Why the K-12 World Hasn’t Embraced Early Learning

For years, the K–12 world has fundamentally underappreciated how the early years shape long-term educational outcomes. In both the K-12 and early learning worlds, there has been a corollary underestimation of the many ways policy and culture enforce a separation between the two. 

The goal of this paper is to expose these problems – and start proposing some solutions. The paper first explains why it is absolutely essential for K-12 leaders to pay more attention to the early years; this includes the pre-kindergarten birth-to-five years, and then also the early elementary years (K-2). The paper then explains how state policy can set the wrong incentives for local action, and discusses the state and local cultural issues that can perpetuate a divide between K-12 and early learning. The paper then identifies some promising practices, and concludes by proposing some next steps for states and districts that really want to change.