This tool provides information on how quality early childhood education programs can mediate the adverse influence of homelessness, reducing the achievement gap, and positioning children to be ready to enter school, learn, and 1 For more information on the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, see https:// www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/ index.html Early Care and Education for Young Children Experiencing Homelessness 2 succeed (Perlman, n.d., p. 1). Recognizing the benefits of positive experiences for young children, many early childhood programs prioritize the enrollment of young children experiencing homelessness, but homeless children’s participation in such programs remains disproportionately low (U.S. Department of Education, 2016, p. 12) with only 8% of young homeless children being served by Head Start/Early Head Start or McKinney-Vento programs (Administration for Children & Families, 2017, p. 6)