The Importance of Years 0–5

Federal, state and community agencies across the nation are working on an aspirational and ambitious agenda for dramatic expansion of high-quality early learning opportunities in the years before kindergarten, including pre-K. The enterprise is aimed at promoting early learning as a pathway to equalize opportunity for all — a major difference from the existing, decades-old model of childcare.

The Programs in Professional Education (PPE) institute, The Leading Edge of Early Childhood Education, is structured to highlight the best of what we currently know about healthy child development and high-quality systems, schools and classrooms of early learning, while also bringing in new thinking from other fields to provide insights that bear on the design of preK improvement and expansion.

In this edition of the Harvard EdCast, Professor Nonie Lesaux and Associate Professor Stephanie Jones, faculty chairs of the institute, examine the latest thinking, research, and practice in building and sustaining high-quality pre-K systems, schools, and classrooms.

For more information on The Leading Edge of Early Childhood Education, and to register, visit Programs in Professional Education.

About the Harvard EdCast

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly series of podcasts, available on the Harvard University iTunes U page, that features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber, the Harvard EdCast is a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.