Congress has begun debating how to revamp the No Child Left Behind Act and one of the nation’s newest superintendents has an idea lawmakers should keep in mind: Education reform begins with child care, preschool and prekindergarten.

“If you want to reform high school, you need to reform early childhood. You don’t reform high school in high school, you reform very early on in life,” incoming Minneapolis Public School Superintendent Gregory Thornton told Milwaukee’s Business Journal.

This comment highlights the idea that early learning could play a pivotal role in the discussion about how to improve the federal law that governs K-12 education. As lawmakers begin to hold hearings, there are key questions about that role, including: Will the PreK-3rd movement translate its momentum into concrete changes that integrate pre-k with early elementary grades?  How will President Barack Obama’s commitment to quality early learning be reflected in any new law?

While preschool and prekindergarten ideas will likely be part of the debate, this is an opportunity for the Obama administration to translate its commitment into change. The test will not be how loudly Obama and his congressional supporters support any changes, but ultimately by how legislators weave early learning reforms into a final bill.

Will the bill strengthen links between pre-k and kindergarten, first and second grades? Will it contain new support for early learning teachers to get training and earn college degrees? Or, will these and other efforts be drowned out by battles over how to measure teacher effectiveness?

Unlike other educational reform ideas, there seems to be wide support in Washington, D.C., this year for quality early learning. The legislative battles over No Child Left Behind should tell us how deep that support really is.

We will keep an eye on what should be an interesting debate.