New evidence on brain development during a child's early years makes it clear that early childhood should be a focus of increased policy attention. We now know that the basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that might be compared to the construction of a home: Beginning before birth, the brain's foundation is laid, with the neurological equivalent of the framing of rooms and the installation of the electrical and plumbing systems occurring in a predictable sequence that continues through early adulthood.