University of Cincinnati

09/11/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/11/2025 11:47

A century of educational excellence

A century of educational excellence

Celebrate 100 years with the Arlitt Child Development Center on Sept. 27, 2025

7 minute read September 11, 2025 Share on facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit Print StoryLike

Latoya Maley as a child. Photo/Provided.

A classroom filled with colorful, engaging games and activities. A pizza-making workshop. A field trip to a fire station. These are Latoya Maley's clearest memories of the two years in the early 1990s that she spent at the Arlitt Child Development Center at the University of Cincinnati. Those years stand out, she says, not just because they were so much fun but because, for a girl from Avondale, Ohio, raised by a single mom, Arlitt offered a unique educational experience.

"I grew up in very different circumstances, in a different environment from the one I live in today," says Maley, a magistrate at the Hamilton County Juvenile Court. "I had a great childhood and a lot of it came from being at Arlitt. The school really helped me develop my social skills and gave me a lifelong desire to learn."

Early education that empowers and includes

For 100 years Arlitt has encouraged students like Maley to be agents of their own learning and prepared generations of Cincinnati children for bright and productive futures.

One of the nation's oldest demonstration preschools, Arlitt is nationally and internationally recognized for its unique approach to play-based learning. As a hub that bridges theory and practice in early childhood education, the school brings together children and families, educators and researchers.

Celebrating 100 years on Sept. 27

On Saturday, September 27, members of the greater Cincinnati community will celebrate the centennial of the school, which was founded in 1925 by UC psychology professor Ada Hart Arlitt. The celebration will honor Arlitt's commitment to excellence in early childhood education at a gala event at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

The 100th birthday celebration also honors Arlitt's partnerships with Head Start and Cincinnati Preschool Promise, which provide vital financial supports for families facing economic barriers.

The evening will also celebrate the school's commitment to all - serving children with varying abilities and needs, including those with visual impairments, autism and other challenges - through a one-of-a-kind educational opportunity.

We work to equip children with the right skills from the very beginning and support them from the bottom up.

Leslie Kochanowski, PhD Director of Research and Initiatives, Arlitt Center

By and for the students

Arlitt is founded on the premise that children have an innate curiosity through which they explore and take in the world around them. This perspective in turn encourages them to think and act independently.

"Our teachers design their curriculum around what the children are interested in," says Mary Beth Wright, CECH '03, '08, Arlitt's director of children's programs. "If there's a group of children that wants to learn more about spiders, for example, because they've been looking at spiders in the playground, their teacher would ask them, 'what questions do you have about spiders?' and they would seek answers to those questions together."

Latoya and her son, Armani. Photo/Provided.

That's exactly the kind of experience Maley - whose siblings and cousin also went to Arlitt - wanted for her son. She placed Armani on Arlitt's waitlist when he was 6 months old, knowing he would thrive at the school just as she had. She loved being able to sit in Arlitt's observation room alongside researchers and teachers-in-training and watch him in his classroom.

Armani, Maley says, has also benefited from Arlitt's unique position as a university-based laboratory school committed to research and innovation in early education and childhood development.

"He struggled with speech and eating when he first came to Arlitt," she says, "and the school helped him overcome both challenges through regular assessments, check-ins and expert support."

Best in research and training

Arlitt works closely with researchers from an array of disciplines across the University of Cincinnati. Research projects involve UC faculty and students from the College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology, as well as the College of Allied Health Sciences and the College of Nursing.

Cincinnati community members with vast expertise and talents also contribute significantly, says Leslie Kochanowski, PhD, CECH '13, 22, Arlitt's director of research and initiatives.

"We're currently collaborating with a faculty member from industrial design and a community-based architect to explore learning environments and products that truly meet the unique needs of young children - designing not just for them, but with them."

As a lab school, Arlitt fosters collaboration among educators, researchers and university students whose work can influence policy and directly impact children and their families. But the school also serves as an important hub for teacher training and professional development.

Educators from the broader Cincinnati area learn from Arlitt's research and expertise, says Wright, and the school's own teachers engage in an annual, reflective self-study. These results are shared among the early childhood education community and the university to advance both teacher learning and broader education theory and policies.

Supporting a sustainable future

Armani standing outside Arlitt. Photo/Provided.

In looking ahead to the next 100 years, Arlitt is firmly committed to its original mission of researching, promoting and demonstrating best practices in early childhood care and education.

Now more than ever, the school that Cincinnati has treasured for a century needs community support to keep doing what it does: Offering children from all walks of life access to education that provides them with innovative experiences that stimulate their interest and pique their curiosity, while also furthering research for the health and wellbeing of children across the country.

"Nationwide, education and especially early childhood education is facing a shortage of expert teachers," Wright says. "We are working hard to demonstrate, recruit and retain high-level teachers, which requires specific training for early childhood, child development and the unique ways young children see the world and learn."

"There's an assumption that early learning means more learning, earlier," says Kochanowski. "But quality early education encourages intuitive, play-based learning. We work to equip children with the right skills from the very beginning and support them from the bottom up."

Supporting Arlitt as it extends 21st century training to quality teachers, who in turn will encourage and support 21st century children, can only benefit the greater Cincinnati community - and the world beyond - in the years to come.

Featured image at top: An Arlitt teacher with students. Photo/Provided

This is how breakthroughs happen

Your generosity has illuminated what's next: Student success beyond the classroom. Bearcats winning on the Big 12 stage. The gift of discovery for the health of our community. When you give to the University of Cincinnati and UC Health, you invest in the problem-solvers of tomorrow.

Savita Iyer Ahrestani

UC Foundation

Tags

  • School of Education
  • Alumni Association
  • School of Human Services
  • UC Foundation

Related Stories

1

A century of educational excellence

September 11, 2025

For 100 years Arlitt Child Development Center has encouraged students to be agents of their own learning and prepared generations of Cincinnati children for bright and productive futures.

2

Engineering alum sees K-12 educators as the path to STEM diversity

January 4, 2023

Keonte Alexander, CECH '22, is accustomed to mentoring and caring for others. He's a father and a science and math teacher at William Howard Taft Elementary School in Cincinnati Public Schools. He became interested in serving youth while earning his associate degree at Cincinnati State and working at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati. A tour of the University of Cincinnati's campus with Club teens piqued his interest.

3

Alumna volunteer leader knows 'There's no place like home'

March 2, 2022

Ruthie Keefe chairs the University of Cincinnati Foundation's Alumni Engagement Committee, which provides guidance and advocacy for the UC Alumni Association, its outreach efforts and annual giving program.

University of Cincinnati published this content on September 11, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on September 11, 2025 at 17:47 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]