Reggio Emilia
Shortly after World War II, a teacher named Loris Malaguzzi (19201994) founded a series of municipal preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. When they were designated the best in the world by Newsweek in 1991, (Kantrowitz & Wingert, p. 50) these schools became widely known in America. Early childhood educators began to visit the Reggio Emilia preschools in Italy, and were much impressed; they began to think about adapting the Reggio Emilia principles to American classrooms (Bredekamp, 1993; Hertzog, 2001; Hewett, 2001; Linn, 2001).