Research Findings: Educators declare their commitment to high-quality education for all children. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has been increasingly included as critical topics, even for young children. However, there are exceptions, especially the provision of developmentally appropriate STEM experiences to children with disabilities (CWD). In this article, we review evidence concerning this equity gap, including the importance of STEM education to CWD. We find that the early years provide an exceptional opportunity to introduce STEM, but that this potential is often left unrealized, especially for young vulnerable children, who live in poverty, are members of linguistic and ethnic minority groups, or are CWD (some with particular disabilities in STEM domains). Research also indicates the success of some educational approaches. Practice or Policy: Research and development in each of the STEM domains, as well as interdisciplinary approaches provides directions for both policy and practice. For example, both need to change to reflect importance of STEM for all young children, especially CWD, the need to change harmful beliefs, and the positive effects of approaches based on learning trajectories. We conclude with an introduction of a new center to support inclusive innovation in early education in STEM.

The increasing interest in early childhood mathematics education for decades has increased the need for empirically supported pedagogical strategies. However, there is little agreement on how early math might best be taught. We draw from the empirical literature to paint a picture of research-based and research-validated pedagogical approaches and strategies for teaching early math. Most approaches share core characteristics, including concern for children’s interests and engagement and for working on content matched to children’s level of thinking. Learning trajectories are an especially useful organizing structure because they combine and integrate educational goals, development of children’s thinking, and empirically supported pedagogical strategies. Therefore, they help teachers interpret what the child is doing, thinking, and constructing, and offer instructional activities that extend children’s mathematical thinking. Simultaneously, teachers can see instructional strategies from the child’s perspective, offering meaningful and joyful opportunities to engage in learning.

Measurement is a critical component of mathematics education, but research on the learning and teaching of measurement is limited. We previously introduced, refined, and validated a developmental progression – the cognitive core of a learning trajectory – for length measurement in the early years. A complete learning trajectory includes instructional activities and pedagogical strategies, correlated with each level of the developmental progression. This study evaluated a portion of our learning trajectory, focusing on the instructional component. We found that the instruction was successful in promoting a progression from one level to the next for 40% of the children, with others developing positive new behaviors (but not sufficient to progress to a new level). We identified specific characteristics of the interventions’ tasks and teacher–child interactions that engendered learning. The use of standard or multiple nonstandard units may play different roles at different points in the learning trajectory.