The Joan Ganz Cooney Center

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, commonly called the Cooney Center, is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research and innovation organization founded by Sesame Workshop in 2007. It was established to examine how digital technologies could support children's literacy and learning, especially among elementary-school-age children, and to help translate research into practical changes in education, public media, policy and product design. The center operates at the intersection of child development, education, technology, media and philanthropy. Rather than functioning primarily as a consumer-facing media brand, it produces research reports, surveys, policy analyses, design guidance and convening programs. Its work has addressed educational applications of games, mobile devices, apps, interactive media and family technology use. The organization also seeks to influence the conditions under which digital learning products are created and adopted, emphasizing evidence, equity, educator capacity and meaningful family engagement. Its activities have been organized around several connected themes. Literacy initiatives have explored how parents and educators can support reading in an increasingly digital environment. The center's partnership with the Campaign for Grade Level Reading produced research and recommendations on improving literacy outcomes, while its collaboration with the National Center for Families Learning led to the Aprendiendo Juntos Council, focused on Spanish-speaking families in the United States. The center has also published work concerning children's literacy applications, Hispanic and Latino families, digital equity and the role of media in early reading. Digital play is another major area. The Cooney Center has investigated whether and how video games can promote learning, health, STEM engagement and intergenerational interaction. It has supported innovation competitions, mapped the educational game market, surveyed teachers and examined the education sections of mobile-app marketplaces. In partnership with E-Line Media, it helped organize the National STEM Video Game Challenge as part of the broader Educate to Innovate effort announced by the Obama administration. A third area concerns learning in families and communities. Through the Families and Media Research Consortium, which has included organizations and universities such as AARP, Sesame Workshop, Northwestern University, Arizona State University and Stanford University, the center has studied the changing family media environment. Its 2014 Learning at Home report surveyed 1,577 parents and examined the amount and perceived educational value of media used at home. Related publications have addressed joint media engagement, app use, family diversity and technology access among lower-income and Hispanic-Latino households. The organization also convenes researchers, educators, policymakers, philanthropists, technology developers and creative-industry leaders. Forums on digital learning, Hollywood and educational innovation have been designed to stimulate collaboration and investment. Its initiatives have included action research, model development, partnership building, dissemination, fellowships, teacher-preparation work and programs intended to help public media reach younger audiences. Through this combination of research and field building, the Cooney Center aims to identify effective approaches and encourage their adoption at scale. The center's work is primarily U.S.-focused, but its reports and frameworks have circulated among researchers and practitioners internationally. Its output includes flagship studies such as The Power of Pow! Wham!, Game Changer, Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West, Learning at Home, Tap, Click, Read and Digital Play for Global Citizens. The organization is best understood as a research and knowledge platform within the Sesame Workshop family rather than as a conventional product brand. Current leadership and operating details should be verified against the center's official website because the reference material identifies staff and initiatives from different periods.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center was created by Sesame Workshop in 2007 and named for Joan Ganz Cooney, a co-founder of the television program Sesame Street and a major figure in children's educational media. Its founding reflected a concern that rapidly changing digital technologies were reshaping how children read, play, communicate and learn, while research and educational practice were not keeping pace. The center was designed as an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that could bring together researchers, educators, policymakers, media producers, technologists and philanthropists. The center's initial mission centered on childhood literacy and the educational potential of digital media. Its inaugural report, The Power of Pow! Wham!: Children, Digital Media and Our Nation's Future, framed the need for stronger evidence about interactive technologies and children's development. Over time, the organization expanded from basic inquiry into a broader field-building role involving action research, innovation and model development, partnership building, dissemination and policy engagement. Digital play became one of its signature research areas. In 2009, the Cooney Center convened the Leadership Forum: Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age at Google's headquarters, bringing together more than 200 participants from research, education, policy, philanthropy and industry. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it published Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Learning and Health. The report helped establish digital games as a subject for serious education and public-health discussion and was later cited in congressional testimony. The center subsequently studied educational games, mobile applications, teacher attitudes and the market for kindergarten-through-12th-grade digital learning. The organization also developed programs intended to move beyond research publication. In 2010 it offered a prize for innovation in children's digital learning, and in collaboration with E-Line Media it helped establish the National STEM Video Game Challenge. The competition formed part of the Educate to Innovate initiative announced by President Barack Obama in 2009, which sought to use the appeal of games to encourage STEM learning. The Cooney Center Fellows Program provided research and program-development support, while the Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council, convened with the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, produced a blueprint for preparing teachers to use digital media effectively, with an emphasis on early education, elementary teaching and underserved learners. Literacy remained a central strand of the center's work. In partnership with the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, it co-authored Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West: Empowering Parents and Educators in 2012. The report examined the responsibilities of families, schools and technology producers in a media environment that was expanding faster than established guidance. In 2013, the center and the National Center for Families Learning formed the Aprendiendo Juntos Council to focus on literacy among Spanish-speaking children and families in the United States. Research on families and media became increasingly prominent during the 2010s. The Cooney Center convened the Families and Media Research Consortium, whose participants included AARP, Sesame Workshop, Northwestern University, Arizona State University and Stanford University. Its first major report, Learning at Home: Families' Educational Media Use in America, was released in January 2014 and drew on a survey of 1,577 parents. It assessed how families used media, how they judged educational value and how children's age and household context influenced media experiences. Subsequent work addressed apps, joint media engagement, digital equity, diverse families and technology use among Hispanic-Latino households. The center also broadened its public-media and youth-engagement work. Through By/With/For Youth: Inspiring Next Gen Public Media Audiences, supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, it created the Next Gen Accelerator program to give local television and radio stations small grants for experiments aimed at tween and teen audiences. In February 2014 it launched GamesandLearning.org, extending its dissemination role into ongoing coverage of educational gaming. Among its later publications were Digital Play for Global Citizens, Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning in Lower-Income Families, Getting a Read on the App Stores, Tap, Click, Read and other studies concerning literacy, access, families and interactive media. Across these activities, the Cooney Center has functioned less as a conventional product company than as a research, convening and innovation platform associated with Sesame Workshop. Because the available reference material combines historical staff listings and initiatives from different periods, present-day leadership, headquarters and program status require verification from the organization's current website.

• 2014

  Learning at Home report

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The center releases a national survey of family educational-media use based on 1,577 parent respondents.

• 2014

  GamesandLearning.org launches

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The center launches an online news site covering games and learning.

• 2013

  Aprendiendo Juntos Council is formed

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The Cooney Center and the National Center for Families Learning create a council focused on literacy among Spanish-speaking American children.

• 2012

  Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The center publishes a report developed with the Campaign for Grade Level Reading on empowering parents and educators to support literacy in digital environments.

• 2011

  National STEM Video Game Challenge

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  In partnership with E-Line Media, the center organizes the first annual national competition for STEM-oriented video games.

• 2011

  Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council report

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  A council convened with the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute issues a blueprint for improving teachers' preparation to use digital media.

• 2010

  Digital play innovation prize

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The organization introduces a prize intended to recognize innovation in children's digital learning.

• 2009

  Digital-learning leadership forum

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  The Cooney Center holds the Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age Leadership Forum at Google, bringing together more than 200 leaders from several sectors.

• 2007

  The center is founded

  [1]The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org

  Sesame Workshop establishes the Joan Ganz Cooney Center to study digital technology, children's literacy and learning.

A nonprofit research, innovation and field-building organization focused on children's literacy, education and healthy development in a digital-media environment.

• Research and publications · 2007

  Research reports and surveys

  The center's principal output is a body of research reports, surveys, market scans and policy analyses concerning children's literacy, digital play, mobile learning, apps, family media use, teacher practice and digital equity. Representative publications include The Power of Pow! Wham!, Game Changer, Learning at Home, Tap, Click, Read and Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning in Lower-Income Families.

• Innovation competition · 2011

  National STEM Video Game Challenge

  Developed with E-Line Media, the competition encouraged creators and students to develop games that could generate interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It connected the center's research agenda with hands-on experimentation and the broader Educate to Innovate campaign.

• Digital publication · 2014

  GamesandLearning.org

  GamesandLearning.org was established as a news and information outlet focused on educational gaming. It extended the Cooney Center's dissemination work by reporting on research, products, policy and developments in the games-and-learning field.

• Research fellowship

  Cooney Center Fellows Program

  The fellowship program supported researchers and practitioners working on priority questions about the benefits and challenges of digital media for children's learning and healthy development. Fellows contributed to research, program development and dissemination.

• 2013Aprendiendo Juntos Council

  United States

  The center partnered with the National Center for Families Learning to address literacy among Spanish-speaking American children and families.

  Outcome. The partnership expanded the center's literacy and family-media work to include a stronger Spanish-language and Latino-family focus.

  Source
• 2011National STEM Video Game Challenge

  United States

  The Cooney Center and E-Line Media organized a national competition promoting video games as a way to stimulate STEM interest and learning.

  Outcome. The competition became a prominent initiative linking game development with national STEM-learning goals.

  Source
• 2009Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age Leadership Forum

  United States

  A cross-sector forum hosted at Google's headquarters brought together more than 200 leaders from research, policy, education, philanthropy and industry to discuss digital learning.

  Outcome. The event strengthened the center's role as a convener of digital-learning stakeholders.

  Source
• By/With/For Youth: Inspiring Next Gen Public Media Audiences

  United States

  Supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, this research and development initiative explored ways for public media organizations to engage tween and teen audiences.

  Outcome. Its Next Gen Accelerator provided small grants to 12 local television and radio stations for youth-engagement pilots.

  Source

• 2014

  Launch of GamesandLearning.orgProduct launch

  Background

  The educational-games field was expanding rapidly, creating demand for accessible reporting and analysis alongside formal research.

  Action taken

  The Cooney Center launched GamesandLearning.org as a dedicated news and information platform.

  Aftermath

  The launch broadened the center's dissemination activities beyond reports and conferences, although the platform's later status is not established in the supplied material.

  Source

• 2011

  Expansion into national STEM game innovationStrategy

  Background

  The center sought to connect research on digital play with practical innovation and national interest in improving STEM learning.

  Action taken

  It partnered with E-Line Media to organize the National STEM Video Game Challenge.

  Aftermath

  The initiative positioned game creation as one mechanism for engaging learners with STEM subjects.

  Source

1. 1The Joan Ganz Cooney Centeren.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official websitejoanganzcooneycenter.org