Early Childhood Education Guide: Pre-K Age, Head Start, Preschool vs. Pre-K, Kindergarten and What Research Shows

Early childhood education is the care and teaching of children from birth through about age 8, delivered in settings that range from child care centers and family child care homes to Head Start, state-funded pre-K, preschool and kindergarten. Most American children now spend part of their early years in such programs. In 2022, 47 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds and 84 percent of 5-year-olds were enrolled in school, according to the federal Condition of Education (National Center for Education Statistics, May 2024). State-funded preschool reached a record of nearly 1.8 million children in 2024–25, including 37 percent of the nation’s 4-year-olds and 9 percent of its 3-year-olds, while states spent nearly $14.4 billion on it (National Institute for Early Education Research, The State of Preschool 2025, April 2026). The federal Head Start program was funded to serve 715,873 children and pregnant women in fiscal year 2024 (Office of Head Start). The research is encouraging and also cautionary: small, intensive programs from the 1960s and 1970s produced lasting gains into adulthood, a lottery study of Boston’s public pre-K found an 8.3 percentage-point rise in on-time college enrollment, and yet the only randomized long-term study of a statewide pre-K program, in Tennessee, found children who attended doing worse than their peers by sixth grade.

This guide to early childhood education explains the settings and how many children attend, preschool vs. pre-K, pre-K age, whether kindergarten is mandatory and how full-day and half-day programs compare, what Head Start is and who is eligible, what research shows about long-term effects and quality, how early learning connects to development, literacy, math and special education, the workforce, and screens. It is written for parents choosing early learning programs, pre-K and kindergarten teachers, elementary principals, and district and state early-learning leaders, with an extended section for families. It covers the United States. Each section links to edCircuit’s more detailed coverage.

Updated October 2026.

In this guide

• The basics: What early childhood education is · Early learning settings · How many children attend
• Pre-K and kindergarten: Preschool vs. pre-K · Pre-K age · State pre-K programs · Is kindergarten mandatory? · Full-day kindergarten
• Head Start: What Head Start is and who is eligible · Federal changes, 2025–2026
• Evidence: What research shows · What makes a program high quality
• Development and learning: Early childhood development · Early literacy and math · Special education for young children · Screens and technology
• People: The early childhood workforce · Families · Questions to ask

What is early childhood education?

Early childhood education is the organized care and teaching of young children, conventionally from birth through age 8, in settings designed to support learning and development. The age span comes from the field’s main professional body. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) frames its position statement on developmentally appropriate practice around “each and every child, birth through age 8,” in centers, family child care homes and schools (NAEYC position statement).

Three features of the definition matter in practice:

• It spans two systems. Birth to 5 is served mostly by child care, Head Start and preschool, which are funded and regulated separately from public schools; kindergarten through third grade sits inside the K–12 system. The handoff between them is where many children’s experiences change most abruptly.
• Care and education are not separate. A child care center for toddlers is an early learning setting whether or not its sign says “school.” Research on brain development is the reason: the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University states that “more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second in the first few years of life,” and that responsive “serve and return” interactions with adults shape that growth.
• It is defined by age, not by program. A 4-year-old in a church-run preschool and one in a public pre-K class are both in early childhood education, though their teachers, hours and funding may differ widely.

edCircuit’s coverage of what early education is and why it matters:

• The Importance of Early Childhood Education
• Building the Bridge Between Early Childhood and Elementary School
• How Important is Play to Childhood Learning? Research Shows it’s Indispensable
• 5 Things High Schools Can Learn from Kindergarten

What are the main early learning settings?

Young children in the United States attend a patchwork of early learning programs that differ in who runs them, who pays, which ages they serve and what standards apply. The table summarizes the main ones, drawing on the sources cited elsewhere in this guide.

The categories overlap. A Head Start program may also receive state pre-K funds; a child care center may host a state pre-K classroom; and state pre-K can be delivered in schools, Head Start centers or private settings, which NIEER calls a mixed-delivery system. Costs for families are high where public programs do not reach: the national average annual price of child care was $13,184 in 2025, up from $13,128 in 2024, according to Child Care Aware of America (Child Care in America: 2025 Price & Supply, May 2026). edCircuit’s Preschool Services in Rural Areas covers access in rural communities.

How many young children attend early learning programs?

About half of 3- and 4-year-olds and the great majority of 5-year-olds are enrolled in a school or preschool program, and enrollment has nearly returned to its level before the pandemic. Two national sources measure it in different ways.

The Census-based measure. The Condition of Education indicator on school enrollment of young children, updated in May 2024 from the American Community Survey, counts children in any public or private nursery school, preschool or kindergarten (NCES):

Enrollment differs by family circumstances. In 2022, 57 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds were enrolled when a related adult had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 32 percent when no related adult had completed high school; 52 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds in families above 185 percent of the poverty threshold were enrolled, compared with 39 percent of those below poverty.

The program-based measure. NIEER’s annual State of Preschool yearbook, the 23rd edition of which covers 2024–25, counts children in state-funded programs: 1,795,147 in all, including 1.42 million 4-year-olds and 315,293 3-year-olds. Across state preschool, preschool special education and federal Head Start together, 46 percent of 4-year-olds and 17 percent of 3-year-olds were served. NIEER reports that almost 29,000 fewer 3- and 4-year-olds were served across those programs than in the year before, a decline it attributes to lower federal Head Start enrollment at those ages, which remains below its level before the pandemic (NIEER, 2026).

The two measures differ because the Census survey includes private programs and kindergarten, while NIEER counts only public programs.

Preschool vs. pre-K: what is the difference?

“Preschool” is the broader term for any group early learning program before kindergarten, while “pre-K” (prekindergarten) usually means a program for the year or two immediately before kindergarten, often publicly funded and linked to a school system; but the words are used interchangeably by many programs, and their meaning varies by state. A parent comparing two programs should ask what each one actually offers rather than rely on the label.

The distinction researchers use is about funding and purpose rather than name. NIEER counts a program as state-funded preschool only if it is funded, controlled and directed by the state, serves children usually 3 and/or 4 years old, has early education as its primary focus, meets at least two days a week, is distinct from child care subsidies, and does not tie eligibility to a parent’s work. By that definition, 63 state-funded preschool programs operated in 44 states and the District of Columbia in 2024–25. Six states, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Wyoming, had none; Indiana’s On My Way Pre-K is excluded because it requires parents to work or attend school (NIEER, The State of Preschool 2025).

The table describes common usage, not legal categories; a private school may call its 4-year-old class pre-K without any state funding at all.

What is the pre-K age?

Pre-K programs most often serve children who are 4 years old by their state’s cutoff date, the year before they become eligible for kindergarten, and some states also serve 3-year-olds. Because kindergarten eligibility usually requires a child to turn 5 by a date near the start of the school year, pre-K age generally means turning 4 by the same date.

• State programs. NIEER’s yearbook counts programs that serve children “usually three and/or four years old.” In 2024–25, 12 states enrolled more than half their 4-year-olds, led by the District of Columbia at 94 percent; only the District and Vermont enrolled more than half their 3-year-olds.
• Head Start. Federal regulations make a child eligible for Head Start Preschool if the child is at least 3 years old, or turns 3 by the date used to determine eligibility for public school in the community, and is not older than the age required to attend school (45 CFR 1302.12).
• California. The state’s 2025–26 budget funded full implementation of transitional kindergarten so that all children turning 4 by September 1 of the 2025–26 school year can enroll, as the NIEER yearbook reports.

Cutoff dates differ. The Education Commission of the States’ 50-state comparison of K–3 policies, published September 15, 2026, lists kindergarten entry at age 5 on or before September 1 in most states, including California, Florida, Illinois and Texas, with dates as early as July 31 (Hawaii and Nebraska) and as late as October 15 (Maine) and January 1 (Vermont), and local choice in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania (ECS, September 2026). The federal State Education Practices table for 2020 counted 20 states using September 1 (NCES, Table 1.3). Families should check both the state rule and the program’s own rule. Whether to start a child early or late is discussed in edCircuit’s Stop Putting Students in Grades by Age.

What do state pre-K programs look like?

State pre-K programs differ enormously in how many children they reach, how much they spend and what quality standards they require, and many of the largest programs meet few of the benchmarks researchers recommend. NIEER rates each program against 10 policy benchmarks, covering early learning standards, curriculum supports, a bachelor’s degree and specialized training for lead teachers, a credential for assistant teachers, professional development including coaching, a maximum class size of 20, a staff-child ratio of 1 to 10, screening and referral, and a continuous quality improvement system. Its 2025 yearbook found:

• Six states met all 10 benchmarks, a record: Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi and Rhode Island. Georgia became the first universal program to meet all 10 after lowering class sizes from 22 to 20 and ratios from 1 to 11 to 1 to 10, and used part of a $97.6 million increase to bring teacher pay to parity with K–12.
• Twenty programs met five or fewer, including three of the four largest: California’s transitional kindergarten, Florida and Texas. Forty-six percent of children in state-funded preschool were in a program meeting half or fewer of the benchmarks, and 21 percent in programs meeting 9 or 10.
• Spending varied. States spent an average of $8,124 per enrolled child in 2024–25, and $9,988 when federal and local funds reported by states are included. Twenty-eight states increased spending and 17 reduced it.

Several states are moving to serve every 4-year-old: Colorado launched statewide universal preschool on July 1, 2023, and Michigan removed income limits in 2024–25, according to NIEER; edCircuit will cover universal programs and transitional kindergarten separately. The NIEER benchmarks measure policies, not what happens in classrooms, a limit the Tennessee study discussed below makes clear: that state’s program met 9 of 10 benchmarks when it was studied.

Is kindergarten mandatory?

Kindergarten is mandatory in only a minority of states: 17 states and the District of Columbia require children to attend kindergarten, while nearly every state requires districts to offer it. The Education Commission of the States’ September 2026 comparison reports that 46 states and the District require districts to offer at least half-day kindergarten, and that 14 of those states and the District require full-day programs (ECS, 2026).

The states the comparison lists as requiring kindergarten attendance, each with its own exemptions, are Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, along with the District of Columbia. Virginia, for example, lets a parent defer if the child is not prepared. The federal State Education Practices table, using its own definitions, counted 20 states requiring attendance in 2020 (NCES, Table 1.3), so families should check current state law.

Kindergarten requirements sit inside compulsory school attendance laws, which set the age at which a child must be in school. In the 2020 federal table, compulsory attendance began as young as 5 in states including Arkansas, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Virginia and as late as 8 in Washington. Where kindergarten is optional, most children still attend: 84 percent of 5-year-olds were enrolled in school in 2022.

For most families, kindergarten is available free in the local public school whether or not attendance is legally required. edCircuit’s Chronic Absenteeism Guide explains why attendance in the early grades matters for later reading.

Full-day vs. half-day kindergarten: what does the evidence show?

Full-day kindergarten has become the norm, and research finds that it gives children an academic advantage by the end of kindergarten that, on average, fades by third grade. In federal data, 80.8 percent of kindergartners aged 3 to 5 attended full-day programs in 2018, up from 60.0 percent in 2000, 43.5 percent in 1990 and 13.5 percent in 1970 (NCES, Digest Table 202.10, July 2019). The table excludes 6-year-old kindergartners, and data collection changed in 1994.

The main synthesis is a 2010 meta-analysis by Harris Cooper, Ashley Batts Allen, Erika Patall and Amy Dent of Duke University. It found that full-day attendance was associated with higher achievement than half-day equal to about a quarter of a standard deviation at the end of kindergarten, but that “the association disappeared by third grade.” Results on social development were mixed, including some evidence of less positive attitudes toward school and more behavior problems. The authors concluded that full-day kindergarten “should be available to all children but not necessarily universally prescribed,” and called for studies allowing stronger causal conclusions (Cooper et al., Review of Educational Research, 2010).

Fade-out on tests is a recurring pattern in early childhood research, discussed below. For principals, the question is less whether to offer the extra hours than how to use them, and whether first and second grade build on what children learned.

What is Head Start, and who is eligible?

Head Start is a federal program, begun in 1965, that provides free early education, health, nutrition and family support services to children from birth to age 5 in low-income families, through local grantees in every state. The Office of Head Start, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, funds public agencies, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, tribal governments and school systems directly. According to its fact sheet for fiscal year 2024 (Office of Head Start):

• The program was funded to serve 715,873 children and pregnant women, and has served more than 40 million children since 1965.
• Federal funding totaled $12.27 billion, of which $11.86 billion went to Head Start and Early Head Start programs, including Early Head Start–Child Care Partnerships.
• Excluding American Indian and Alaska Native and Migrant and Seasonal programs, funded enrollment was 488,792 in Head Start Preschool and 181,049 in Early Head Start.
• Besides Head Start Preschool and Early Head Start, it includes American Indian and Alaska Native programs and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start for farmworker families.

Eligibility. Under federal regulations, a child or pregnant woman is eligible if the family’s income is at or below the federal poverty line; if the family is eligible for public assistance, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families child-only payments; if the child is homeless; or if the child is in foster care. Programs may fill up to 10 percent of enrollment with children who do not meet those criteria but would benefit, and, once they show that eligible families are being served first, up to an additional 35 percent with children from families below 130 percent of the poverty line (45 CFR 1302.12). The Head Start Act also requires that at least 10 percent of the children each program enrolls be children with disabilities eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (42 U.S.C. 9835(d)). Families apply directly to a local program.

Enrollment pressures. Funded places have fallen even as funding rose. A federal Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation analysis reports that, although the federal operations budget for Head Start rose about 11 percent between fiscal 2022 and 2024, programs’ requests to change their scope, mostly reductions in enrollment, resulted in a loss of 97,625 funded slots in that period, nearly 90 percent of it in Head Start Preschool (ASPE, July 20, 2026). The law lets a program reduce enrollment to maintain the quality of services, and such reductions are part of the decline NIEER reports.

What changed for Head Start in 2025 and 2026?

The largest federal change was a July 2025 reinterpretation of federal immigration law that would have made Head Start available only to citizens and certain lawfully present immigrants; federal courts have blocked it from taking effect while litigation continues. The other main development was a small funding increase for fiscal 2026.

• Immigration status. On July 14, 2025, HHS published a notice reinterpreting “Federal public benefit” under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and listing Head Start among the programs newly covered, reversing a 1998 interpretation under which Head Start had been exempt. The notice argued that Head Start is “similar” to a welfare benefit and estimated $374 million a year in effects on spending for the Head Start program alone (90 FR 31232).
• Court orders. A federal court in Rhode Island granted a group of states and the District of Columbia a preliminary injunction on September 10, 2025, in New York v. U.S. Department of Justice; the government appealed and then dismissed its appeal on December 11, 2025, and the court granted the states summary judgment, according to the Oregon Department of Justice’s litigation tracker, updated September 21, 2026. A federal court in Washington State separately enjoined enforcement of the notice as it applies to Head Start on September 11, 2025, in a case brought by Head Start associations (order, Washington State Association of Head Start v. Kennedy).
• Funding. The full-year spending package signed on February 3, 2026, provided $12.357 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, an $85 million increase, according to the First Five Years Fund, a bipartisan advocacy group (FFYF, updated March 12, 2026). This guide did not find the enacted figure on a federal page; program leaders should confirm their own grant amounts with the Office of Head Start.

Programs and families should check the Office of Head Start’s current guidance before acting on any eligibility change. edCircuit’s When the Lights Go Dark: How a Federal Shutdown Threatens Education and Immigration, Education, and School Communities cover related federal developments.

What does research show about early childhood education?

Research shows that high-quality early childhood programs can change children’s lives, but it also shows that typical, scaled-up programs often produce early test-score gains that fade, and in one rigorous study turned negative; the evidence supports investing in early learning while paying close attention to what programs actually do. The major studies, roughly in order:

• Perry Preschool (1962–1967). 123 children born in poverty and at high risk of school failure were randomly assigned at ages 3 and 4 to a high-quality preschool program or to none. At age 40, with 97 percent of surviving participants interviewed, those who attended had higher earnings and employment, higher high school graduation rates and fewer crimes (Schweinhart et al., Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40, 2005). HighScope, which developed the program, ran the study.
• Abecedarian (North Carolina, 1970s). Children from low-income families were randomly assigned to full-day, year-round, high-quality care from early infancy for five years, or to a control group. In their mid-30s, those who received it had lower rates of pre-hypertension and lower risk of heart disease (Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, March 27, 2014). Analyzing the Abecedarian and companion CARE programs, Nobel laureate James Heckman and colleagues estimated a 13 percent annual return per child on the programs’ up-front costs, against 7 to 10 percent in earlier estimates for Perry (University of Chicago, December 12, 2016).
• The Head Start Impact Study (2010, 2012). Congress required a national evaluation in 1998. About 5,000 newly entering 3- and 4-year-olds in 84 grantee agencies were randomly assigned in 2002 to Head Start or a control group that could use other programs. Access to Head Start improved children’s preschool experiences and several aspects of school readiness, but produced “only a few statistically significant differences” at the end of first grade (ACF, January 2010), and by the end of third grade “very few impacts” for either age group (ACF, December 21, 2012).
• Head Start and adult outcomes. Comparing siblings in national survey data, David Deming estimated that Head Start participants gained 0.23 standard deviations on a summary index of young adult outcomes and wrote that the long-term impact was large “despite ‘fadeout’ of test score gains” (American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2009). The study was not randomized.
• Tennessee Voluntary Pre-K (2022). Kelley Durkin, Mark Lipsey, Dale Farran and Sarah Wiesen of Vanderbilt University followed 2,990 children from low-income families who applied to oversubscribed pre-K sites in 2009–10 and 2010–11 and were randomly offered places or wait-listed. Children offered pre-K did better at the end of the pre-K year, but the advantage disappeared by the end of kindergarten, and by sixth grade they had lower state test scores in reading, math and science, more disciplinary infractions, lower attendance and more special education placements than the control group: 11.7 percent of participants had an individualized education program in sixth grade, compared with 8.4 percent of nonparticipants (Developmental Psychology, 2022). The authors note that the program met 9 of 10 NIEER benchmarks and that no distinctive feature of it has been identified to explain the results.
• Boston public pre-K (2021, 2023). Using lotteries for seats in Boston Public Schools’ pre-K from 1997 to 2003, covering more than 4,000 students, Guthrie Gray-Lobe, Parag Pathak and Christopher Walters found that attending raised on-time college enrollment by 8.3 percentage points, an 18 percent increase, and raised high school graduation and SAT-taking, while reducing suspensions and juvenile incarceration, with no detectable effect on state test scores (MIT, February 8, 2023; Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2023).

The studies point in different directions, and three lessons are reasonably well supported. First, early-grade test scores are an incomplete guide: Boston and Deming found long-run gains without lasting test effects. Second, the strongest results came from small, intensive programs for highly disadvantaged children at a time with few alternatives, as the Tennessee authors note. Third, scaling up does not guarantee results, and a state’s programs should be evaluated, not assumed to work. A 2017 consensus statement by ten researchers, including Lipsey, put it this way: convincing evidence on the longer-term effects of scaled-up pre-K on academic outcomes is too sparse for broad conclusions (Phillips et al., Puzzling It Out, Brookings Institution, April 17, 2017).

What makes an early learning program high quality?

The evidence points to what happens between adults and children, strong curricula and support for teachers more than to any single structural rule. The 2017 consensus statement found that children’s early learning trajectories depend on the quality of their experiences before, during and after the pre-K year, and that features that may make a difference include “curricula that build foundational skills,” professional development and coaching for teachers, and organized, engaging classrooms. It also found gains often larger for economically disadvantaged children and dual language learners (Brookings, 2017).

Two programs illustrate the point. Boston’s pre-K, studied by Christina Weiland and Hirokazu Yoshikawa in Child Development in 2013 with more than 2,000 children, combined explicit, research-based language, literacy and math curricula with in-classroom coaching and teachers who were mainly master’s-level; the researchers found gains in language, literacy, math, executive function and emotional skills, some among the largest found for large-scale public pre-K, and said curricula combined with coaching likely played a major role (Harvard Graduate School of Education, March 28, 2013). Tennessee’s program, by contrast, met most structural benchmarks yet produced negative long-term results. Its evaluators suggest one possible contributor: pre-K instruction that concentrates on “constrained” skills such as letter names, which have a ceiling, rather than vocabulary, background knowledge and mathematical reasoning, which keep growing (Durkin et al., 2022). That is a hypothesis, not a finding.

For leaders and families, the practical markers that follow from the research read for this guide are:

• Interactions: adults who talk with children often, ask open questions, extend children’s ideas and respond warmly.
• Curriculum: a coherent curriculum covering language, early literacy, math and social-emotional skills, with play built in, rather than worksheets or unplanned time alone.
• Teacher support: coaching in the classroom, planning time and pay that keeps experienced teachers. NIEER’s benchmarks include a bachelor’s degree and specialized training for lead teachers.
• Structure: small groups and adequate ratios, such as NIEER’s benchmarks of a class size of 20 or lower and a staff-child ratio of 1 to 10 or better.
• Continuity: kindergarten and early grades that build on pre-K rather than repeat it, which the Tennessee and Head Start findings make urgent.

edCircuit’s coverage of classroom practice in the early years:

• Strengthening Executive Function for Future Success
• Teaching Basic Social and Emotional Skills in the Classroom
• Play-Based STEAM Strategies with Adam Peterson

How does early learning connect to early childhood development?

Early childhood development is the growth of young children’s physical, language, cognitive and social-emotional abilities, and early learning programs are one of the main places where development is supported and where delays are noticed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program publishes milestone checklists for ages 2 months through 5 years and advises families, if a child is not meeting milestones or has lost skills: “Don’t wait.” It tells parents to talk with the child’s doctor and ask about developmental screening and, if concern remains, to contact the state’s early intervention program. The page, updated February 16, 2026, cites pediatric guidance for developmental screening at 9, 18 and 30 months and autism screening at 18 and 24 months.

For programs, development is the curriculum as much as academics, and teachers are often the first to notice a delay, which makes screening, referral and conversations with families part of the job. Head Start’s performance standards require a program to complete or obtain a current developmental screening within 45 calendar days of a child’s first attending (45 CFR 1302.33), and NIEER counts screening and referral among its benchmarks for state pre-K. edCircuit’s Social-Emotional Learning Guide covers the research on teaching those skills, and Why Are So Many Preschoolers Getting Suspended? covers discipline in preschool.

What should children learn in early literacy and math?

Early literacy and early math skills at school entry are among the strongest predictors of later achievement, and early math in particular. Analyzing six longitudinal data sets from the United States, Canada and England, Greg Duncan and 13 colleagues found that school-entry math, reading and attention skills were the strongest predictors of later reading and math achievement, that “early math skills have the greatest predictive power,” and that socioemotional behaviors were generally insignificant predictors of later academic performance, with similar patterns for boys and girls and for children from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds (Duncan et al., Developmental Psychology, 2007). Those are associations, not proof of cause.

• Literacy. The Tennessee evaluators distinguish “constrained” skills such as the 26 letters of the alphabet, which children can master completely, from “unconstrained” skills such as vocabulary, listening comprehension and background knowledge, which keep growing and are not typically the focus of early childhood classrooms. edCircuit’s Science of Reading Guide explains the reading research and state laws in detail.
• Math. The same evaluators count problem solving and mathematical reasoning among the unconstrained skills, which suggests early math should go beyond reciting numbers.
• Balance. The research read for this guide does not frame play and instruction as alternatives: Boston’s program, among the most effective studied, used explicit curricula, and edCircuit’s coverage of play describes how much young children learn through it.

edCircuit’s coverage of early learning in literacy and STEM:

• Are Boys Set Up to Fail Before they Enter Kindergarten?
• Getting Kids to Love Literacy
• Multi-Sensory Learning with Nisha Sanghvi

How does special education work for young children?

Young children with disabilities or developmental delays are served under two parts of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Part C for infants and toddlers from birth through age 2, and Part B, Section 619, for preschoolers aged 3 through 5. A summary by the First Five Years Fund, an advocacy group, dated August 2026, describes them this way (FFYF, IDEA Program Overview):

• Part C (early intervention) serves children with a developmental delay or a diagnosed condition likely to result in one, regardless of family income, with services such as speech-language therapy, physical therapy and service coordination, provided where possible in “natural environments” such as the home. States set their own eligibility criteria, and some include children at risk of delay. FFYF reports 460,321 children served in 2023–24 and fiscal 2026 funding of $540 million.
• Section 619 (preschool special education) supports free special education for 3- to 5-year-olds found eligible through an evaluation, in settings that include public and private preschools, Head Start and child care. FFYF reports 581,437 children served in 2023–24, about 5 percent of preschoolers, ranging from more than 10 percent in Puerto Rico and Wyoming to less than 3 percent in Alabama, Georgia and Montana; 45 percent were identified with a developmental delay, 36 percent with a speech or language disability and 12 percent with autism. Funding was $420 million in fiscal 2026.

The move at age 3 is a transition families need to plan for: if a delay persists, a child may continue receiving services under Section 619, through the school district rather than the early intervention program. edCircuit’s Special Education Guide: IEPs, 504 Plans, IDEA and Parents’ Rights explains evaluations and parents’ rights, and How Federal Special Education Changes Affect Schools covers the federal changes.

What do pediatricians advise about screens for young children?

The American Academy of Pediatrics now advises families to focus on the quality of young children’s media use and on protecting time for play and conversation, rather than on a single daily time limit. In a policy statement published in the February 2026 issue of Pediatrics and announced January 20, 2026, the academy replaced its earlier media guidance with recommendations organized by age group, including early childhood from birth to 5, and urged families to make a family media plan, model healthy habits and keep media-free times such as meals and car rides (HealthyChildren.org, AAP; Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents). For the youngest children, an AAP question-and-answer page notes that children under 2 “learn best from exploring the world around them and playing with other children and adults,” that video chatting with family is a good use, and that background television is linked with lower language and social-emotional skills (AAP).

For programs, the implication is that technology in early learning classrooms should be limited, purposeful and shared with an adult, never a substitute for talk and play. edCircuit’s Why Students Need Digital Citizenship Earlier Than Ever and An Advocate for Tech-Supported Learning at All Levels discuss technology for young learners.

Who works in early childhood education, and what are they paid?

The early childhood workforce is large and among the lowest-paid in education, which makes it hard for programs to recruit and keep the experienced teachers that quality depends on. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook:

Sources: BLS, childcare workers (modified September 14, 2026); BLS, preschool teachers (modified August 27, 2026). BLS notes that public schools generally require preschool teachers to have at least a bachelor’s degree and that Head Start requires at least half its teachers to hold one.

The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, puts the median wage for early educators at $13.07 an hour nationally, using 2022 American Community Survey data, compared with $31.80 for elementary and middle school teachers, and reports that 97 percent of other occupations pay more (CSCCE, Early Childhood Workforce Index 2024). NIEER’s yearbook notes Georgia’s use of new funds to bring pre-K teacher pay to parity with K–12, and the Tennessee evaluators note that their state paid pre-K teachers at parity with elementary teachers. edCircuit’s In Professional Learning, One Size Does Not Fit All and Professional Development for Teachers cover teacher development.

What should families know about early childhood education?

Families make most of the decisions in early childhood education, often under pressure of cost and waiting lists, so knowing what to look for and what is free matters. Practical steps, drawn from the sources in this guide:

• Find out what is free where you live. Ask the school district whether it offers pre-K and at what age, whether there are income or other requirements, and when enrollment opens; many programs fill early. Families with low incomes, and those whose children are in foster care, are experiencing homelessness or receive public assistance, can contact a local Head Start or Early Head Start program.
• Look past the label. “Preschool,” “pre-K” and “early learning center” mean different things in different places. Ask about hours, cost, teacher qualifications, class size and how many adults are in each room. A state pre-K program may publish whether it meets quality standards; NIEER’s yearbook profiles every state program.
• Visit and watch the adults. The research points to interactions: whether teachers talk with children, ask questions and respond warmly, whether children have time to play and explore, and whether there is a plan for language, early reading and math. Ask what curriculum it uses and how teachers are coached.
• Ask how the program reports progress and whether it screens children’s development.
• Act early on developmental concerns. If your child is not meeting milestones, the CDC advises not waiting: talk with your child’s doctor about screening and contact your state’s early intervention program. Infants and toddlers can receive Part C services regardless of family income, and 3- to 5-year-olds can be evaluated for preschool special education through the school district, even if the child does not attend a public program.
• Learn your state’s kindergarten rules. Check the cutoff date, whether kindergarten attendance is required, whether full-day kindergarten is offered, and when the district’s registration opens.
• Plan for transitions. Ask how the preschool and elementary school share information and, for a child with a disability, how the move between services will be planned.
• Keep perspective on the research. Studies report averages, not what will happen to one child. Reading aloud, talking during everyday routines and playing with numbers and shapes are things every family can do.
• Use screens with intention, following the AAP advice described above.

Paying for care remains a challenge for many families. With the national average annual price of child care at $13,184 in 2025, families with lower incomes should ask their state child care agency whether they qualify for help with the cost. edCircuit’s Guide to 5 Evidence Based Parenting Strategies, The Benefits of Developing Creative Thinking Skills For Your Child and Why After-School Programs Are Essential for Students, Families, and Schools are written with families in mind.

Questions to ask about early childhood education in your community

For school, district and early-learning leaders

• How many 3- and 4-year-olds in our community attend a public program, by neighborhood and family income, and where are the waiting lists?
• Which NIEER quality benchmarks does our state program meet, and what do we know about the quality of interactions in our own pre-K classrooms, not only our policies?
• Do our pre-K classrooms use a coherent curriculum for language, literacy, math and social-emotional skills, and do teachers receive coaching in the classroom?
• Are pre-K teachers in community settings paid comparably to those in schools with the same qualifications, and what is our turnover?
• Do kindergarten and first-grade teachers know what children learned in pre-K, and do our early-grade curricula build on it rather than repeat it?
• Do we track children who attended our pre-K through the early grades, on attendance, discipline and special education referrals as well as test scores, as the Tennessee and Boston studies suggest?
• Do we screen children’s development, refer them promptly to Part C and Section 619 services, and plan the transition at age 3 with families?
• How do our Head Start grantees, child care providers and schools coordinate enrollment, and who is tracking federal changes in Head Start eligibility and funding?

For pre-K and kindergarten teachers

• How much of each day do I spend in conversation with children, asking open questions and extending their ideas?
• Does my teaching cover vocabulary, background knowledge and mathematical reasoning, not only letters and counting?
• Do children have time each day for purposeful play, and do I join their play to build language?
• Have I shared developmental observations with each family, and do I know whom to contact if I suspect a delay?
• Do I know what my students learned the year before, and what their next teacher will expect?

Strong starts for young children

Early childhood education reaches most American children in some form, but the forms vary so much that a child’s experience depends heavily on the state, the program and the family’s income. The research gives good reason to invest: intensive early programs changed adult lives, and Boston’s public pre-K raised college enrollment. It also gives reason for care, since gains on early tests often fade and a well-regarded statewide program produced long-term harm. The features most consistently linked to benefits are skilled, well-supported teachers, warm and language-rich interactions, coherent curricula that go beyond basic skills, and elementary schools that build on what children learned. Leaders who measure those features and follow children over time, and families who look for them when choosing a program, are likely to get the most from the early years.

Related reading

• The Importance of Early Childhood Education
• Building the Bridge Between Early Childhood and Elementary School
• Science of Reading Guide
• Special Education Guide: IEPs, 504 Plans, IDEA and Parents’ Rights
• Early Childhood Education Industry: How Leading Companies Respond to New Market Drivers

Subscribe to edCircuit to stay up to date on all of our shows, podcasts, news, and thought leadership articles.

More on Early Childhood, Pre-K and Kindergarten