This monograph documents the magnitude and likely prognosis of demographic changes in the 1970's and suggests the impact of these trends on the problems of early childhood education. The implications of this changing environment for designing a new Follow Through program are also examined. With respect to the changing demographic environment, information regarding fertility, adolescent childbearing, proportion of working mothers, single parent households, and international immigration is presented. The consequences of changing demographics are discussed in relation to reduced fertility, children of adolescent and working mothers, single parent households and immigrant and foreign language status. Such changes are seen as having several implications for designing new Follow Through options; specifically, these concern the declining size of the traditional pool of applicants, increase in applicants for whom English is a second language, and substantial demand for custodial services for "latchkey" children of all social and ethnic backgrounds. It is suggested that the assumption of new purposes and functions by Follow Through implies the need for new models of evaluation using broader criteria. (AS)