Quality early learning for every child
Effective early learning solutions include play-based activities, interactive reading, and high-quality curricula that foster cognitive, social-emotional, and language development.
Over the past two decades, the United States has made remarkable progress expanding access to public pre-K programs. Today, nearly 2.5 million children attend Head Start and state-funded pre-K programs nationwide.
Yet access alone is not enough. Without effective programs, children may not gain the foundational skills needed for lifelong success. And without reliable measures of children's progress, we cannot know whether the programs we have built are truly working.
Every child deserves an early learning experience that nurtures curiosity, builds foundational skills, and sets them up for success in school and life. The research is clear: children who enter kindergarten with strong early language, math, and problem-solving skills are significantly more likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school.
However, only 5 states today meet all of NIEER’s quality benchmarks, meaning most children lack access to programs with proven standards for curriculum and teacher preparation. This marks a pivotal moment to act boldly to expand public preschool quality, not just access. The Gates Foundation is investing more than $90 million over four years to help reach this goal.
Fast Facts
2.5 million
Nationally, nearly 2.5 million students enroll in public pre-K and Head Start programs.
80%
These programs serve 80% of all children from low-income backgrounds who attend pre-K, and 75% of all Black and Latino children attending pre-K.
5 states
Only 5 states currently meet all of NIEER’s quality benchmarks (Alabama, Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi, Rhode Island), meaning most children lack access to pre-K programs that meet standards of quality.
8th grade
Entering kindergarten with early math skills is the best predictor of 8th grade performance, regardless of race, gender, or family socioeconomic status.
6 months
Research shows that aligned, quality pre-K curriculum, assessments, and professional learning can add up to 6 months of learning in a single year.
Our three strategic priorities
1. High-quality instructional materials
We fund partners working to increase access to evidence-based curriculum that helps educators create joyful, engaging learning experiences for all young learners.
2. Better measures of growth
We support the creation of new assessment tools that provide meaningful information on children’s skill progression to help teachers and leaders understand what’s working.
3. Sharing evidence about what works
We work with partners to highlight the latest research on how young children learn and pilot high-quality curriculum and assessment tools to demonstrate their impact.
Pre-K teachers deserve professional-grade curricula that embed assessments and professional development seamlessly—and align with the latest research on how young children learn. As a RAND survey of public pre-K teachers found, these comprehensive resources are not widely available today. More than two-thirds of public pre-K teachers fill gaps by supplementing and creating instructional materials themselves without sufficient time or resources.
What the experts say
"A New Vision for High-Quality Preschool Curriculum," a National Academies report, defined the elements of a high-quality preschool curriculum for the first time. The National Academies committee found several essential elements of effective preschool curriculum:
- Have clear organization that builds knowledge across all domains and content areas (including arts, science, and social studies)
- Support responsive and strengths-based teaching through engaging and playful learning activities
- Cover all areas of development in depth with rich, meaningful content and a specified progression throughout the year
- Intentionally integrate the diverse range of experiences of children in a classroom and provide resources for multilingual learners and children with disabilities
- Include embedded professional development and coaching, and ongoing assessment tools that support individualized instruction
- Demonstrate effectiveness in achieving positive developmental and learning outcomes
Our focus
We support partners who are creating and expanding curriculum that meets these research-backed standards. We also fund partners to share research and evidence that highlights the importance of a high-quality curriculum and its positive impacts on young learners.
Our partners
2. Better measures of growth
Children who enter kindergarten with strong early language, math, and problem-solving skills are significantly more likely to succeed academically. Pre-K assessments help ensure every child gets this critical foundation by identifying which programs successfully build kindergarten readiness—so no child starts behind. Unfortunately, the measures of growth we use today are too costly, require extensive teacher training, and often lack validity and reliability.
What the experts say
MDRC's Measures for Early Success Initiative found that high-quality assessments must:
- Include objective measures of children's progress in literacy, math, language, and executive function—plus observational measures of social and emotional development
- Generate accurate and consistent scores that capture children's growth and produce results that are comparable across groups of children and contexts
- Be brief, engaging, and adaptive—adjusting to each child's skill level to minimize unnecessary length and repetition
- Embed into typical classroom activities and routines, reducing educator burden and paperwork
- Connect with children's various cultural and linguistic backgrounds
- Provide timely, easily accessible, and user-friendly information to educators, families, and administrators
- Be feasible to administer consistently and affordable for publicly funded systems
Our focus
We support the development of assessment tools that meet these standards identified by MDRC, ensuring that pre-K programs are providing children with the skills they need to succeed. These tools will help teachers spend more time teaching and less time on administrative tasks.
Our partners
3. Sharing evidence about what works
Research shows that aligned pre-K curriculum, assessments, and professional learning can add up to 6 months of learning in a single school year. To ensure every child gets this kind of transformative growth, leaders and decision-makers need to understand the impact of investing in high-quality preschool programs. This kind of change happens when communities own the process, share best practices, and adapt solutions to fit their unique needs.
What the experts say
The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) created a Benchmarks For High-Quality Pre-K tool, which identifies the 10 minimum benchmarks states need for highly effective preschool programs.
- The quality gap is stark: More than 2.5 times as many children were enrolled in programs meeting five or fewer NIEER benchmarks than were in programs that met nine or ten.
- Four of the five states meeting all NIEER benchmarks (Alabama, Hawaii, Mississippi, and Rhode Island) maintained or improved their 4th-grade NAEP math scores between 2019 and 2024, while most other states lost ground. Mississippi's 4th graders now score at the national average, and Alabama showed more growth in 4th-grade math than any other state since 2019.
- In Boston, a city that has invested heavily in high-quality preschool, an MIT study showed that preschool participants were more likely to graduate high school, take the SAT, and enroll in college.
Our focus
We're partnering with leaders, organizations, and districts to build and share evidence about how young children learn and demonstrate what high-quality curriculum and assessments look like in practice. In 2026, we wi ll partner with states and districts to pilot high-quality curriculum and assessment tools to demonstrate their impact.
Our partners
Resources for early learning leaders
Explore implementation guides, research briefs, and case studies to help your district, state, or pre-K system invest in quality for all young learners.
