So what is early learning? It’s age- and developmentally-appropriate education for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers so children enter school ready to learn and succeed. A strong early education is the first building block to a success in K-12.

It’s only over the last decade that the education system has started to really embrace the importance and impact early learning has on a child’s life. In early learning, many say that education is the same (as K-12) but different. For example, children have curricula and standards to assess and enhance their progress in language, math, science, and art – but they also learn social-emotional skills. This can be as simple as teaching a child to self regulate – if one child steals a toy from another, the child knows how to control his emotions and problem solve constructively. While this seems like such a simple thing, learning such skills can prevent behavioral problems later on – and dramatically increase the child’s ability to learn and grow.

These lessons must start early. After all, 85% of brain development happens before age 5 – and only 4% of our public resources are dedicated to this age group (read more on brain research. Instead, we choose to try to play catch up (see our early learning report card to see how we are doing). It’s much more cost effective to make sure a child is prepared for kindergarten then to try remediate after the fact. And let’s face it: the K-12 system is not resourced adequately to catch-up kids who are very far behind.

To compound the issue, if those kids come from family who can’t afford support, their chances of ever catching up to their classmates are not good.

It might be sensitive to discuss, but early learning is one of the areas in education that is most determined by parents’ income. It’s where you see the preparation gap between the kids who have had all of the supports and bells and whistles of quality preschool – and those who have not.

Did you know that nearly four in 10 kindergarteners don’t know that a story has a beginning, middle and end or how to hold a book when they first come to school?

But there is so much we can do. We can create a system that start at birth by giving the right early interventions to families who need them and supports a child’s learning from preschool to full-day kindergarten to grade 3 with lower class sizes with teachers who know how to support and develop these early skills.

And what would we get in return? Kids who have a shot at educational success from the very start. Studies show that you get $3-$17 back for every $1 you invest in quality preschool investments (read more about the return on investments in early learning).

To find out more about how quality preschool can impact a child’s life, watch this video from the Ounce of Prevention Fund.