This is the executive summary for the report, "From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts: A Science-Based Approach to Building a More Promising Future for Young Children and Families." Early childhood is a time of great promise and rapid change, when the architecture of the developing brain is most open to the influence of relationships and experiences. Yet significant disadvantages in the lives of young children can undermine their development, limit their future economic and social mobility, and thus threaten the vitality, productivity, and sustainability of an entire country. Today's early childhood landscape includes a diverse array of policies and services designed to strengthen the ability of families to face these challenges and support the healthy development of their children. A half-century of program evaluation research has demonstrated repeatedly that effective early childhood services can improve life outcomes for children facing adversity, produce important benefits for society, and generate positive returns on investments. But the world has changed dramatically since many of these programs were first introduced. This report introduces a new approach--a concept familiar to other industries and fields, but missing until now from the early childhood field. It also proposes a research and development (R&D) platform that will catalyze a new era in early childhood policy and practice--driven by a new way of thinking fueled by advances in science and a new way of working that embraces the culture of innovation. [For the full report, see ED583242. For the key findings, see ED594409.]