Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, education policymakers have debated the best ways to prevent and remedy learning loss. For our nation’s youngest learners, this loss has been multilayered, with developmental and academic losses compounded by diminished access to early childhood programs themselves.
During the 2020-21 school year, for example, the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University documented historic declines in the number of children enrolled in state-funded pre-K programs, with participation in six states decreasing by 30 percent or more. That same year, the nation’s kindergarten enrollment dropped by an estimated 340,000 children, with the steepest declines demonstrated among students from low-income families.
