How do young children develop their sense of self? How do they learn to understand what they read, and express their ideas in writing? How do they develop abstract knowledge of mathematical concepts? These questions and others are explored in Deans for Impact’s publication, The Science of Early Learning. This report summarizes current cognitive-science research related to how young children — from birth to age eight — develop skills across three domains: agency, literacy, and numeracy. This document is intended to serve as a resource to anyone who is interested in our best scientific understanding of how young children develop control of their own behavior and intentions, how they learn to read and write proficiently, and how they develop the ability to think mathematically. Although The Science of Early Learning is not intended to cover every aspect of early learning and development, it may be considered a starting point for educators, teachers, parents, and caregivers who wish to explore principles of learning science as they relate to young children. Deans for Impact intends to incorporate these principles into the work we do with programs that prepare early-childhood educators, and we hope this resource will be broadly useful to the education community.