Early Childhood Education: Why the First Five Years Shape Everything That Follows

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June 6, 2024

90% of Brain Development Happens Before Age 5

The science is clear: the first five years shape everything that follows.

8 MIN READ

90%

of brain growth before age 5

$13.6B

state preschool spending 2023-24

25%

of quality programs use Reggio Emilia

The first five years of a child’s life are the most consequential period of human development. Research from UNESCO confirms that 90% of brain development occurs before a child reaches age five, with the years between one and three being especially critical for cognitive growth.

What happens during these years does not just prepare children for kindergarten. It lays the cognitive, social, and emotional groundwork that shapes how they learn, relate to others, and handle challenges for the rest of their lives.

Early childhood education is the structured support that meets children during this window of development. This article examines what the research shows about how quality early education affects children, what parents in Highland, Maryland should know when choosing a program, and how the right environment can make a measurable difference across every domain of a child’s growth.

90% of brain development occurs before age 5 — making the early years the highest-value window for learning and skill formation. (UNESCO, 2024)

What the Research Says About Early Childhood Education

The evidence base for early childhood education is among the strongest in all of developmental science. A 2025 review published in EduVision: Journal of Innovations in Pedagogy and Educational Advancements synthesized findings from longitudinal studies and meta-analyses and concluded that participation in high-quality early childhood education significantly enhances cognitive development, including language acquisition, learning ability, and intellectual performance.

Children who attended quality programs also demonstrated better emotional regulation and fewer behavioral problems than children without similar educational exposure.

The long-term findings are equally substantial. Children who attended quality preschool programs show higher educational attainment and lower rates of negative outcomes in adulthood. Research published by the National Institute for Early Education Research found sizable long-term effects on school achievement, grade retention, and special education placement. These effects did not fade out over time. For grade retention and special education, the research shows that impacts actually grew larger each year after the program ended.

At the national level, state spending on preschool programs reached an all-time high of $13.6 billion in the 2023 to 2024 school year, reflecting growing recognition that early childhood education is a public investment with measurable long-term returns. Nobel Laureate economist James Heckman has demonstrated that investing in early childhood development not only enhances children’s cognitive and emotional skills but also reduces crime rates and boosts lifetime employment outcomes.

Research Finding	Outcome	Source
90% of brain development happens before age 5	Early years represent the highest-value window for learning and skill formation	UNESCO, 2024
High-quality ECE enhances language, IQ and learning ability	Measurable gains in cognitive development compared to children without early education	EduVision, 2025
ECE reduces grade retention and special education placement	Effects grow larger over time rather than fading out	NIEER Meta-Analysis
Quality preschool improves adult outcomes	Higher educational attainment, lower rates of crime and unemployment in adulthood	James Heckman, University of Chicago
State preschool spending reached $13.6 billion in 2023 to 2024	Record enrollment and funding signal growing national recognition of ECE’s value	NIEER State of Preschool 2024

Table 1. Key Research Findings on Early Childhood Education and Child Outcomes

How Brain Development Works in the Early Years

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published a 2024 report on brain development in early childhood that explains why this period is so formative. The brain is characterized by high neuroplasticity during the early years, meaning that specific skills and abilities are absorbed more readily during this window than at any other time in life. Because learning is a cumulative process, what a child gains in these years becomes the foundation on which every subsequent layer of knowledge is built.

Language development, executive function, emotional regulation, and social cognition all show their most rapid growth between birth and age five. The quality of a child’s early environment, including the responsiveness of caregivers, the richness of language they encounter, and the variety of experiences available to them, directly shapes how these neural pathways develop.

This is not an abstract developmental concern. It has practical implications for how children perform in kindergarten, how they relate to peers, how they manage frustration, and how they approach new problems. Programs that understand and respond to this developmental science are built differently from those that treat early childhood as simple supervised play.

Domain of Development	What Happens Before Age 5	Why Early Education Matters
Language and Communication	Vocabulary, sentence structure, and listening comprehension develop rapidly	Rich verbal environments accelerate language growth and literacy readiness
Cognitive Skills	Problem-solving, attention, memory, and early numeracy take shape	Structured learning activities build the thinking skills needed for academic success
Social and Emotional Skills	Children learn to manage emotions, cooperate, and read social cues	Classroom relationships give children safe practice for navigating group dynamics
Executive Function	The ability to plan, focus attention, and control impulses begins forming	Play-based and structured activities strengthen self-regulation before formal schooling
Physical and Motor Development	Fine and gross motor coordination advances quickly with movement and exploration	Outdoor time and hands-on activities support physical milestones alongside cognitive ones

Table 2. Developmental Domains and Why Early Childhood Education Supports Each One

See How Our Curriculum Supports Every Stage

Highland Playschool’s Reggio Emilia approach is built around child-led inquiry and educator-guided exploration.

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What Separates a Quality Program from a Standard One

Not all early childhood education programs deliver the same results. The OECD’s 2025 Education Policy Outlook identifies two factors that consistently determine whether a program produces strong developmental outcomes. The first is structural quality, meaning class sizes, staff-to-child ratios, and physical environment. The second, and more important, is the quality of daily interactions between educators and children. Programs where educators are responsive, verbally engaged, and actively curious alongside children produce meaningfully better outcomes than those where structural requirements are met but relational quality is low.

Curriculum frameworks also matter. Research from the early childhood education market shows that the Reggio Emilia approach, which accounts for approximately 25% of curriculum models used in quality programs globally, is built specifically around child-led inquiry, educator-guided exploration, and the belief that children are capable, curious learners from the earliest age. This is the approach used at Highland Playschool.

Characteristic of a Quality Program	What to Look For in Practice
Low student-to-teacher ratios	Each child receives individual attention and responses during the day
Responsive and verbally engaged educators	Teachers ask questions, introduce new vocabulary, and follow the child’s lead in conversation
Research-backed curriculum framework	Learning is intentional, not incidental. Activities are designed around developmental goals
Consistent staffing throughout the year	Children form secure attachments to familiar educators, which supports emotional regulation and learning
State licensing and quality recognition	External standards confirm the program meets or exceeds established benchmarks for safety and quality
Structured daily routine with predictable transitions	Predictability reduces anxiety and lets children invest their attention in learning rather than managing uncertainty

Table 3. Quality Indicators in Early Childhood Education Programs

What happens between birth and age five matters enormously, and the quality of the learning environment has effects that extend well beyond preschool.

Early Childhood Education at Highland Playschool

Highland Playschool has operated for over 20 years at 13342 Clarksville Pike, Highland, MD, serving families across Highland, Clarksville, Fulton, Ashton, and Laurel. The school is licensed under Maryland’s COMAR 13A.16 standards and participates in Maryland Excels, the state’s tiered quality improvement program.

The school serves children from six weeks through five years of age, with dedicated programs for infants, toddlers, early learners, preschoolers, and Pre-K children. Each age group is led by a specialized lead teacher who works with the same children throughout the year, providing the consistency that research links directly to better developmental outcomes.

The curriculum follows the Reggio Emilia approach, which positions children as active participants in their own learning rather than passive recipients of instruction. Morning circle time, guided hands-on learning, outdoor play, and structured rest periods follow a predictable daily routine that supports both emotional security and cognitive engagement.

Program	Age Group	Developmental Focus
Infant Program	6 weeks to 17 months	Secure attachment, sensory exploration, language foundation
Toddler Program	17 to 24 months	Motor skills, early language, social awareness, and independence
Early Learners	2 to 3 years	Cooperative play, vocabulary growth, and beginning cognitive skills
Preschool	3 to 4 years	Literacy and numeracy readiness, emotional regulation, peer relationships
Pre-K	4 to 5 years	Kindergarten readiness, critical thinking, self-regulation, and school-based social skills

Table 4. Highland Playschool Programs by Age Group and Developmental Focus

What Parents Should Ask When Evaluating a Program

For parents in Highland choosing an early childhood education program, the research points clearly toward a few questions that distinguish programs producing strong outcomes from those that simply provide supervised care.

The most important question is about educator-to-child ratios and whether the same educators stay with the same group throughout the year. The quality of the relationship between a child and their early educator is one of the most consistent predictors of developmental outcomes in the research literature. Changing educators frequently disrupts attachment and reduces the relational quality that drives learning.

The second question concerns curriculum. A program that can describe a specific, research-backed curriculum framework, explain how it supports each domain of development, and show how it connects to school readiness standards is a program that has thought carefully about what early childhood education is actually for.

The third question is about licensing and external quality standards. Maryland’s COMAR 13A.16 licensing sets health, safety, and operational requirements. Maryland Excels, the quality rating system, goes further by evaluating curriculum, educator qualifications, and family engagement. Both serve as independent verification that a program meets recognized standards.

Conclusion

Early childhood education is one of the most consequential investments a family can make. The science on brain development, the long-term research on academic and life outcomes, and the practical experience of educators all point to the same conclusion: what happens between birth and age five matters enormously, and the quality of the learning environment during these years has effects that extend well beyond preschool.

For families in Highland, finding a program that combines qualified and consistent educators, a research-based curriculum, and a warm and structured environment is the most practical step toward giving a child the foundation they need. The years go quickly. The foundation built during them does not.

Give Your Child the Strongest Start

Highland Playschool’s programs are built around more than two decades of experience and a genuine commitment to early childhood development.

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Explore our infant care, preschool, or Pre-K programs. You can reach us at (301) 778-1020 or admin@highlandplayschool.com.