The Right Policy at the Right Time

QUICK SUMMARY

In 2001, The Pew Charitable Trusts learned of an important strategy that could dramatically improve children's success but had been largely overlooked by policy makers — high-quality early education programs in the years just before kindergarten. Soon after, it launched a new campaign to highlight the evidence and advance policies at the state and federal levels to provide voluntary, high-quality pre-kindergarten for every three and four year old. This 2010 report answered two questions: How did the campaign build a successful national movement to advance Pre-K? And: How can we use the lessons learned to inform public debates on other policies essential to help children thrive?