A new report from New America's Early Education Initiative calls for a bold transformation of the country's public education system to prioritize early learning. The landmark report, "A Next Social Contract for the Primary Years of Education," envisions a new system that serves children starting at age 3, erases the artificial divide between "preschool" and "K-12" programs and extends high-quality teaching up through the early grades of elementary school.

The report comes at a key moment for education reform in the United States, as Congress takes up reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It also follows the release last week of national test results showing that two-thirds of American fourth graders cannot read at grade level. And it reflects decades of research on how much high-quality learning experiences in children's earliest years and throughout elementary school can produce gains in their academic and social well-being that carry through to adulthood.

"It no longer makes sense to postpone the start of public education until children turn five," write the authors of the report, Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative, and Sara Mead, a former senior research fellow at New America. "Research over the past several decades has demonstrated that children begin learning long before they enter school."

The report advocates for a "next social contract" - a new system of public policies that foster a more seamless system connecting districts, schools, Head Start and independent centers of early learning (like preschools or high-quality child care centers). It recommends a "PreK-3rd" approach that includes voluntary universal pre-kindergarten programs, full-day kindergarten, and high-quality standards and curriculum for pre-k through the third grade. It also requires parental engagement and highly qualified teachers who share data and professional development within and across grades.

A few of the report's recommendations:

• Establish proficiency in reading, math, and social and emotional skills by the end of third grade as a clear and foremost goal of our education system
• Move the starting point for public education from five years old to three years old.
• Integrate pre-kindergarten into a reformed education finance system.
• Establish clearly articulated, aligned high-quality national standards for what children should know and be able to do at the end of third grade and at each step in the PreK-3rd continuum leading up to that.

For full report: http://earlyed.newamerica.net/publications/special/a_next_social_project_for_the_primary_years_of_education_29823

For media requests, please contact Kate Brown at 202-213-7051 or brown@newamerica.net.

The work of the Early Education Initiative is made possible through generous grants from the Foundation for Child Development, the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation, and the Strategic Knowledge Fund, co-funded by the Foundation for Child Development and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

About the New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.