The landscape of financing early childhood education in the U.S. is complex. Programs run the gamut from tuition-supported private centers to public programs supported by federal, state, or local funds. Different funding streams are poorly coordinated. The federal government funds several major targeted programs that are available only to specific…

The care and education of young children in the United States is supported by nearly $40 billion yearly from a variety of sources at the federal, state, and local levels. Even so, about a quarter of 4-year-olds and half of 3-year-olds do not attend preschool, and many of those who do attend receive only poor quality services. Some programs are of…

This chapter examines how the previously distinct worlds of early childhood education (ECE) and K-12 public school education are being drawn together through the recent and rapid advances of prekindergarten programming in the United States. Tensions around teaching philosophies, teacher qualifications, and financing are presented to illustrate the…

In this article, the author presents two emerging state-level public policy trends in the United States, one toward universalizing pre-school services, and one toward systems for delivering early education and care. At this point, it is not clear whether the effect of the two trends will be to unite or divide the field of early education and care.…