The creation of this document has been driven by an intensive review process by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs to assure the credibility of its scientific content. Over the past 12 years, the Council's ongoing work to bring science to bear on public policies for young children has resulted in a series of 13 working papers that continues to grow. Chapter one of this report consolidates key concepts from the entire series into one cohesive story of early childhood and early brain development. Chapter two of the report distills five core principles that can guide decisions about how to improve the quality of existing programs and increase their return on investment. Chapter three builds on the first two chapters and proposes an approach to answering the following question: "How can we do better?" Shaped by the growing Frontiers of Innovation community, it is inspired by the conviction that achieving significantly greater impacts on the lives of young children facing adversity will require a more creative approach to investment that invites new ideas, supports responsible risk-taking, demands more rigorous measurement and evaluation, and learns from failure. [Additional funding support was provided by the Palix Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and the Hemera Foundation.]