Giving Compass' Take:

· AEI talks with Katharine B. Stevens about the importance of early childhood education, where it's going in the future, and how some programs are supporting both children and parents effectively.

· When does learning start? Why are the earliest periods of a child's life the most influential in shaping their future capacities?

· Learn more about early childhood education.

Katharine Stevens leads the early-childhood program at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she focuses on the research, policy, and politics of early care and education. She also studies the role of early learning in increasing opportunity for low-income Americans and the challenges of implementing rapidly expanding early-childhood initiatives, especially ensuring caregiver and teacher quality.

Before joining AEI, Dr. Stevens founded and led Teachers for Tomorrow, one of the first teacher-apprenticeship programs in the United States, which recruited and trained teachers for New York City’s lowest-performing schools. She began her career in public education as a preschool teacher in New Haven, Connecticut, and St. Louis, Missouri.

Read the full article about the importance of early childhood education by Katharine B. Stevens at AEI.