EDC supports the development of engaging and safe educational programs for young children.
From birth to age eight, children take the first steps in a lifelong learning journey. EDC speeds them on their way by designing, studying, supporting, and scaling up programs that enhance school readiness and success. We have a special focus on meeting the needs of children from disadvantaged communities and dual language learners, engaging and supporting families, and building the capacity of educators and communities to sustain improvements.
In the United States, we work to create strong, coherent preK-Grade 3 systems and advance knowledge of how to improve early science, mathematics, and literacy learning. Around the world, we implement innovative early childhood programs that build literacy and numeracy skills, excite interest in learning, and help educators, volunteers, and parents enrich early learning.
Read "A Fair Start for Every Child" to learn more about EDC's work to support early childhood learning.
Learn about EDC’s work with Family STEM Communities.
Learn about EDC’s work to strengthen early childhood interventions with Continuous Quality Improvement.
Learn about the work of EDC’s Center for Children and Technology.
Related Content
A New Language for Mathematics
Young children often struggle to write down their mathematical ideas. Could computer programming be an easier language for them?
EDC Talks: Making Time for Family Math
What are some fun, easy activities that families can do to encourage math learning at home? (Hint: You are probably already doing some of them.)
Tapping, Swiping, and Learning Science
Research findings on The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ have implications for parents, educators, and educational media developers.
Helping All Children Learn and Thrive
EDC’s David Jacobson discusses his ideas for changing—and improving—early childhood services.
Tools to Support Preschool Learning
New resources support educators on integrating technology and working with emergent bilingual learners.
The Other Side of the Screen
As a researcher, Tiffany Maxon gets to help develop the next generation of children’s television shows.
Projects
Resources
Here are a few of our resources on early childhood development and learning. To see more, visit our Resources section.
This online guide provides Head Start and Early Head Start home visitors with effective strategies to assess, promote, and model good hygiene during regular meetings with families.
This report, intended for early childhood educators, offers five evidence-based recommendations for integrating technology tools, such as computers and tablets, into a variety of early learning settings.
This tip sheet explains the benefits of including participants and families in continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes and provides strategies for engaging them as partners.
This report calls for urgent global action to expand school feeding programs to address childhood hunger and poverty while improving education outcomes. It advocates for sustainable solutions, linking school meals to nutrition, education, and food justice, and is inspired by successful models, such as Brazil’s. A global partnership is essential to achieve these goals.
Through the Home Visiting Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (HV CoIIN), EDC guides Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program awardees in using continuous quality im
EDC and SRI International conducted an independent study of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) KIDS Play & Learn Science app, which includes in-app and direct hands-on science explorations for children ages 3 to 6 and their parents.
The Children’s Safety Network (CSN) is a national resource center for the prevention of childhood injuries and violence.
This guide provides an overview of IRI as a methodology, and discusses its feasibility and applicability in a range of contexts.
This resource library from the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) contains policy reports, briefs, annotated bibliographies, and other tools targeted to help early childhood educat
The Somali Interactive Radio Instruction Program (SIRIP) advances stabilization in Somalia by delivering education in a precarious situation and by giving children the capabilities they will need t