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Providing
preschool for all
Goal is to improve literacy, social
skills.
by Katherine Corcoran,
August 19, 2002, Mercury News
It's not quite universal preschool, which would guarantee all
3- and 4-year-olds a free early childhood education. But the
New Haven Unified School District in Union City is getting as
close as it can, and closer by far than anywhere else in
California.
Starting this fall, all eight elementary school campuses in
the 13,500-student school district will have preschool
programs open to young children living within the attendance
areas. Some families will have to pay if they don't qualify
for free preschool under state income guidelines, and some
kids also may have to go on waiting lists if the program at
their school fills up before they enroll.
Still, it's the first known attempt by any school district in
the state to offer preschool to all pre-kindergartners,
first-come, first-served -- and not just those from low-income
families. With a $1.1 million grant from the California
Department of Education, the district in just two years went
from offering one program for 100 kids to enrolling 460
preschoolers for this fall -- about 75 percent of the 600
kindergartners it typically attracts each year.
"It's the first one I've heard of," said Michael Jett,
director of the child development division in the state
education department. "What they're doing that's unusual is
making a public commitment to universal preschool. And in
doing that, they're pulling down as much state preschool money
as they can.''
The New Haven preschool program comes at a time when
"universal preschool" and "school readiness" are hot terms
bandied about in the public and political arena. Study after
study has shown that children who attend high-quality
preschool programs are more likely to be ready for
kindergarten, to read on time, to avoid special education, to
finish high school and to stay out of trouble with the law.
Already, the state spends more than $300 million a year on
preschool for poor children.
Just last week, the Los Angeles County Children and Families
First commission voted to commit $100 million in tobacco-tax
money toward countywide preschool. Meanwhile, more than a
half-dozen agencies in Santa Clara County, from the city of
San Jose to the United Way, are looking at ways to improve
school readiness, meaning a child's ability to perform
academically once he or she reaches kindergarten.
In New Haven, an ethnically diverse school district in a
predominantly middle-class East Bay town, educators say their
preschool curriculum will be closely aligned with kindergarten
and promote collaboration between preschool and kindergarten
teachers. While building literacy and social skills in 3- and
4-year-olds, the program will help families get to know their
child's school early on. And parents, who must volunteer six
hours a month to be in the preschool program, will get used to
spending time at school.
The district will know if the program is successful by
evaluating second-grade reading test scores beginning three
years from now.
"There is no substitute for front-loading literacy," said New
Haven Superintendent Ruth McKenna. "My effort here is to
demonstrate over time that this is successful in a district
with demographics that reflect greater California.''
Still, the program has several hurdles to enrollment. Families
either have to qualify for the free program on rather low
income guidelines -- $37,645 for a family of four -- or pay
$441 a month, more than the average market rate of $356 for
part-time care in Alameda County and something many
working-class families might not be able to afford. If a site
fills up, families are referred to other locations, but may
not have the transportation to get there.
"It's not a perfect model, but it's a giant step compared to
other districts," said Paul Miller, executive director of
Kidango, a Bay Area operator of child-care centers that
contracts with New Haven to provide the preschool program.
Parent Priya Ayyagari likes the program for her 3-year-old,
Shreya, because it's close to home and is reasonably priced.
"I did some shopping around," she said, noting that Shreya
also is learning English rapidly, as the family speaks Dalgu
and Hindi at home.
"The teachers have been wonderful," added Toynica Franklin,
whose 4-year-old, Makiah, attends preschool at Pioneer
Elementary, where her older children also attend school.
"She's adjusting to the kids, listening, following directions.
And she's familiar with most of the teachers already. It's not
like school is foreign to her," Franklin said.
The biggest obstacle anywhere to providing universal preschool
is money. Critics say the Los Angeles plan is vague on how it
intends to pay for families whose children don't qualify for
free programs.
New Haven educators say they got creative -- and admittedly a
little bit lucky.
Fresh from a stint as chief deputy to state schools
Superintendent Delaine Eastin, McKenna decided to think big
and apply for state preschool subsidies for all campuses. With
a booming economy and flush state budgets, Gov. Gray Davis was
increasing the state preschool program by roughly $40 million
a year. At the time New Haven submitted its application in
1999, all proposals to expand state preschool that met state
requirements were being funded.
At the same time, a state school bond gave New Haven the money
to relieve overcrowding by building a new elementary school.
The school, named after Eastin, allowed the district to
reserve one kindergarten room on each campus to house two
sessions of preschool a day.
"The planets aligned for facilities and funding," McKenna
said. "We knew we had to apply for everything. That's what
happens when you work in Sacramento. You understand how these
things work.''
Kidango, meanwhile, raised $200,000 in private donations to
renovate the classrooms to meet state standards for preschool.
In a double stroke of luck, New Haven took advantage of the
California economy at both ends. It applied for grant money
when state coffers were overflowing. Then when it came time to
hire preschool staff, the economy had tanked, and qualified
teachers became much easier to find.
"We were really worried," Miller said. "The teacher shortage
has existed for many years, but it's not the problem it used
to be.''
The district expected to take three years to open all the
sites, but the program was completed in two.
"I thought we would start, and it would take a while before
things got off the ground," said Kathy Moniz, New Haven
director of pupil services. "The community seemed much more
ready for this and waiting for this than we realized.'' |
