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Early childhood programs have become Exhibit A in conventional accounts of how to eradicate inequality and poverty. But today’s classroom realities make this difficult to realize. If disadvantaged kids are going to achieve in school and life, classrooms must be more than play spaces staffed with babysitters. Nor should children be subjected to sit-in-your-seats, miniaturized versions of school. Instead, the programs they attend must be high quality and developmentally appropriate—maddeningly difficult characteristics to define, let alone achieve.

Let me set the stage by comparing two hypothetical classrooms for four-year-olds. Enter Classroom One. The teacher starts with the standard “circle time” in which the children gather in a circle on the rug. She reads the children a picture book about alligators, then dismisses them to tables where they receive photocopied sheets showing an alligator next to the letter A. While the kids select their crayons, she asks them to repeat after her: “A, ah, alligator. A, ah, alligator.” They answer back and begin coloring as if on autopilot: scribble, grab a new crayon, scribble, repeat.

Now enter Classroom Two. The teacher reads a book about alligators, takes a brief moment to point to the word “alligator,” and notes that it starts with “A.” She then asks the children what they know about alligators. One child mentions their sharp teeth, and the teacher probes, “Why do you think they have such sharp teeth?”

One child answers, “To eat!”

“Ah,” the teacher says with a twinkle in her eye, “What do they eat, anyway? Spaghetti?”

To read more, see my in the of , published by the . It was an honor to be invited to contribute to this issue, which also includes a series of articles on “The Obama Effect.”