Challenging policymakers, educators, reformers, and citizens to replace piecemeal reforms with fundamental redesign, "First Things First!" calls for a different way of organizing the American primary school. Ruby Takanishi outlines a new framework for integrating early education with primary education (pre-K-5), including both short- and long-term strategies, that starts with 3- and 4-year-olds. Featuring portraits of primary schools that have successfully integrated pre-K, the book includes resources on dual-language learners, dual-generation family engagement, effective philanthropy, rethinking advocacy, and more. The book centers on four basic questions: (1) Why should the United States design a new primary school as children's first, widely shared educational experience?; (2) How can the educators of the new primary school use new knowledge about how children learn to improve their practice?; (3) What will it take to create a new primary school that educates all children well?; and (4) How can the design of the new primary school reflect demographic, social, linguistic, and cultural changes and adapt to the requirements of a global economy? "First Things First!" reframes the basic structure of traditional primary education, challenging us to get the early years of a 21st-century public education system off to a new and stronger start.