Inequalities of opportunity translate to vast disparities between low-income and higher-income children before they enter kindergarten. Unfortunately, there are few examples of successful, scalable policies to durably reduce these disparities. The evidence on Head Start has been disappointing, and universal pre-K programs are not well targeted and have shown mixed results.

Create an Opportunity, Evidence, and Innovation Office in the White House to fund locally administered programs aimed at boosting school readiness, evaluate their success, and identify scalable models. These programs should look less like Head Start and more like the ParentPowered initiative (formerly Ready4K), which sends parenting tips via text message and has been shown to improve school readiness and increase the time parents spend with their children.