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This paper organizes and synthesizes the literature on early childhood education and childcare. In it, we go beyond meta-analysis and reanalyze primary data sources in a common framework. We consider the evidence from means-tested demonstration programs, large-scale means-tested programs and universal programs without means testing. We discuss which programs are effective and whether, and for which populations, these programs should be subsidized by governments. The evidence from high-quality demonstration programs targeted toward disadvantaged children shows beneficial effects. Returns exceed costs, even accounting for the deadweight loss of collecting taxes. When proper policy counterfactuals are constructed, Head Start has beneficial effects on disadvantaged children compared to home alternatives. Universal programs benefit disadvantaged children.

Policymakers and practitioners are boosting support for families in the most disadvantaged areas to help pre-school children develop the skills they need to thrive and reduce the attainment gap

The idea of transitions in early childhood education practice rests on a conceptualization of time that is characteristic of western thought: time as spatialized by having been divided into discrete units. This article explores the space-time dimension in relation to transitions. Drawing on Deleuzian-inspired writings on duration, time as intensive, and bodies and affects, the article engages with the following questions: Are there ways to rethink the idea that a child 'has trouble with transitions' ? What do we take for granted as we focus on children's difficulties in transitioning? What are we overlooking when we only pay attention to how children move through activities? How might we direct our attention to what deeply affects children instead of looking only at the shift from one activity to the next? And, perhaps most importantly, what else might be going on in the very moment of a transition? Using an ordinary event from an early childhood classroom as an example, the article argues that too much focus on how children transition from one activity to the next keeps us from exploring the idea of transitions in relation to the intensities children experience and how their experiences endure.