Children chatting while playing chess and learning.A smiling Black woman with curly brown hair reads "Let's Count with Lowly!", a colorful children's book, to four diverse young children. They sit closely around her, intently looking at the book's pages with a visible Lowly Worm character.

Where early learning meets evidence.

At the Early Learning Foundations (ELF) Lab, we investigate how children build early skills in language, literacy, and STEM that set the stage for lifelong learning. Our team blends cognitive science, education, and advanced quantitative methods to generate rigorous evidence that guides educational decision-making and strengthens learning from the very start.

We study how these abilities emerge and how best to measure them, generating insights that help educators deliver instruction tailored to children’s needs. From large-scale studies to innovative classroom tools, we turn data into actionable strategies that strengthen instruction and improve outcomes.

Explore Our Work