Early childhood interventions can be highly cost effective when positive impacts are sustained into adulthood. Yet while many recent preschool interventions have been found to have short-term effects on young children's language, literacy, mathematics, executive function, and social-emotional development, studies show that impacts on cognitive and…

Educational attainment and early work experience provide a crucial foundation for future success. However, many young adults are disconnected from both school and the job market. Neglecting these young people can exact a heavy toll on not only the individuals but also society as a whole, for example, through lost productivity and tax…

In the United States, 1.6 million young people between 18 and 24 years old are out of school (lacking either a high school degree or General Educational Development certificate) "and" out of work. These "disconnected" young people face significant barriers to economic opportunity and distressingly high odds of becoming involved…

Investments in early childhood programs are widely viewed as a promising strategy to improve the future educational achievement of disadvantaged young children. However, it can be difficult for teachers to maintain program quality if children in the classroom display challenging behaviors. For example, when some children act out aggressively or…

Low-income preschool children face many risks to their social-emotional development that can affect their school experience and social outcomes for years to come. Although there are some promising approaches to improving young children's social-emotional competence, the evidence base is limited, particularly on the effectiveness of these…

In recent years, interest has increased in preschool programs that promote low-income children's early learning and development. Although research in this area has focused mostly on 4-year-olds, a growing number of 3-year-olds attend publicly funded preschool. In fact, in Head Start--a federally funded early childhood education program--the…

This report presents exploratory impact findings for 3-year-olds from the Head Start CARES demonstration, a large-scale randomized controlled trial implemented in Head Start centers for one academic year across the country. The study was designed primarily to test the effects of the enhancements on 4-year-olds, but it also provides an opportunity…

Preschool has long been viewed as a way to promote low-income children's early learning and development. Some promising classroom-based strategies have been found to enhance preschool children's social, emotional, and behavioral competencies. Most of this research has focused on 4-year-olds, even as a growing number of 3-year-olds attend Head…

This research brief examines the challenges and opportunities presented in evaluating whether an intervention achieves defined goals of increasing students' educational attainment, employment, and earnings after high school. The report concludes that evaluations should: (1) Distinguish between gross outcomes (such as how many young people attend…