At Hatch Early Learning, the hard work done by early childhood educators never goes unnoticed. We value preschool teachers because they are foundational to children’s lifelong learning and development. We know that their work can be extremely challenging.
In recent years, the demands on early childhood educators have grown exponentially. A 2022 survey by Teaching Strategies highlighted a concerning trend: nearly half of all preschool teachers reported experiencing high levels of stress and burnout. Hatch Early Learning aims to create solutions that support some of the most influential figures in young children’s lives: their teachers. Our digital learning platform, Ignite by Hatch™, coupled with its comprehensive reports management system, Insights by Hatch™, is making significant strides in achieving this goal because it is designed to save preschool teachers time.
From the inception of Ignite and Insights, our primary goal was always to save teachers time. We envisioned Ignite, a game-based learning platform that would not only captivate children but also align seamlessly with classroom curricula. The data generated during gameplay flows directly into Insights, allowing teachers to monitor student progress effortlessly. To simplify the data collection process even further, we developed HatchSync®, a tool that integrates data from Ignite with Teaching Strategies GOLD®. Although we believed our products were moving in the right direction to support educators effectively, we sought concrete evidence of their impact on teachers' day-to-day efficiency in the classroom. Therefore, we turned to educators to hear what they had to say about the role Ignite and Insights played in saving them time in the classroom.
In a spring 2024 survey of 180 early childhood educators who use Ignite in their classrooms, we asked how many minutes per week Ignite and Insights save them. Educators reported that having Ignite and Insights in their classrooms saves them an average of 25 minutes per week, which is more than an hour and a half saved per month. These findings are not just numbers—they reflect real changes in classroom dynamics and educator workflows.
Educators elaborated on these benefits in their responses, pointing out several ways in which Ignite and Insights streamline their daily tasks. For instance, Sarah Galjour, an instructional coach from Lafourche Parish School District, highlighted the dual advantage of reduced preparation and enhanced instructional quality:
In my district, the students play Ignite mostly during small groups. The teachers save lots of preparation time because they don't have to create any activities for the independent learners who are not meeting with the teacher or paraprofessional for a small group lesson. They can also say with confidence that students are working on an activity that is meeting their needs since the Ignite experiences are automatically differentiated. For documentation purposes, Ignite has helped so much by giving more evidence to teachers to help them make their checkpoint ratings in Teaching Strategies GOLD®.
Additionally, Emily Wright, a teacher from Indianola Community School District, also praised the platform for its efficiency in data management, which directly translates into more quality time with students:
[There is] less time taking data, more time working with kids who need more support. [It is] easy to see who needs to join my intervention group for a given skill.
These testimonials vividly illustrate how Ignite and Insights are reshaping the way educators manage their time and classrooms, allowing them to focus more on the direct educational needs of their students. Creating more time for teachers to focus on the students they care deeply about helps to reduce their stress. By saving teachers time, Ignite supports preschool teachers’ overall well-being.
At Hatch Early Learning, we are committed to supporting the invaluable work of early childhood educators by enhancing their ability to focus on what truly matters—teaching and nurturing our youngest learners. The positive feedback from educators who use Ignite and Insights demonstrates that our tools are not just innovations in educational technology but also practical solutions that significantly ease the workload of teachers.
References
Teaching Strategies. (2022). Teacher survey on professional learning, burnout, and retention. https://teachingstrategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/TS-Teacher-Retention-flyer_Digital.pdf
