This brief article introduces the reader to a special issue of NHSA Dialog that focuses on approaches to meeting the learning needs of preschoolers who are at high risk of later reading difficulties and academic failure. The paper offers a perspective on the value of examining early-stage evaluations of complex preschool interventions, and briefly reviews research that provides a rationale for focusing on children's language and early literacy skills in preschool. Emerging approaches to promoting the school readiness of struggling learners in preschool, including preschool Response to Intervention models and differentiated instruction, are discussed as a context for the interventions described in the special issue's articles.