Rethinking Classroom Quality: What We Know and What We Are Learning.

at an all-time high. Research has identified early childhood as a critical period for brain development,1 work that has spurred interest in expanding ECE programs across the United States. But not all programs produce positive effects at the end of the preschool year. For those that do improve children’s outcomes, impacts tend to diminish as children enter kindergarten and elementary school.2 To maximize these significant investments in ECE, programming must be high quality, brought to scale, and generate substantial impacts on children’s early learning that can be sustained through elementary school and into adulthood.