Early Learning Solutions

High-quality early childhood education sparks a love and joy of learning in children, while helping them develop as a whole person. When children have access to engaging early learning experiences, they’re well prepared for elementary school and go on to experience enduring educational and life outcomes.

At the heart of a high-quality pre-K experience is the relationship between a child and their teacher. As early learning professionals, these pre-K teachers need workforce supports and better tools so they can use their skills to help all children reach their full potential.

Overview

Supporting a child's early learning journey

Most of a child’s brain development occurs in the first 2,000 days of life—before they ever enter kindergarten. The years that a child spends in preschool are essential for their development. It’s where they learn critical thinking and problem-solving skills and jump start their learning journeys.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation believes that we can play a part in supporting communities, early learning leaders, and teachers in building a pre-K system in the U.S. that prepares every child to thrive. That starts with nurturing the important relationship between a child and their teacher.

Less than half of teachers report having sufficient time to plan their days and carefully observe children, which are both critical to helping them address the needs, skills, and interests of every young learner in their classroom. We’re focused on ensuring teachers have access to better tools that help them manage their schedules and better understand a child’s learning and development.

We’re also working to ensure state and local leaders have more comprehensive information on how pre-K systems are serving children and families so they can make evidence-based decisions that support teachers and drive success for all children.

We focus on solutions that will benefit all people navigating our early childhood education systems, but especially those who have been systematically excluded from opportunity, such as Black and Latino students and students from low-income communities.

When children have an engaging pre-K experience, they’re prepared for success in school—and in life. Learn more about our Early Learning Solutions strategy.

Early learning focus areas

To fulfill the promise of early childhood education, we focus on providing solutions that help pre-Kindergarten teachers better understand and nurture a child's learning and development.
Effective assessments

Effective assessments

Pre-K assessments are typically observation-driven and led by educators. However, only half of pre-K teachers report having sufficient time each week to carefully observe children. We’re providing grants to help the field create or update assessments in ways that are less burdensome for teachers, giving them more time to ensure each child gets the support they need.

This work is intended to help teachers tailor learning to children’s diverse backgrounds and languages. These child-level assessments should feel like fun and engaging activities for children, and they should measure the skills that are most important for 4-year-old children to develop—such as critical thinking, problem solving, perseverance, and playing well with others.

We’re also partnering with existing classroom quality assessment providers to ensure teachers have better coaching and professional development support.

GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT:  Explore more details on the MDRC website

Effective instruction

Enriched instruction

Children are more engaged when they see and hear their lives and experiences reflected in their learning environments and instruction. That’s why classrooms that create positive learning environments are led by teachers who provide rich content and connect to the real experiences, interests, and backgrounds of young learners.

Our grantees are exploring ways to ensure teachers have comprehensive, whole-child curricula—where children learn through strong relationships, play, and hands-on exploration.

Only 42% of pre-K teachers report having paid planning time outside of classroom hours spent with children. To address this, we’re examining how pre-K systems can support diverse educators with more planning time that helps them tailor learning for each child.

GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT:  Explore more details on the National Academies website

Actionable data

Actionable information

While the early learning field already collects data, what’s collected and how it’s used varies greatly. Without comprehensive insights that examine how children and families are being served, pre-K systems can’t target their program improvements where they are needed most, and states don’t have adequate information to make greatly needed investments in early learning.

Engaging with educators and experts, we’re supporting the field in developing a data framework that helps pre-K systems make sense of data. This data framework will help system leaders identify and address equity issues around access and outcomes, protect a child’s privacy, and provide a holistic picture to help educators, families, and policymakers drive success for all children.

GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT:  Explore more details on the Child Trends website

News

News and insights

Webinar: How we know what works in pre-k

Recorded August 21, 2024

The Gates Foundation welcomed parents, educators, and state leaders who have been supporting MDRC’s Measures for Early Success Initiative for a discussion about how we can inspire assessments in pre-K that give families, educators, and pre-K systems more equitable data that can be used to support and strengthen early learning experiences for all young children.

View all Early Learning webinars featuring our grantees and partners


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