There is a widespread perception that urban public school education has failed: a perception that has attracted the concerned attention of businessmen and government officials. The crux of the problem is our nation's failure to do enough for children early enough to make a lasting difference in their lives. Too little too late seems to be the golden rule of American education. Child development specialists and findings of developmental research on the effectiveness of very early interventions indicate that when early interventions are made, their outcomes are impressive in terms of academic and social gains. But realism dictates that attempts to radically improve children's health, education, and overall well-being must start very early, as early as the prenatal period. Such attempts are difficult and costly to implement. They require many trained people. To be successful, intervention attempts need to involve parents who do an inadequate job of nurturing and stimulating their children in the critical years before schooling begins. It would help if universal Head Start were implemented immediately, and if a way could be found to guarantee the health, early stimulation, and nurturing of children born at high risk, as Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes' Beethoven Project attempts to do. (RH)