The evidence has been mounting for decades: Programs that help children learn and grow in their earliest years can change the trajectories of their lives.

That's especially important for children in disadvantaged families who often face obstacles to success from the day they are born. Done well, programs like home visiting and early childhood education can offer them a better shot at a better life.

RAND researchers were among the first to demonstrate the enormous potential of early childhood interventions in the 1990s. A new report compiled research on 115 programs — and found that 102 made a clear and positive difference in young lives.

"The bottom line is this: All the different ways that we examined this issue pointed to the same conclusion," said M. Rebecca Kilburn, a senior economist at RAND and a coauthor of the study. "What's exciting about this is that we're getting to the point where policymakers have a lot of evidence that well-implemented early childhood programs are a good investment."

Read the full article about the importance of high-quality early childhood education by Doug Irving at rand.org.