Action Steps for Policymakers

Local, state, and national policymakers can improve our systems of early care and education and promote literacy. Policymakers can:

Develop innovative strategies to adequately fund America’s early care and education system. Redesign the current financing system to ensure affordable, high-quality care for children and families and competitive compensation for teachers.

Broaden expectations for high-quality care to include enhanced early learning environments that promote language skills and literacy.

Provide high-quality preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds who are at risk for later school difficulties, and examine ways to provide universal preschool.

Strengthen links between family child care homes, child care centers, and public schools to share resources and training.

Ensure that accreditation and licensing requirements in early care and education incorporate research-based practices that support children’s cognitive, language, social, and emotional development, and that build successful readers.

Develop policies and structures, such as Offices for Young Children, through which state and local authorities can coordinate services in early care and education.

Create incentives for early childhood programs to use research-based knowledge in program design.

Where necessary, modify minimum standards for group sizes and adult-child ratios to create better literacy environments for children.

Support efforts to build an early childhood career ladder, with increased responsibilities and compensation for practitioners with higher qualifications. These efforts should attract and keep the staff who are best at helping children learn.

Support efforts to improve staff training and ongoing professional development. Coordinate training efforts across programs and sponsoring agencies. Fund scholarships and create incentives to encourage providers to pursue advanced training.

Use public information campaigns to encourage parents to seek effective child care that develops language and other pre-literacy skills.