Alan J. Cohen

Alan J. Cohen

Alan J. Cohen was a tenured teacher with the New York City Department of Education. He taught children from many different socioeconomic backgrounds, including those with processing issues or physical, cognitive, and behavioral needs, and those who are intellectually gifted. His first teaching position was prekindergarten in a low-income neighborhood, where he learned about the community’s unique challenges in obtaining resources and ensuring quality education. He then taught at an early learning center focused on preparing children for entrance into selective city schools. He began developing a style that combined play, exploration, and academics, and discovered that his method was the best preparation for the students to succeed in the high-stakes entrance tests.

Alan had a unique perspective on early childhood education. A keen observer and thinker with a wealth of experience in the educational system, Alan used teaching techniques that followed sound educational theory with a twist, and he developed his own terminology to describe and implement techniques that covered everything from how to line children up to teaching them advanced concepts of reading and mathematics.

Alan received his bachelor’s degree in business at New York University and received a master’s degree in education from Brooklyn College.