In an open letter to the future President-elect, Robert Pianta, dean of the Curry School of Education at The University of Virginia, is clear: early education should be a first-year priority.
Pianta shares that the time has come to ensure that every poor preschooler in the United States is enrolled for two years of the best educational opportunity the public can provide. Anything short of this will fail to realize the promise of early education as an equalizer in American society.
Key takeaways from Pianta’s letter:
- Ensure that every low-income child in America is enrolled in two full years of preschool starting at age 3
- Acknowledge that programs for preschoolers now delivered through federal support, like Head Start, need strengthening
- Integrate and realign existing federal investments, such as funds for preschool education and subsidies for child care, to more-effective programs run by states
- Establish a robust federal monitoring system in the Department of Education to ensure state accountability in serving young and vulnerable children
Read the full letter from Pianta here.