jersey/01reggionj.html?_r=1&ref=new-jersey
 

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