Teaching & Learning

The president of the American Federation of Teachers is calling for a national commitment to universal preschool starting at age 3.

Sandra Feldman unveiled a blueprint last month for an effort she said would make such services affordable for all families and ultimately help shrink the achievement gap between disadvantaged and better-off children.

"It would give poor children the access to high-quality early-childhood education that they are now largely denied—the preventive medicine they need to compete," Ms. Feldman told the more than 2,800 AFT members attending QUEST, the union's biennial professional-development meeting, held in Washington July 12-15. "Working and middle-class families would get a higher-quality early-childhood arrangement at less cost, something they desperately want," she said. "It could mean that children of all backgrounds would be able to learn together...