Introduction and summary
Literacy is a developmental journey that begins at birth and is enhanced throughout a child’s K-12 experience. Yet the U.S. education system has been built around the idea that literacy starts at kindergarten, neglecting the importance of early childhood experiences that foster a strong literacy foundation. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) literacy results showed that students across the country are struggling.1 NAEP reading scores have been declining over the past decade,2 and the COVID-19 pandemic only made matters worse.3 Reading among fourth and eighth graders declined across nearly every demographic group.4 Recent attention has largely focused on how to improve instruction through the adoption of scientific approaches and high-quality curricula materials. Yet, the solutions to declining reading achievement do not lie solely within K-12 classrooms.
As a solution to the declining reading scores, there has been a surge of interest in the “science of reading,” with 40 states and Washington, D.C., establishing laws and policies related to literacy instruction.5 The science of reading is the evidence-based understanding of how children learn to read, emphasizing phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.6 Relatedly, the science of child and brain development makes it clear that the foundations for literacy and language development begin long before kindergarten.7 Children’s vocabulary growth and understanding of sounds and symbols start forming during early childhood, shaped by their environments and learning experiences.8
To support early literacy and ensure sustained gains in reading achievement, early childhood education (ECE) and K-12 systems must work together, not as separate silos, but as parts of a cohesive education continuum that supports children from birth through third grade and beyond. To accomplish this goal, policymakers can take five actionable steps to foster cross-system coordination and boost literacy. First, policymakers must guarantee universal access to mixed-delivery preschool and full-day kindergarten. Next, they must align statewide early literacy standards across birth through age 5. To ensure a cadre of highly qualified educators in early grades, policymakers should also mandate and appropriate funding for cross-system training to early childhood providers, pre-K, and kindergarten educators. Lastly, lawmakers should expand universal screenings for young children and invest in statewide longitudinal data systems that can track learning needs, efficacy of interventions, and outcomes from infancy through K-12.
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The foundations of literacy begin before kindergarten
A growing body of research underscores that the building blocks of literacy—oral language, phonological awareness, and print knowledge—emerge long before children enter formal education. Brains are built over time, but the first few years of life offer the most active period for brain development, with more than 1 million new neural connections formed every second.9 These neural connections allow children to develop critical language and communication skills10 that support their literacy development.11 New research findings suggest that reading-related skills begin to develop by birth and continue building from infancy through preschool.12 Moreover, disparities in cognitive development can be detected as early as nine months of age.13 Data even suggest that reading interventions are most effective when administered prior to kindergarten.14 These data emphasize the importance of not only cultivating the skills needed to support early literacy prior to entry in the K-12 system, but also the critical need for early intervention services for young children.
IDEA Part C: early intervention
Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal grant program that provides funding to states to deliver early intervention services to infants and toddlers—birth through age 2—with disabilities and their families.15 In passing this law, Congress recognized the significant amount of development that takes place early in life and the importance of reducing the need for special education and related services once a child reaches school age by investing in early identification and support.16 States are required to implement prereferral strategies that include a public awareness campaign describing Child Find, the IDEA-required process for identifying children who require special education services. This process requires a referral from an individual or entity with first-hand knowledge of the child such as a physician, hospital, or childcare setting.17 This referral is followed by consent from the child’s parent or legal guardian to evaluate.18 After a child is evaluated and found eligible for services, an initial individualized family service plan is developed all within a 45-day timeline to outline the specific services the child will receive.19 About 11 percent of children born between 2016 and 2020 were found eligible for early intervention services before the age of 3.20
High-quality early childhood programs, such as Head Start, can cultivate skills such as phonological awareness to provide young children with the building blocks needed to succeed in the K-12 system. A truly aligned education continuum would ensure that developmental gains from ECE are carried and built upon in elementary school.21 Shared goals and coordinated transitions between these two systems can support the academic development of all children.
Breaking down silos: ECE and K-12 should work together
Early childhood education and K-12 education have evolved in parallel rather than in partnership. Creating stronger connections between the two systems should include a shared understanding of child development, coordination on school readiness and progress, as well as collaborative strategies to ensure stronger transitions.
Stronger partnerships between ECE and K-12 are even more critical for young children who qualify for services under IDEA as they make the transition from Part C to Part B, which provides special education services for school-aged children.22 Under IDEA Part C’s Indicator 8,23 states are required to report on the number of children exiting Part C, to include whether they are still eligible for special education services as they transition to a school-age learning environment. Of the children who reached the age to transition out of Part C services in 2021-22, roughly 61 percent were eligible for Part B services.24 The Part C transition process25 requires a transition plan26 and often involves new evaluations and eligibility determination. A change in location of services from a child’s “natural environment,” often the home or a child care setting, to a school within the local district also takes place.27 Children entering Part B receive services through an Individualized Education Program28 that often includes specialized instruction and related services they may have received in Part C, such as speech and other therapies.29 Without proper transition planning and coordination between ECE and K-12 systems,30 parents can feel overwhelmed, and their children could be at greater risk of delayed or disrupted services.31
Head Start and local education agency collaboration
More than 320,000 children transition from Head Start to kindergarten every year. Head Start program performance standards require that Head Start programs implement strategies to support a successful transition to kindergarten.32 These include strategies focused on family collaboration to help parents understand their child’s progress during Head Start and how to continue to advocate for their child’s academic and social growth in their new education setting.33 Additionally, the Every Student Succeeds Act requires educational programs to coordinate with Head Start by developing a procedure for transferring relevant child records, facilitating communication between school and Head Start staff, and allowing for educators to participate in joint professional development.34
In 2019, the Office of Head Start and the Public Schools Collaboration Demonstration Project brought together teams from 13 school districts and local Head Start programs to improve the transition to kindergarten.35 The project focused on how to improve collaboration between Head Start and the K-12 system.36 Activities included creating more alignment between Head Start programs and schools, sharing assessment information, coordinating training calendars, and shared professional development.37 The Office of Head Start used the project’s findings to develop a “Successful Strategies from the Field” resource guide documenting how teams across the country strengthened four key connections to support kindergarten transitions: between programs and schools, families and schools, children and schools, and communities and schools.38
Promising state examples
Although early childhood and K-12 education continue to be fragmented in policy and practice, a few states have taken proactive steps to integrate their systems in hopes of improving students’ early literacy outcomes.
Georgia: Building a unified birth-to-K-12 literacy pipeline
In 2023, the Georgia General Assembly passed two major pieces of legislation aimed at improving statewide literacy outcomes: H.B. 538 and S.B. 211.39 H.B. 538, the Georgia Early Literacy Act,40 is grounded in the science of reading and seeks to improve the quality of early literacy instruction in the early grades through the use of universal reading screeners, tiered intervention plans, and educator training. S.B. 211 established the Georgia Council on Literacy, a 30-member body tasked with reviewing literacy efforts from birth through postsecondary education and issuing recommendations to strengthen outcomes statewide.41
In late 2024, the council released the “Georgia Literacy Plan: Vision 2030,” which explicitly states that language and literacy development skills will begin at birth across the state.42 The plan sets a goal of ensuring that children enter kindergarten with a strong foundation for language and literacy and identifies the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) as the lead agency responsible for advancing this objective.43
Key pillars of Georgia’s approach to early literacy include:
- Unified governance: With the launch of DECAL in 2004, Georgia became the first state to establish a standalone agency dedicated to early childhood.44 This governance structure allows for the prioritization of support and coordination for the state’s youngest children and the educators who work with them.
- Science of reading for all: Georgia extends evidence-based literacy training requirements beyond K-12 educators to include licensed child care providers, promoting shared instructional expectations across early learning and elementary settings.45
- Starting as early as possible: Initiatives such as Lifting Infants and Toddlers through Language-rich Environments (LITTLE) grants46 provide coaching and support to child care programs serving children ages birth to 3 years old, strengthening language-rich environments well before children enter pre-K or kindergarten.47
- Strategic oversight: The Georgia Council on Literacy includes a dedicated birth-to-5 working group, ensuring that early childhood is included in shaping statewide literacy policy and reinforcing alignment across systems.48
While the long-term impact on statewide reading proficiency is still emerging, the state has maintained its legislative focus on this critical issue. In May 2026, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed the Georgia Early Literacy Act of 2026 (H.B. 1193), a robust policy designed to elevate achievement for early learners.49 This measure institutes a network of regional and school-based literacy coaches and mandates that every public school adopt a unified literacy plan. Furthermore, the act broadens access to instructional materials rooted in the science of reading.50 To ensure the success of these initiatives, the FY 2027 budget allocates $70 million toward comprehensive statewide implementation.51
Mississippi: Investing in high-quality literacy instruction
Mississippi fourth graders experienced the highest growth in the nation in reading between 2013 and 2024,52 from 49th in the nation to ninth.53 Their literacy gains are a result of sustained policymaking and investments, including in early childhood. In 2013, Mississippi passed the Early Learning Collaborative Act54 which established the state’s first state-funded pre-K program, reaching more than 20 percent of 4-year-olds in the state,55 although still trailing neighboring states such as Alabama and Louisiana. Building on this effort, Mississippi in 2013 started embedding literacy coaches into the state’s lowest-performing schools56 to support K-3 teachers.57 Mississippi also shifted to achieve instructional coherence by adopting high-quality instructional materials58 and providing curricula-aligned professional development to teachers.59 In 2025, the state raised the bar for its A-F school rating system, requiring higher student achievement scores to meet school performance standards.60
Across its efforts, Mississippi has remained committed to providing a strong start for young learners and recognizes the importance of the transition from pre-k to kindergarten. Each pre-K classroom operating in the statewide preschool program is required to develop a transition folder for each child.61 The folder contains information such as:
- Kindergarten readiness assessment data
- Developmental screening results
- A skills checklist
- Child information form with information such as date of birth, languages spoken, and parent/guardian contact information
- Work samples
- Individual information about the child such as their favorite things, learning styles, and personality traits
The information included in these transition folders help support kindergarten teachers and ensure they are not starting from scratch, but rather building off the foundation established in preschool. Mississippi’s reading gains are not a “miracle” as often cited, but rather a result of continuous and consistent policy efforts across and between early childhood and K-12.
New Jersey: Ensuring equitable, universal access to early childhood education programs
In 2025, then-Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed into law legislation to expand access to free, universal preschool and full-day kindergarten programs.62 Currently, more than half of the state’s elementary-serving school districts offer free preschool programs through a mixed-delivery partnership in elementary schools or with child care providers.63 The primary legislation codifies New Jersey’s preschool funding formula into statute and requires the New Jersey Department of Education to provide annual preschool expansion grants,64 placing the state on track to meet its goal of offering free, full-day kindergarten to all New Jersey families by 2030.65 This new law will enable young children between the ages of 3 and 6 to receive a strong foundational start to boost early literacy skills and learning outcomes.66 The new law also seeks to reduce silos and improve coordination between early childhood and K-12 systems by establishing the Universal Preschool Implementation Steering Committee, which will consist of representatives from across various state agencies.67 The legislation also ensures that families living in high-need areas are made aware of high-quality preschool options by requiring state agencies to issue guidance on these programs.68
Massachusetts: Deploying universal screenings and data-driven interventions
Massachusetts consistently ranks first in reading on NAEP69 and is one of the few states that eliminated its fourth-grade reading “honesty gap” between how well students performed on the statewide assessment compared with how they performed on the NAEP assessment in 2024.70 Massachusetts’ success can be traced to its early literacy initiatives. The state has an early literacy screening law that went into effect in 2023,71 which requires all K-12 schools to evaluate each student’s early literacy and reading skills at least twice annually from kindergarten through third grade, providing normative data of where students are and their progress over time.72 The state offers a suite of approved early literacy screeners,73 including:
- DIBELS 8th Edition: a teacher-administered assessment with one-minute fluency probes, electronic scoring, and progress monitoring74
- Early Bird: an adaptive, student-led independent screener that is offered through a gamified app75
- Amira: an adaptive artificial intelligence tool with speech recognition software that offers dual-language assessments in Spanish and English76
- mClass: an observational assessment with one-minute fluency probes that uses a technology platform that is also available in Spanish77
These assessments are used to inform the needs of each child and provide foundational differentiated literacy instruction in pre-K through third grade.78 Another promising strategy that the state has employed to boost early literacy skills is investing in teachers. In 2019, the state launched its Mass Literacy79 initiative, which supports educators with skills to deliver evidence-based80 and culturally and linguistically sustaining instruction.81 Through the state’s Early Literacy Consortium program, it offers grants82 to education agencies to provide literacy training to educators starting from pre-K and also prioritizes training program supervisors of early childhood teacher training to ensure alignment between early childhood and K-12 systems.83
Conclusion
The nation’s persistent challenges with reading achievement did not emerge overnight, nor will they be solved through a single reform. But lasting improvements in literacy require building bridges between early childhood and K-12 systems, including expanding access to early learning and aligning literacy practices, assessments, and interventions. The science of reading has provided valuable insights into how to support children’s early literacy development, and the science of child development contributes additional critical insight: The foundations of literacy are built through rich language experiences, supportive relationships, and developmentally appropriate learning environments in high-quality early care and education settings.84
To truly improve literacy, states across the country must see early care and education not as a separate system, but as the first step in a coordinated education continuum. Aligning early childhood education services with K-12 systems can help every child build a strong foundation for academic success.
To accomplish this goal, here are five actionable steps that policymakers can take to foster coordination between early childhood and K-12 systems to boost literacy:
- Guarantee universal access: Ensure free, universal access to mixed-delivery preschool and full-day kindergarten by expanding public school and community-based programs.
- Align birth-to-5 standards: Adopt statewide early literacy standards spanning birth through age 5 related to oral language, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and print concepts that will be accessible to families and providers across diverse early care settings.
- Mandate cross-system training: Provide unified and curricula-aligned professional development to early childhood providers, pre-K, and kindergarten educators, ensuring universal training in evidence-based literacy tools, such as the science of reading.
- Implement universal screening and provide targeted intervention: Screen children triannually starting at age 3 using developmentally appropriate, research-based tools to assess reading development—including language and writing skills—and provide immediate, targeted interventions to address learning needs or delays.
- Integrate longitudinal data: Build integrated statewide longitudinal data systems that track learning needs and outcomes from infancy through K-12, including developmental milestones, screening and assessment data, and readiness scales so that educators have a continuous view of progress to better support learners.
When early childhood and K-12 systems operate as a cohesive continuum rather than isolated silos, children achieve stronger foundational skills and better long-term academic outcomes. States leading the way are building sustainable literacy pathways by unifying their systems, equipping educators with evidence-based training, and using universal screening data to deploy targeted interventions. To reverse national reading declines, policymakers should look to the proven practices of Mississippi, Massachusetts, and others. Specifically, lawmakers must take bold actions to guarantee universal access to early learning, align birth-to-5 literacy standards, and mandate universal screenings paired with targeted support. Finally, lawmakers must ensure that states have a robust data infrastructure such as statewide longitudinal data systems to track learning needs, evaluate intervention efficacy, and measure student literacy progress from infancy through K-12.