ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the historical relationship between science from multiple disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience and epigenetics, and economics, and public policy related to early childhood education (ECE). While focused on the scientific knowledge that has played a role in legislation, funding and program implementation, instances in which public policy has influenced new research initiatives are discussed. While psychology and neuroscience proposed ECE as an intervention with the possible ability to boost intellectual potential and mitigate the effects of living in poverty, economics provided a more practical perspective. Child care has a longer history than Head Start, and child care policies sprung from economic necessity, to be followed by intervention research. With the increase of state prekindergarten programs, a new emerging research area began to examine several large-scale, public ECE programs brought to scale outside of Head Start and child care.
