Early Childhood Interventions and Outcomes

Recent advances in brain research have provided new evidence thatearly experience matters and have greatly increased interest in theeffects of early childhood interventions on outcomes for children. Thispaper reviews what is now known about the potential benefits andpotential ill effects of early childhood interventions, with particularattention to evidence from the Rand study of early interventions, recentstudies of the Head Start program, and the NICHD study of early childcare. The evidence shows that early childhood interventions can make adifference in improving outcomes for children. However, there are twoimportant knowledge gaps. Not enough is known about the types ofchild care young children in Britain are currently using, and not enoughis known about what types of early childhood interventions wouldachieve the best outcomes for disadvantaged children in Britain.[...]