White House Pushes Joint Focus on STEM and Early Education

Two top priorities of the current Administration, early childhood education and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), received joint attention recently at the first-ever early learning and STEM Learning Symposium at the White House. The Secretary of Education announced five goals, which include identifying best practices and fostering formal and informal, family-centered opportunities for young children to develop the vocabulary and background knowledge they need to excel in STEM-related fields. More than 200 public and private initiatives were also announced at the symposium.