In recent years, more than 700,000 children aged 3 through 5 years identified with speech or language impairments (44%), developmental delay (37%), autism (9%), and other disabilities (10%) received federally supported special education services. For our republished article in the inaugural issue of the 50th anniversary volume, we have selected a historical piece by David P. Weikart. Working in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in the early 1960s, Weikart and his colleagues saw the need for--and projected the benefits of providing--structured educational experiences to preschool children from disadvantaged backgrounds. His work on the Perry Preschool Project is widely recognized as a foundation for evidence-based practices driving continuing interest in and success of early childhood education and special education programs today. [This paper was originally published as: Weikart, D. P. (1966). Preschool programs: Preliminary findings. "Journal of Special Education," 1(2), 163-181.]