Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers

In 1997, the National Research Council established the Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy to study a broad range of behavioral and social science research on early learning and development with a focus on children in out-of-home programs between the ages of two and five. The Committee was charged with:

• reviewing and synthesizing the research and its applications on social, behavioral and biological sciences, early childhood pedagogy, and special populations, highlighting the practices that enhance the development of these children;

• producing a coherent distillation of the knowledge base and its implications for program practice, training of teachers and child care professionals, and future research direction; and

• making major policy implications drawn from the research findings.

The result of the Committee's work is Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers. The Executive Summary was released on June 22 in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education's Early Childhood Summit in Washington, DC. The full report will be released this fall. The report sets forth a number of findings regarding the components of quality preschool programs, principles of learning that should be incorporated in preschool curriculum (without endorsing any particular curriculum), and the trends and uses of assessments. The report includes a series of recommendations regarding professional development, both preparation and ongoing opportunities, the development of educational curricula and assessments, and public policies at the state and federal levels.

• The full text of the Executive Summary is available at: http://books.nap.edu/books/0309068363/html/1.html

• To read Secretary Riley's statement at the Summit, please refer to: http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/06-2000/000623a.html