The Abecedarian program was introduced in 1972 among children of low-income households, mostly African American women from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It provides high quality pre-school and educational childcare for children from birth to five years from disadvantaged backgrounds. It uses a systematic curriculum of ‘educational games’ with a particular emphasis on language and cognitive skills. A component for the first three years of school (ages 5-8) encourages parents to help with their children’s learning for at least 15 minutes a day. Evaluated by RCT, Abecedarian demonstrated benefits in terms of improved school readiness and achievement, age appropriate mental and physical development and lesser use of drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Cost-benefit analyses are also favorable.