EDC supports the development of engaging and safe educational programs for young children.
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.
Projects
Resources
Here are a few of our resources on early childhood development and learning. To see more, visit our Resources section.
This report summarizes the results of the Time to Learn project in Zambia, which was funded by the U.S.
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.
This toolkit provides program designers with information on how to develop and implement effective early childhood interactive audio instruction (IAI) programs in a range of settings.
As noted in its executive summary, this report looks at school meals “aid delivery through different windows, both to shed light on financial flows—and to explore discrepancies in the data.” It hig
This report presents the results of a first-of-its-kind national survey of parents, who were asked about the types of early science educational activities they do with their young children.
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.
This tool helps Head Start programs better understand the link between their school readiness goals and their health service plans.
Rwanda has made commendable efforts to improve basic education, including literacy in the early grades.
This report explores the potential benefits of theory-based logic models in trauma-informed initiatives
In this summary report, the authors share findings and recommendations from their review of existing research, exploration of teacher professional development programs, and interviews with teachers.