Good health and a rich home environment clearly help a child develop. Investing resources in the 0-8 period of life is likely to improve educational performance, help prevent social pathologies, improve quality of life, and save society money over the long run. State boards can support efforts to ensure access to maternal and child health services, nutrition services, quality day care, family literacy programs, parenting education, early childhood education, and early detection and intervention programs that help families overcome impediments to children's learning. State boards can use the policy levers at their disposal to ensure that professional preparation programs include instruction on child development, cognitive science, teaching to multiple learning styles, and using advanced learning technologies in effective ways. State board members can reference the broad outlines of brain research when considering each item of the board agenda.
Members can ask education department staff how their agency initiatives relate to the research.
The March 1997 issue of Educational Leadership is largely devoted to this topic.