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.

Resources

Here are a few of our resources on early childhood development and learning. To see more, visit our Resources section.

Reports

This is the executive summary of a report that describes the proceedings from the first State-Federal STEM Summit, held June 2018 in Washington, D.C.

White papers

This EDC brief spotlights how important it is for new mothers to receive responsive and supportive postpartum care.

White papers

This EDC brief explores the key role that parent-child interaction plays in children’s development and describes how home visitors can support parent-child interaction.

Reports

To better understand the implementation of prekindergarten legislation (Act 166) in Vermont, this study describes the relationship between the characteristics and location of prekindergarten childr

Videos

In this video, NSF-funded researchers Arthur Barody, Jere Confrey, Paul Goldenberg, and Julie Sarama discuss the importance of mathematics education in the early grades.

White papers

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.

Toolkits

This resource focuses on how distance education technology benefits teachers and teaching.

Reports

This report describes the proceedings from the first State-Federal STEM Summit, held June 2018 in Washington, D.C.

Reports

This final report summarizes the evaluation of the impact of EDC’s Early Childhood Caregiver Professional Development and Certification Program in Rwanda.

Toolkits

Interactive audio instruction (IAI) is a distance-learning technology that provides educational services, often to schools and school systems worldwide.