A Glass Half Full and Half Empty: The State of the Science in Early Childhood Prevention and Intervention Research

Abstract

In this article, we review the field of early childhood prevention and intervention science, describe noteworthy achievements over the past half-century by researchers in this area, and comment on current issues in need of ongoing attention. Although there have been many successes and noteworthy achievements in the field, in recent decades there has been little progress toward population-level impacts of early intervention. As such, novel empirical methods and revised standards of evidence are needed to complement (rather than replace) existing best practices for the development, implementation, evaluation, and scaling of effective programs.