Early Care and Learning

The achievement gap for low-income young children starts early in life and is difficult to reverse. What science tells us about brain development, along with what we know from economic analysis, makes it clear that investing in high-quality early care and learning is essential to reducing this gap.

States as well as communities make important choices about how much they invest in early care and learning strategies that can improve the odds for healthy early childhood development. Research is clear that early school success for low-income young children also depends on efforts to increase family economic security.

Strategies to help young children with the social and emotional, language, and academic skills they need to succeed in the early school years are critical across all early care and learning settings, starting with infants and toddlers. Of special concern are young children who experience multiple risks beyond poverty and economic hardship.

Publications

• The Challenges of Child Care
  More Help Needed for San Antonio's Families
  Fact Sheet, September 2008
• Present, Engaged, and Accounted For
  The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades
  Report, September 2008
• Demographics of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care in the United States
  Brief, August 2008
• How Maternal, Family and Cumulative Risk Affect Absenteeism in Early Schooling
  Facts for Policymakers
  Fact Sheet, February 2008
• The Influence of Maternal & Family Risk on Chronic Absenteeism in Early Schooling
  Report, January 2008