Vartan Gregorian
Photo: Carnegie Corporation of New York

In the annals of American philanthropy, the most successful endeavors usually come out of a confluence of vision, expertise, and financial support. This is the case in the development of the world’s most beloved educational television program, Sesame Street.

It was Joan Ganz Cooney who came up with the revolutionary idea to harness the power of television for good. Lloyd Morrisett, then vice president of programs at Carnegie Corporation of New York, was an expert in technology and early childhood education who saw the transformational possibilities of Joan’s plan. Alan Pifer, the Corporation’s president, together with the board, backed up their vision and expertise with a $15,000 grant to produce a study of children’s television. With later collaboration with the Ford Foundation, that study led to the creation of the Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop).

Joan Ganz Cooney’s favorite expression, often attributed to Tolstoy, is “All big ideas start as simple ones.” In the case of Sesame Street, the show’s extraordinary impact proves this principle. A simple idea became an international phenomenon that is still admired and presented throughout the world. Five decades on, it is enormously gratifying to reflect on the role Carnegie Corporation and Ford Foundation played in the creation of Sesame Street. We are proud of this investment, which continues to have a resounding impact on early childhood education at home and abroad.

Vartan Gregorian
President, Carnegie Corporation

Photo: Sesame Workshop

When Joan Ganz Cooney began her study, I don’t think she could have imagined that the path she started down would one day become the longest street in the world. Her 1966 report is much more than a treasured heirloom in the Sesame family. In many ways, it’s our sacred text: the starting point from which a global phenomenon sprang and a material reminder of our purpose and our mission.

Seeing massive potential where others saw mere diversion, Joan’s thinking was visionary—and as the current CEO of Sesame Workshop, I well understand the size of the shoes that are mine to fill. The organization she and Lloyd Morrisett launched has, for half a century now, been on a continuous, relentless, and highly successful crusade to help kids get ready for school and for life.

Today, by carrying forth that original vision to use emerging media in innovative ways, and by maintaining Sesame’s historic promise to deploy it in the interests of vulnerable children, we have become much more than a TV show. Sesame Workshop is a global organization focused on helping kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. Whether it is our programming, which is now seen in more than 150 countries, our Sesame Street in Communities work to help community service organizations address U.S. families in crisis, our work to improve health and hygiene in the developing world, or our partnership with the International Rescue Committee and BRAC to educate refugee children, Sesame Workshop is a global force for good at a time when it has never been needed more.

In the consequential age in which we live and do our work, we remain committed to being a leader and a positive force for change in an increasingly divided and unequal world. We will stay true to our mission, working to deliver on the promise of equality with respect for people of all colors, genders, and backgrounds. And we will continue to show the world that what Joan Ganz Cooney set in motion with this report has a transformative power that can endure for the next 50 years and beyond. Sesame Street remains a vibrant tool for expanding the young minds of each new generation, during the years they need it most.

Jeffrey D. Dunn
President and Chief Executive Officer Sesame Workshop

Photo: Sesame Workshop

In the spring of 1966, Joan Cooney completed her landmark study of television and early education for the Carnegie Corporation. It was entitled The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education.

The 1960s created a climate for social change and encouraged people to seek it. Television had become the medium with the greatest reach but offered little of benefit for children and was seen by many as “a vast wasteland.” The country had become sensitized to the problems of early education because of the failure of large numbers of children in urban communities and schools.

New York City was a primary example, where a black child would come to school a few months behind in first grade and be a year and one-half behind by third grade. This was a common finding. The Educational Policies Commission of the National Education Association proposed that all children should have the opportunity to go to school at public expense beginning at the age of four. If the NEA’s recommendation had gone into effect, about five million more 4- and 5-year-olds would have been added to the school rolls. The United States did not have the funds, the school rooms, nor the teachers to act on this recommendation.

Joan Cooney’s study was finished while the administration of President Lyndon Johnson was pursuing one of the most ambitious policy agendas in American history. President Johnson wanted to create the “Great Society”—to end poverty, promote equality, improve education, rejuvenate cities and protect the environment. The study offered a possible way to use television to meet the national need for more and better pre-school education, and it was the precursor to a complete proposal to test the idea. In 1968 Carnegie, the Ford Foundation, and the U. S. Office of Education joined together to provide the funds for the experiment in television and education that became Sesame Street.

Lloyd Morrisett
Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Board, Sesame Workshop

Vice President, Carnegie Corporation
of New York, 1964-1969

Photo: Sesame Workshop

You may have heard that television programming in the 1960s was called a “vast wasteland.” by then-FCC Chairman Newton Minow. From the beginning, Lloyd Morrisett and I were both convinced that television – which was capturing the attention of children as nothing else was – did have the power to educate as well as to entertain and we set out to prove it.

It was back in 1966 when I wrote my original report, The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education. This study was supported by Lloyd, Vice President at Carnegie Corporation, who found himself concerned by the very power and appeal that a television screen had over his own young daughter—at three years old, she would turn on the TV early in the morning and sit down to watch test patterns as she waited for something to come on. She, like many other young children, had the capacity to memorize all the advertising jingles they heard. We asked the question, “Could that fascination with television be transformed into something that could teach them how to read?” So, a simple conversation over dinner with friends turned into an opportunity to produce this report, a proposal to the Carnegie Corporation, that launched Sesame Street.

Download the report

Back then, I gathered the smartest, most talented people I could find to produce what I wanted to become a television program for children that could positively impact their lives—especially those young children who had no access to early preschool education. We knew that it would also be important to attract the mothers who were often at home during the day, so they would enjoy the show and talk about it with their children. I was thrilled when the show premiered on PBS in November 1969, and even more thrilled when the research showed that children who had watched the show gained critical kindergarten readiness skills over those who had not. I am proud that the show, and the company that we founded, The Children’s Television Workshop, (renamed Sesame Workshop in 2000), continues to make children all over the world smarter, stronger, and kinder!

During the 1960s, of course, family lives were quite different from what they are today. More often than not, both parents work outside of the home, and young children have many more entertainment options than ever before. Children from lower-income families in particular need more support and guidance to catch up to the advantages that those from more affluent families enjoy. In 2007, I wanted the Joan Ganz Cooney Center to continue to ask the questions that drove the creation of the show, “How can children learn from emerging technologies?” Smart phones and tablets are everywhere now, and we know children are using them. How can we create content that is beneficial to young children? And what do producers need to know about the varied ways family members engage with these devices separately—and together?

I am thrilled that Sesame Workshop has been able to impact the lives of so many children around the world for the past 50 years. It is my hope that we can continue to make as great an impact in new media as we have with television, and that the Workshop is able to continue to educate and inspire producers, researchers, and policymakers who are helping to shape the lives of young people today.

Joan Ganz Cooney
Co-founder
Sesame Workshop

Download the report

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop is thrilled to present a newly reformatted version of Sesame Street co-founder Joan Ganz Cooney’s still-relevant 1966 report to the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Potential Uses of Television for Preschool Education made a convincing case for the power of television to prepare children, particularly in underserved communities, to succeed in kindergarten—and led directly to the program that revolutionized children’s media.

We have reformatted the original photocopied report because we know today’s researchers, educators, and media creators will find value in Mrs. Cooney’s incisive work: so much of her findings hold true, even in a greatly expanded media landscape. The publication features new forewords from Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, with letters of introduction by Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York; Jeffrey Dunn, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop; and Michael Preston and Michael Levine, the current and former Executive Directors of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center.

Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, October 2019 (Photo: Gil Vaknin)

It has become a part of Sesame Street lore that the idea for the show was born at a dinner party during which friends mused about the power of television to captivate young children, and wondered how it might be used to help them learn to read. Joan Ganz Cooney was a documentary producer at New York’s Channel 13 when Lloyd Morrisett, then Vice President at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, offered to fund a three-month exploratory study. She traveled the country interviewing early learning experts and prominent children’s television producers and filmmakers; the resulting report became the blueprint for the longest-running children’s television show in U.S. history.

The Potential Uses of Television for Preschool Education persuaded Carnegie Corporation to partly finance the project, with Mrs. Cooney and Dr. Morrisett raising remaining funds from the U.S. Office of Education, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Ford Foundation. In 1968, the Children’s Television Workshop (later renamed Sesame Workshop) was born, and Sesame Street, featuring a groundbreaking multicultural cast and Jim Henson’s Muppets, made its debut on November 10, 1969. The first preschool program to integrate education and entertainment, it has been broadcast daily since 1969 in the U.S. and been seen by hundreds of millions of children in more than 150 countries around the world.

The issues raised in The Potential Uses of Television for Preschool Education continue to drive our efforts at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, the research and innovation lab Mrs. Cooney founded in 2007. We are dedicated to pursuing the 21st century equivalent of her original question, “How can emerging media help children learn?” We hope that this report will inspire a new generation to harness the power of media to support the learning and development of all children, and to address the issues of opportunity and equity that remain so profound today.

We are grateful for the leadership and support of Mrs. Cooney and Dr. Morrisett, and congratulate them on an amazing 50 years. We are so inspired by your work, and humbled by your generosity and vision. Thank you.

The report is available as a free PDF at joanganzcooneycenter.org/1966report.