Essay 9: Future Vision for Early Childhood Talent Development

This essay outlines reforms in policies, values, and curricular practices to create socially just and culturally responsive early learning opportunities for talent development. Early childhood is the most important time for learning. Children’s brains develop faster before the age of 5 than at any other time in their lives. Therefore, creating early learning environments that optimize the growth of young children should be a national priority. This article provides a vision for prioritizing this goal and specifically suggests disruptions to current policies and practices that are currently impeding talent development in all young children.