Early Childhood
A high-quality preschool experience can help close achievement gaps. Federal, state, and local programs and policies are being designed to promote the healthy development of young children and to reduce academic deficits in early childhood education, which can begin before kindergarten. Collecting, analyzing, and applying high-quality information is critical to guide and improve programs and policies.
The Early Childhood Program at SRI's Center for Education and Human Services helps policymakers, funders, and practitioners improve the implementation and effectiveness of these programs and policies through its early childhood education research services and products. The program also supports accountability efforts to verify that public and private funds are invested wisely.
Research in early childhood education has shown that new media, including videos and computer games, also have a potentially important role in supporting learning in early childhood. Research from SRI's Center for Technology in Learning shows how, through the joint engagement of children and their caregivers, new media can address important needs, such as improving poor students' early reading and science skills.
