Three California-based programs offer promising models for recruiting and preparing diverse cohorts of early educators through innovative and affordable pathways. These successful programs provide valuable lessons for policymakers and others interested in ensuring that all children have teachers who meet high standards and reflect the racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity of students and their families.
The first years of a child’s life provide a foundation for long-term health and well-being. As states consider policy proposals to update credential or degree requirements for early childhood educators, they can look to promising programs and state policies that recruit and prepare diverse cohorts of educators to teach in early childhood education programs. This report includes case studies of distinct approaches offering innovative, affordable pathways to preparation for diverse candidates.
As California prepares to make major investments in its early childhood education workforce, three programs offer promising models for recruiting and preparing educators through innovative, affordable pathways. These successful programs provide lessons for the state's policymakers about how to ensure all children have teachers who meet high standards and reflect the racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity of children and their families.
Research on early learning programs in the 1960s and 1970s revealed enormous benefits for children that lasted into adulthood, sparking investment in preschool programs, but two evaluations of large preschool programs that yielded mixed results created confusion about the wisdom of such investments. A review of rigorous and more recent research into the impact of preschool clarifies that students who attend high-quality preschool programs reap benefits that can last throughout their lives.
Research on early learning programs in the 1960s and 1970s revealed longlasting benefits, sparking investment in preschool programs. However, recent evaluations of two large preschool programs found mixed results, creating confusion about whether preschool programs can support student success. This report reviews these two studies and others in depth, and finds that when participants are compared to very similar students who did not attend preschool, the benefits of participation are typically found to be substantial.
The School Development Program (SDP) established by child psychiatrist James P. Comer and the Yale Child Study Center, is grounded in the belief that successful schooling—particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds—must focus on the whole child. With the Whole Child in Mind describes SDP’s six developmental pathways and explains how the program's nine key components create a comprehensive approach to educating children for successful outcomes.
The book provides a comprehensive examination of how states can build high-quality early education systems: It discusses design and implementation, themes to guide program development, effective management and collaboration with state agencies, and the central role that teachers play in improving children’s lives. There is no single roadmap to excellence, but the varied experiences of states can provide important insights into the policies and practices that lead to quality early learning.
As California policymakers look to strengthen the state’s early care and education workforce, the state could take a page from New Jersey’s playbook. In 1999 the Garden State launched an initiative to strengthen and increase compensation for its pre-K teacher workforce. Within 10 years, nearly every preschooler in the state program was taught by a fully credentialed teacher being paid a public school teacher’s salary.
This brief provides California policymakers with recommendations on how to improve access to high-quality early childhood education (ECE) for all children. It is based on a report that examines the ECE practices in 10 counties that vary by region, population density, and child care affordability. The report upon which this brief is based describes the landscape of ECE at the local level as it is shaped by federal and state policies, illuminates challenges that counties face in providing access to high-quality programs, and highlights promising practices.
There is overwhelming evidence that children’s early years, from birth through preschool, are a crucial time for their development, and that high-quality early learning opportunities support children’s school readiness, promote later life success, and yield a return of up to $7 for every $1 invested. Providing access to high-quality ECE for all children in California will require a comprehensive approach to turning an uncoordinated set of underfunded programs into a true system of supports for children, families, and providers. A complement to LPI’s earlier report Understanding California’s Early Care and Education System, this report examines the challenges California’s counties face in providing ECE and provides recommendations for improving access to high-quality ECE for all children.
