With more than two decades of experience in public education supporting pre-k and elementary students, as well as multilingual learners, I’ve seen firsthand what the research underscores: The pre-k years are a pivotal stage, laying the foundation for future learning and long-term success. Ninety percent of brain development happens by age five, making this time some of the most formative in a child’s educational journey. 

Over the course of my career, I moved into instructional coaching and had the opportunity to work closely with pre-K teachers. In every classroom I visited, I saw educators doing extraordinary work, supporting children as they developed language and literacy skills, early math thinking, confidence, and curiosity through play and exploration.

But too often, teachers are doing this work without instructional materials designed to meet the full range of learners in front of them.

Recent data from RAND helps illustrate this reality. Eighty-five percent of teachers report using multiple instructional materials, relying on an average of three different programs. Only about half of pre-K teachers feel their materials adequately support diverse learners, including multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Many turn to self-created resources or platforms like Teachers Pay Teachers to fill gaps, particularly in differentiation and numeracy.

This patchwork approach doesn’t reflect a lack of effort, but instead a system that has not consistently provided educators with high-quality materials. Since early learning is both foundational and publicly funded at scale, the stakes are high. Educators need clear, independent information about what quality looks like, and which materials are positioned to deliver it.

EdReports has spent more than a decade helping the field answer these questions in K-12. We’ve published over 1,200 reviews of K-12 English language arts, mathematics, and science curricula, and we’ve seen firsthand how access to high-quality instructional materials can transform teaching and learning.

Now, we’re bringing that same commitment to pre-K—providing the field with independent, research-grounded insight into materials that shape children’s earliest learning experiences and helping to define what high-quality curriculum should offer in early childhood.

What Do We Mean by “Quality” in Pre-K Materials?

When EdReports began developing a review tool for pre-K instructional materials, we started with a central question:

Do these materials support all children in meaningful, developmentally appropriate learning, and do they support the educators responsible for bringing them to life?

To answer that, the EdReports pre-K criteria are organized into three sections, or “gateways,” each reflecting essential aspects of quality based on research and educator expertise.

The first gateway centers on access. In early learning, meeting the needs of all students begins with ensuring materials are designed for every child, regardless of language, background, or ability. High-quality pre-K instructional materials should reflect and value students' varied experiences and home languages, include meaningful family partnerships, and provide clear supports for multilingual learners and students with disabilities.

The second gateway focuses on the content and how it’s structured. Pre-K curriculum must be developmentally appropriate, which means it supports young children’s learning across domains in ways that align with how they grow. That includes language and literacy, mathematics, science and engineering, social studies, fine arts, and physical development. In addition, learning to work with others, building interpersonal skills, and emotional development are also crucial.

Importantly, strong materials don’t treat these areas as disconnected. They provide coherent learning experiences that build over time, helping children progress through intentional, age-appropriate, learning trajectories.

The third gateway shifts attention to the educators. Even the strongest curriculum on paper will fall short if it does not support teachers in practice. Pre-K educators need materials that help them foster engaging learning environments, apply intentional teaching strategies, understand how to assess and respond to student performance, and implement instruction effectively.

In this gateway, we look closely at how the materials support teachers in the classroom, whether they strengthen instruction through implementation, rather than simply providing activities.

Together, these three gateways help define what high-quality pre-K instructional materials should do: support children’s learning, honor their needs, and empower the teachers guiding them.

How Were EdReports Pre-K Criteria Developed?

The development of EdReports’ pre-K review criteria reflects our process of creating tools that are educator-led, research-informed, and continuously improved through field input.

Early learning does not have a single, widely adopted set of national standards—unlike some areas of K-12 education. That meant EdReports needed a strong research foundation to define quality in a way that was both credible and useful to the field.

A key anchor for this work was the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report, A New Vision for High-Quality Preschool Curriculum. This framework emphasizes the importance of accessibility, logical progression of learning, and the role of curriculum in supporting intentional teaching.

The NASEM report was instrumental in helping EdReports identify the three gateways outlined above: access, developmentally appropriate content and coherent learning progression, and educative support for teachers.

But research alone is not enough.

EdReports also established a pre-k advisory board, and engaged early childhood educators, researchers, and content experts through multiple rounds of refinement. Some of the researchers and educators involved in the NASEM report contributed feedback during the review criteria’s development.

How Pre-K Reviews Differ from Our K-12 Reports

This spring, EdReports will publish its inaugural batch of pre-K curriculum reviews: The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K, Frog Street, and Every Child Ready.  

These reports will look a little different than our K-12 ELA, math, and science reviews. Materials will be evaluated and reported at the gateway level, with ratings of meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations. However, unlike in K-12, pre-K gateways are not conditional. Every program is reviewed across all three gateways regardless of their scores in the first one or two gateways. 

This approach reflects both the unique nature of early learning and the need to build a shared understanding of what strong pre-K instructional materials should provide. Accessibility, curriculum approach and design, and teacher supports are equally essential components of high-quality pre-K materials. By examining all three gateways for every program, EdReports aims to offer clear, actionable information about what quality looks like in pre-K, and why each dimension matters for supporting young learners well.

The inaugural set of reports will focus on a mix of market-leading and emerging programs with distinct design components, offering an initial window into curriculum quality across the landscape. Additional reports will be released later this year with additional reviews coming in 2027 on a rolling basis. 

What Can District Leaders Do Now?

Even as more reviews are forthcoming, leaders do not need to wait to begin using the criteria.

The EdReports pre-K review criteria are available now to support local curriculum selection and implementation conversations. Whether districts are selecting among reviewed products or evaluating other options, the criteria provide a research-based framework for asking the right questions about quality.

Stay Connected

We invite educators, district leaders, and partners to explore the pre-K criteria, share them with colleagues, and sign up for updates as reports are released this spring.

Together, we can strengthen early learning by ensuring that from the very beginning, teachers and students have access to the high-quality pre-K instructional materials they deserve.