Giving Compass Take:

• Katharine B. Stevens discusses the Elementary Education and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 (as the Every Student Succeeds Act) bipartisan measure, the Preschool Development Grants Birth Through Five (PDG B–5) which will provide $1 billion over four years in competitive grants to help states improve the growth, development, and school readiness of low-income and disadvantaged children by increasing their participation in high-quality early learning programs from infancy to kindergarten entry.

• How can we make quality early childhood education readily available to low-income and disadvantaged children? 

• Learn more about early childhood education.

The 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary Education and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 (as the Every Student Succeeds Act) included the first dedicated early childhood funding stream in ESEA’s half-century history, acknowledging what both science and the public increasingly recognize: the foundation for equal education opportunity begins not at age five—or four or three—but at birth. A bipartisan measure, the Preschool Development Grants Birth Through Five (PDG B–5) will provide $1 billion over four years in competitive grants to help states improve the growth, development, and school readiness of low-income and disadvantaged children by increasing their participation in high-quality early learning programs from infancy to kindergarten entry.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the Department of Health and Human Services, jointly with the Department of Education, oversee the initiative. Applications for the first year of grants must be submitted by the state’s governor and are due on November 6, 2018.

Read the full article about early childhood education by Katharine B. Stevens at American Enterprise Institute.