EDC supports the development of engaging and safe educational programs for young children.
From birth to age eight, children take the first steps in a lifelong learning journey. EDC speeds them on their way by designing, studying, supporting, and scaling up programs that enhance school readiness and success. We have a special focus on meeting the needs of children from disadvantaged communities and dual language learners, engaging and supporting families, and building the capacity of educators and communities to sustain improvements.
In the United States, we work to create strong, coherent preK-Grade 3 systems and advance knowledge of how to improve early science, mathematics, and literacy learning. Around the world, we implement innovative early childhood programs that build literacy and numeracy skills, excite interest in learning, and help educators, volunteers, and parents enrich early learning.
Read "A Fair Start for Every Child" to learn more about EDC's work to support early childhood learning.
Learn about EDC’s work with Family STEM Communities.
Learn about EDC’s work to strengthen early childhood interventions with Continuous Quality Improvement.
Learn about the work of EDC’s Center for Children and Technology.
Related Content
A New Language for Mathematics
Young children often struggle to write down their mathematical ideas. Could computer programming be an easier language for them?
EDC Talks: Making Time for Family Math
What are some fun, easy activities that families can do to encourage math learning at home? (Hint: You are probably already doing some of them.)
Tapping, Swiping, and Learning Science
Research findings on The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ have implications for parents, educators, and educational media developers.
Helping All Children Learn and Thrive
EDC’s David Jacobson discusses his ideas for changing—and improving—early childhood services.
Tools to Support Preschool Learning
New resources support educators on integrating technology and working with emergent bilingual learners.
The Other Side of the Screen
As a researcher, Tiffany Maxon gets to help develop the next generation of children’s television shows.
Projects
Resources
Here are a few of our resources on early childhood development and learning. To see more, visit our Resources section.
This report examines Cyberchase: Mobile Adventures in STEM, a bilingual family engagement program for families with children ages 6 to 8 years old that uses weekly text messages and media to encourage parents and kids to do fun, hands-on environmental learning activities at home.
Interactive audio instruction (IAI) is a distance-learning technology that provides educational services, often to schools and school systems worldwide.
Learning team approaches aim for groups of education professionals that collaborate at every level—classroom, school, district, and central—to ensure learning for all.
Inspiring Climate Action Now (ICAN) demonstrates the power of investment in science as a foundational skill set in low-resource contexts. In transforming primary science instruction, ICAN addresses gaps that limit later STEM opportunities for marginalized learners and motivates local action to respond to climate change. This brief introduces the ICAN initiative in Mali, Zambia, and Antigua & Barbuda.
This brief draws on research and development supported by the National Science Foundation to highlight important considerations about STEM educational experiences for young children and professional learning for educators who provide those experiences.
In this summary report, the authors share findings and recommendations from their review of existing research, exploration of teacher professional development programs, and interviews with teachers.
This resource library from the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) contains policy reports, briefs, annotated bibliographies, and other tools targeted to help early childhood educat
This brief can help you develop a continuous quality improvement (CQI) plan and communicate it to others in your organization. It explains what the plan should cover and includes a sample outline and template for drafting your plan.
In this study, EDC and SRI researchers explored how time spent viewing and playing with PBS KIDS educational, noncommercial media can benefit young children’s learning, especially those growing up
This study was designed primarily to measure learning gains among Standard One-level treatment beneficiaries of the Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education project in Zanzibar.