Early Childhood Education

Logo: Division of Early Childhood Services (DECS). The building blocks of education. Young students standing behind giant wooden blocks that spell out DECS.

Welcome! Thank you for visiting the Division of Early Childhood Services (DECS) website. High quality early education can improve outcomes, narrow achievement gaps, and convey long-term benefits for children in school and life. It is our desire to provide you with useful and timely information that will enhance your knowledge about the early learning programs and initiatives at the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE).

Vision: Lead and build New Jersey’s early education programs to provide all young children with equitable, research-based opportunities for learning and a developmentally appropriate education.

The Division of Early Childhood Services is committed to enhancing the social-emotional, physical and cognitive development of New Jersey's children from birth through third grade by supporting the implementation of comprehensive services that address the needs of the whole child.

Provide leadership, resources and professional learning opportunities that support high-quality early childhood and early elementary learning programs.
Provide guidance and capacity-building for meaningful family engagement in the developmental and learning support for children from birth through third grade.

Develop and align program standards, teaching, learning, and resources anchored to best practice and current research on early childhood development and learning.
Develop guidance, modules and other materials designed to facilitate the implementation of each component of high-quality development and learning programs for children from birth through 3rd grade.
Track, reflect and adjust implementation procedures to improve outcomes.
Build capacity to maximize the relationship with families to promote development and learning in all areas.
Enrich services by expanding and including the voices of diverse stakeholders.
Provide regional and on-site support to strategic staff who facilitate relevant information to local educators.