Educational programs for children prior to their entering elementary school.

Any educational program servicing children in the preschool years, employing trained adults, and administering a program designed to enhance later school performance might be considered an example of early childhood education (ECE). However, the original impetus behind what is now a heterogeneous collection of programs was the desire to provide young children living in poverty—and sometimes their families—with assistance to minimize the risks to their later academic growth and development. Probably the most well-known public early childhood program in the United States is the Head Start Program. Many others fall under the auspices of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Title I preschool (i.e., prekindergarten) programs operate under a system of federal, state, and local cooperation. Local educational agencies apply to state agencies for program approval, and programs...