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OVERVIEW Education and business leaders as well as the public at large have grown increasingly concerned about the achievement disparities that children from at-risk backgrounds manifest at a young age.1-3 Research has noted that children from low-income families, black and Hispanic children, children from Spanish-speaking homes, and children of mothers with low levels of education on average perform worse on indicators of academic achievement than their more advantaged peers.1-6 However, much of the research and policy attention has focused on the preschool years (ages 3-5) leading immediately into the transition to kindergarten,4, 5, 7 or on later elementary school and high school.8 Research that has explored disparities based on sociodemographic risk factorsi at earlier ages has indicated that disparities in cognitive development are evident at 24 months of age 9-11, with a few studies documenting developmental disparities based on sociodemographic risk within the first year of life.6, 12-14 Very little research, however, has used nationally representative data to explore whether disparities are found within the first year of life, and whether disparities are evident across a wider range of developmental outcomes.ii Early childhood initiatives that take into account the entire preschool period of 0 to