Early Childhood Education in United States

United States

For many, the path to higher educational attainment starts with early childhood education. Evidence indicates that early childhood education contributes to better health and promotes health equity.

The 2024-2025 school year set a new record high in state-funded preschool funding, although enrollment is lower when compared with the 2023-2024 school year. A significant proportion of these educational programs are failing to meet minimum quality standards, and some states are meeting less than half of their educational standards and requirements. 

Investing in early childhood education yields an estimated $4.19 for every dollar spent.

The percentage of children ages 3-4 enrolled in early childhood education is higher among:

• White and Asian children compared with Hispanic and Pacific Islander children.
• Children whose parents have a college degree or higher compared with children whose parents have less than a high school education.
• Children whose mothers are employed compared with children who have an unemployed parent.

Strategies to increase enrollment in early childhood education include: 

• Developing more funding sources for early childhood education that could provide coverage for disadvantaged children.
• Focusing on performance and outcome assessment to improve the effectiveness of programs.
• Providing more direct federal and state subsidies other than tax credits. 

• Ensuring effective use of funding for early childhood education by conducting cost-effectiveness analyses.

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends implementing high-quality, center-based early childhood education programs. These programs promote health equity and are associated with narrower educational achievement gaps, especially for children in low-income or racial/ethnic minority communities. For example, Head Start programs are federally funded services that promote school readiness in children from low-income families. Children participating in Head Start programs are more likely to pursue and complete higher education.

A 2026 report from the National Council of State Legislatures provides a summary of early childhood education legislation that has been enacted at the state level by bill category, driven by the child care crisis in the United States.

Healthy People 2030 is developing an objective to increase the proportion of children who participate in high-quality early childhood education programs.

Barnett, W. Steven, and Jason T. Hustedt. Improving Public Financing for Early Learning Programs. Preschool Policy Brief Issue 23. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, April 2011. https://nieer.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/24-1.pdf.

Community Preventive Services Task Force. “Recommendation for Center-Based Early Childhood Education to Promote Health Equity.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 22, no. 5 (September 2016): E9–10. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000354.

Friedman-Krauss, Allison H., W. Steven Barnett, Katherine S. Hodges, Karin A. Garver, G. G. Weisenfeld, Jennifer K. Duer, and Jessica A. Siegel. The State of Preschool 2025: State Preschool Yearbook. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, 2026. https://nieer.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/2025%20NIEER%20Yearbook-ExecutiveSummary.pdf.

Hahn, Robert A., and W. Steven Barnett. “Early Childhood Education: Health, Equity, and Economics.” Annual Review of Public Health 44, no. Volume 44, 2023 (April 3, 2023): 75–92. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-071321-032337.

National Center for Education Statistics. “School Enrollment Rates of Young Children.” In The Condition of Education 2024. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2024. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/2024/cfa_508c.pdf.

Ramon, Ismaila, Sajal K. Chattopadhyay, W. Steven Barnett, and Robert A. Hahn. “Early Childhood Education to Promote Health Equity: A Community Guide Economic Review.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 24, no. 1 (2018): e8–15. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000557.

Schoch, Annie D., Cassie S. Gerson, Tamara Halle, and Meg Bredeson. Children’s Learning and Development Benefits from High-Quality Early Care and Education: A Summary of the Evidence. Child Care and Early Education Policy and Research Analysis, August 2023. https://acf.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/%232023-226%20Benefits%20from%20ECE%20Highlight%20508.pdf.