This week, the Baltimore City Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) released a landscape analysis report detailing how many families in the city continue to struggle to access affordable and high-quality early care and learning programs for their children from infancy up to age 5. The ECAC represents a broad consortium of early childhood stakeholders, including Port Discovery. Research is clear that children who do participate in a high-quality early childhood programs demonstrate stronger school readiness outcomes, as well as benefits to their academic achievement and overall well-being that are sustained well beyond their early years. There is a clear through line that can be drawn between the gaps within our local early childhood system detailed by this report and the state’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) data showing that only 45% of children in Baltimore City will reach kindergarten prepared to succeed and excel.
Unpacking this challenge can seem like a complex tangle of policy and funding hurdles, and it’s not immediately clear what role a children’s museum might play in strategies for positive change. As a children’s museum, Port Discovery’s mission includes supporting families with young children in Baltimore City and throughout the state through opportunities to play and learn together, and serving as a meaningful community resource. Driven by the implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future in 2023, Port Discovery asked the question, “How can we position ourselves as a partner in supporting young children and their families, as well as the early childhood workforce, within the context of increased investment in our state’s early childhood system?” The answer was the creation of our At Play Learning Institute (APLI).
In addition to programs that directly engage parents and caregivers, one of the signature components of our APLI initiative is the Professionals At Play program. Professionals At Play is designed to support early childhood educators—including Pre-K educators and administrators, Judy Center staff, and child care providers across a range of center and home-based settings—in applying the science of playful learning to their daily work with kids and their families. Our training curriculum, designed around a reflective “Cycle of Playful Intention,” empowers educators to strengthen their skills and practice. In turn, our intent is to contribute to the overall quality of the programs where these early childhood professionals work, increasing the capacity of high-quality programs—including those that meet the threshold to serve as a state Pre-K provider—throughout our city and state early childhood systems.
After more than a year spent in stages of development and piloting, Port Discovery’s Professionals At Play program launches on Monday, June 30, 2025 with our inaugural training for a diverse cohort of early childhood professionals from Baltimore County comprised of Judy Center staff, community child care providers, and Pre-K educators. A similar cohort from Baltimore City will be trained in early August. By the end of this calendar year, Professionals At Play will have served 7 counties through this cohort model, as well as several community based organizations here in Baltimore, including the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Baltimore and the Nanny Network. Additional trainings are being planned through 2026. Port Discovery looks forward to sharing the measurable impact of this initiative through ongoing updates throughout the next year.
APLI is made possible with the generous support from the Sherman Family Foundation, the Bainum Family Foundation, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, PNC Grow Up Great, the Lockhart Vaughan Foundation, and the Baltimore Community Foundation.