Edgar Klugman, Ed.D. is a Professor Emeritus of Early Childhood Education and Care at Wheelock College in Boston, MA, one of the nation’s premier training institutions for early childhood and elementary educators.  A policy development specialist, Professor Klugman is a charter member of the Play, Policy, and Practice Interest Forum within the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  In addition, he has served in national, regional, and local roles and as a member of the NAEYC Governing Board.  

Professor Klugman is a co-founder and vice president of Playing for Keeps, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving outcomes and quality of life for all children through increasing their access to healthy, constructive, developmental play.  In that role, he has developed or collaborated on several national conferences on play, and is leading efforts to document the knowledge base about play. 

Professor Klugman is the author or editor of several influential publications about early childhood and play, including Children's Play and Learning: Perspectives and Policy Implications (with Sara Smilansky, published in 1990) and  Play, Policy & Practice (1995).  He is a frequent contributor of articles on play to Child Care Information Exchange.He has been a member of the Early Childhood Advisory Council to the Commissioner of Education in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, helping to craft successful policies to form community collaboration on behalf of children and families.  Professor Klugman has also appeared as an expert witness on child and family issues before state legislatures.