Understanding Early Childhood Education

Understand the benefits of early learning, identify the barriers to implementation and learn potential accelerators that increase program effectiveness.

Learning experiences from birth to age five are critical to children’s development and later educational success. AASA asserts its commitment to improving early learning with the vision: “ALL children must engage in high-impact early learning to prepare them to function as co-authors of learning in their K-12 journey.” As such, AASA would like to identify ways to support districts in implementing high-quality early learning programs that facilitate long-term student achievement.

To support this work, Hanover Research reviews secondary literature and case studies on early learning programs to offer implementation guidance for districts. This report includes the following sections:

• Section I: Early Childhood Education in the U.S. summarizes the benefits of early learning, defines common terminology in the field, and provides an overview of the current early childhood education (ECE) landscape across the country.
• Section II: Early Childhood Education Program Guidance identifies the barriers to implementing high-quality programs and describes potential accelerators that increase program effectiveness and support positive outcomes. This section also reviews state and school district examples of program implementation.