As attention to the importance of early learning in helping children succeed has grown, the number of early childhood indicators has exploded, creating confusion about how to define and measure outcomes in early childhood learning and development, a new report from nonprofit consulting firm FSG finds.

Based on interviews with forty early childhood experts and an evaluation of more than eleven hundred indicators, the report, Markers that Matter: Success Indicators in Early Learning and Education (50 Pages, PDF), found that national, state, and local efforts have combined to focus attention on the importance of early learning, even as an overabundance of measures has led to confusion. At the same time, the increasing diversity of the U.S. population and an improved understanding of how the young brain develops have revealed gaps where new indicators are needed.

Funded in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the report identified a set of forty-eight early learning indicators that reflect the healthy development of children from birth to age 8. The report also emphasizes the critical importance of racial and cultural equity among the country's increasingly diverse population of young children and families, and highlights the role of indicators in creating a common language for the field and fostering communication and collaboration in a field that historically has been fragmented.