Universal Preschool in California: Promising Practices for Mixed Delivery Systems

In 2021, California committed to providing preschool for all 4-year-olds and income-eligible 3-year-olds by 2025–26. The largest investment in public preschool was the expansion of transitional kindergarten (TK), a preschool program run exclusively in public schools. At the same time, state policymakers committed to maintaining a mixed delivery system (i.e., a system in which preschool and child care are offered in a variety of settings). In California, the mixed delivery system includes TK, the California State Preschool Program (CSPP), Head Start, licensed family child care homes, and licensed child care centers.

Mixed delivery systems have many benefits. They increase capacity to serve children across the state, expand parent choice, and support small businesses. However, operating a mixed delivery system is challenging because the governance of preschool programs is spread across multiple agencies, and each program has different eligibility thresholds, quality standards, workforce supports, and reporting requirements. This complex system is difficult for families and providers to understand and navigate. It also results in programs of varying quality. In this report, we examine local implementation of preschool within California’s mixed delivery system, elevating promising practices to support access to high-quality early learning experiences.

Case Studies of Local Preschool Delivery

This report examines two districts and two cities that are taking a range of approaches to align their preschool programs and increase access to high-quality early learning within California’s mixed delivery system. We look at how they approach preschool governance and administration, access and enrollment, quality standards and monitoring, workforce compensation and development, and reinforcing the mixed delivery system. Case study sites are described below:

• Alum Rock Union Elementary School District (Alum Rock Union) in San Jose has built long-standing partnerships with community-based providers who run infant, toddler, and preschool programs on school campuses. Several partners have strong ties to the community and reflect students’ linguistic diversity. The district partnered with a community organization to open a birth-to-5 early learning campus that helps coordinate services for families.
   
• Lindsay Unified School District (Lindsay Unified) in the Central Valley is the only public preschool provider in the area, and all 3- and 4-year-olds are eligible for preschool due to neighborhood eligibility for CSPP. To align its two programs, TK and CSPP, the district blends funding from multiple sources and requires classrooms to meet the highest quality standards of each program. The district also integrates TK and CSPP staff in professional development and uses consistent curricula and assessments across classrooms.
   
• The city of Long Beach coordinates early learning through the Long Beach Early Childhood Education (ECE) Committee. The committee unites district, city, nonprofit, and health partners around a shared strategic plan. The city, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Fund for Long Beach, developed an online enrollment hub to help families find and enroll in ECE programs. The committee hosts annual festivals to help families learn about early learning programs and offers a citywide annual conference for early educators across the mixed delivery system.
   
• The city of San Francisco established a centralized Department of Early Childhood that coordinates enrollment with the help of a streamlined data system. It uses revenue from a commercial rent tax and state and federal dollars to fund ECE access for families with low and moderate incomes, supplement educator wages, and help providers meet the city’s quality standards. Anticipating that 4-year-olds would move from community-based preschool into TK as TK expanded, the city increased the supply of infant and toddler care. The city also provides coaching and professional development for all providers in its network.

Lessons From the Case Study Sites

The four case study sites reveal both common themes and variations in local approaches to ensuring robust preschool systems. These include the following:

• Strong and consistent leadership focused on ECE, coupled with long-term strategic planning, are essential elements of local system coherence. In the school districts, leadership comes from an early childhood director with support from the superintendent and school board. In the cities, San Francisco created a local governing agency for early childhood programs, while Long Beach relies on a coordinating body. All four sites are guided by an early childhood strategic plan that guides the work of diverse partners toward a common goal.
   
• Collaborating with community partners and building centralized enrollment systems builds families’ awareness of programs. Long Beach and San Francisco organize citywide events and coordinate messaging across partners so that information is consistent across the city. Community-based providers in Alum Rock Union and San Francisco run family resource centers that offer information to families in their home language. Long Beach and San Francisco developed centralized enrollment systems that include a universal application for care and that connect families to financial aid.
   
• Setting common quality standards for all preschool classes helps address disparities in program quality requirements. San Francisco developed quality standards that apply to all providers receiving city funding. The city provides funds to help classrooms meet the standards and established common tools to assess classroom quality. Lindsay Unified aligns quality by blending and braiding CSPP, TK, and special education preschool funding, using the same curriculum, child assessments, and quality measures across classrooms.
   
• Local resources and government structures influence sites’ ability to improve ECE workforce preparation and compensation. San Francisco uses city dollars to provide citywide professional development and coaching to providers within its network. Lindsay Unified supports coaching and joint professional development for TK and CSPP teachers with braided funds. Long Beach’s ECE Committee holds an annual citywide symposium for early educators. However, large disparities in pay persist between TK teachers and other publicly funded preschool teachers. San Francisco is the only site that has been able to raise teacher qualifications and compensation at scale due to its local commercial tax.
   
• To sustain the mixed delivery system, using local resources to serve children birth through age 3 can help bolster community providers whose 4-year-old enrollment declines as TK expands. Serving younger children is more expensive than serving 4-year-olds because they need smaller group sizes and age-appropriate facilities. San Francisco used local commercial rent tax revenue to fund slots for infants and toddlers and offered grants to build or renovate facilities. Alum Rock Union converted an underenrolled elementary school into a birth-to-5 campus, expanding access to infant and toddler care. Long Beach has relied on philanthropy to fund child care scholarships.

Recommendations

The findings from these sites point to the following recommendations for state and local leaders as they work to strengthen California’s mixed delivery preschool system. State and local leaders can do the following:

• Consolidate or coordinate the administrative agencies overseeing California’s various preschool programs. California’s early learning system remains fragmented across multiple state and local agencies. The state can coordinate preschool governance—through a unified department of early childhood or a state-level interagency working group such as a children’s cabinet—that streamlines grant processes, data systems, and reporting and aligns the work of state agencies responsible for preschool and child care. Policymakers can also identify and fund a lead agency in each county to oversee preschool coordination, family outreach, and professional development—potentially expanding the roles of existing organizations such as county offices of education, First 5 commissions, or local planning councils. In the absence of state policy changes, cities and other municipalities should consider identifying a lead agency or coordinating body to oversee as many early childhood programs as possible.
   
• Develop a universal application and enrollment system for families enrolling in publicly funded ECE programs. To make it easier for families to find and enroll in care, cities or counties can build an online hub that shows preschool, child care, and TK availability in a geographic area and that offers a streamlined application. California has invested in similar efforts in the past, but they did not meet the needs of families and providers. State agencies can look to Long Beach and San Francisco for guidance, as well as states such as Alabama. California can also require that providers regularly share information about their available slots with their child care resource and referral agencies to ensure that information on the state website is up to date. At the local level, resource and referral agencies, county offices of education, school districts, and family resource centers can work together to share what ECE options are available to families.
   
• Align quality requirements across preschool programs and provide funding to meet these standards. To ensure consistent quality across the mixed delivery system, California should align standards for TK, CSPP, and subsidized child care programs, including class ratios, curricula, assessments, and inclusion practices. Increases to quality standards should be supported by funding that reflects the cost of providing high-quality care. In the absence of a state requirement, districts can require consistent quality standards across their preschool and TK programs. Local governments can also set and fund their own quality standards, as in San Francisco.
   
• Develop district leaders’ abilities to support early childhood development. Having a leader with early childhood expertise can help ensure that early educators receive appropriate support and that education for preschool students is developmentally appropriate. Districts should consider appointing an ECE coordinator or, where possible, a director to oversee TK, CSPP, and other early learning programs. Administrators overseeing TK teachers are required to have a California Administrative Services Credential, which is often difficult for experienced preschool directors to obtain because the experience and prior teaching requirements are focused on K–12 settings. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing could facilitate pathways to the credential by allowing experience as an ECE director to count toward those requirements. California could build the ECE expertise of aspiring elementary school administrators by including early childhood learning standards along with the K–12 standards that govern licensing and accreditation. It could furthermore expand access to professional development on ECE for school principals through the 21st Century Leadership Academy or other avenues.
   
• Align requirements for state-funded preschool teachers. California can ensure consistent and adequate teacher qualification standards across early learning programs as it raises compensation. Currently, only CSPP teachers need to hold a Child Development Associate Teacher Permit. The legislature should consider requiring educators in subsidized child care serving 3- and 4-year-olds to hold comparable qualifications, while providing supports to increase access to higher education. Policymakers should also consider requiring TK assistant teachers to have at least 12 units of ECE coursework, similar to associate teachers in state preschool, phasing in that requirement over time.
   
• Increase educator compensation. Early childhood educator salaries in California remain far below livable levels and are uneven across programs. The California Department of Social Services is currently updating the state’s reimbursement rates for early childhood services, a critical step for the health of the mixed delivery system because it would increase funding for providers and allow them to increase salaries. In the interim, local governments can use tax revenues and philanthropic resources to supplement pay through stipends. For example, San Francisco funded educator stipends based on educators’ permit and degree levels. Where possible, school districts can use general funds to close wage gaps between their TK and preschool teachers.
   
• Support sustained, job-embedded professional development across the mixed delivery system. California can make quality professional development more widely available by developing a regional infrastructure for preschool professional development and coaching. Regional hubs, perhaps hosted by county offices of education, could support coaches and provide professional development, as in San Francisco. Cities and counties can also offer coaching and professional development where funding is available. These agencies, along with districts, can offer joint learning opportunities for CSPP and TK teachers. They can also provide professional development to preschool teachers who are shifting to work with younger children.
   
• Help community-based providers make the shift to serving younger children as 4-year-olds move into TK. To ensure a robust mixed delivery system, California can provide grants and technical assistance to preschool providers to modify their facilities and train their staff to work with younger children. The state also can assist programs in enrolling more 3-year-olds through the use of community eligibility, which offers universal eligibility in low-income neighborhoods. The California Department of Education could also provide technical and financial assistance to school districts facing declining enrollment that want to repurpose space for children from birth through age 3.

California has made meaningful progress toward expanding access to preschool, but realizing the full promise of the state’s mixed delivery system will require a shared vision and cooperation across state and local agencies. Streamlining governance, simplifying family enrollment, aligning quality standards, better supporting the workforce, and reinforcing the mixed delivery system can make the system more equitable and navigable for families and providers alike.

Universal Preschool in California: Promising Practices for Mixed Delivery Systems by Hanna Melnick, Marjorie E. Wechsler, Victoria Wang, and Sara Plasencia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This research was supported by the Ballmer Group, Heising-Simons Foundation, and Kelson Foundation. Additional core operating support for LPI is provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Raikes Foundation, Sandler Foundation, Skyline Foundation, and MacKenzie Scott. We are grateful to them for their generous support. The ideas voiced here are those of the authors and not those of our funders.