Preschool initiative offers equal footing

"What's the first letter of your name?" teacher Jimmy Jones asks.

"M," replies Marissa Ramirez without hesitation.

Even though Marissa and fellow preschoolers at the Marina Early Education Center in Los Angeles are only 3, most can sing their ABCs, count to 20, and identify basic shapes and colors. They're just beginning to recognize letters.

That's the kind of running start students will need when they get to kindergarten and first grade, says Jones, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles who serves on CTA's Early Childhood Education Committee.

Nine out of 10 California kindergarten teachers say it's important for children to attend preschool, according to a statewide poll conducted by Preschool California.

California voters will get a chance in June to show what they think of the idea when the Preschool for All initiative goes to the ballot. If it wins approval, the state will have to provide free voluntary preschool for every 4-year old. The initiative's provisions would be phased in over the next decade, beginning with the 2010-11 school year.

Proposed by actor/director Rob Reiner, the program would be funded through an increase in the state income tax for the richest 1 percent of Californians. They would pay an additional 1.7 percent tax on income exceeding $800,000 for married couples or $400,000 for individuals.

The concept won CTA's backing at the January meeting of State Council. [See related story.]

For children who get no support at home, it's very important that they get the hand up they need in order to start kindergarten and first grade "on equal footing with other students," said Sue Allen, speaking for the Early Childhood Education Committee during the floor discussion.

Early childhood education is "the single most important investment we can make as a society" in an effort to give students a quality education and the prospect of a higher standard of living, said Political Involvement Committee Chair Harry Keiley during the State Council debate.

Council delegates voted overwhelmingly to support the initiative.

Universal preschool is necessary because most publicly funded preschools in California have long waiting lists, shutting out thousands of disadvantaged children who could benefit the most from early childhood education.

Fewer than half of the nearly 1.2 million preschool-age children in California attend preschool, according to "Kids Can't Wait to Learn: Achieving Voluntary Preschool for All in California," a study by Preschool California. The state ranks 37th among the 50 states in preschool enrollment.

Nearly 327,000 California children who are eligible for subsidized preschool are not being served, according to "Public Safety Can't Wait." The report was released in February 2005 by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California, a nonprofit anticrime group led by the state's sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys and crime victims.

But the problem is not just affecting low-income children. Middle-income families, who make too much money to be eligible for subsidized programs, often can't afford to send their children to private preschools either. They can cost $3,000 to $5,000 per year or more. And they too have waiting lists.

Teachers — especially kindergarten teachers — can readily see the difference between those who have attended preschool and those who have not.

"Right off the bat there's the behavioral component," says Robert Lynch, a kindergarten teacher at C.B. Wire Elementary School in Sacramento and vice chair of the CTA Early Childhood Education Committee. "Children who have been to preschool are able to function in the classroom setting so much better. You don't need to teach them how school is different from the playground or being at home. Those children are already way ahead."

"When they first walk into kindergarten, you have to start in on letters immediately, then do sounds and then do words after that," says Lynch, a member of the Sacramento City Teachers Association. "If they haven't had an informal introduction to letters, they are up against children who know the whole alphabet from preschool."

"With the accelerated standards and expectations of kindergarten today, they are really lost if they haven't had preschool," says Jan Ely, who teaches kindergarten at Kohn School in Tulare. "If they come in able to read and write their name, identify some letters and numbers, do some counting, use scissors and color, it's much easier for us and we can take them much further."

Most of her students have attended either preschool or day care, but they're not one and the same.

"Day care centers vary so much," says Ely, a member of the Tulare City Teachers Association. "You have some that do a good job with structured instruction and others where children are primarily put in front of TVs and just allowed to play. Playing and interaction is good, but these children are still not given the foundation they really need to succeed in school."

Studies show that preschool attendance helps to bridge the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. According to the "Public Safety Can't Wait" study, children who attend quality preschool are better prepared for academic success and less likely to turn to crime later in life. The study also found that preschool can cut welfare costs and save the public more than $17 for every $1 invested.

A National Institute for Early Education study examined the effect of a good preschool experience on the academic skills of children entering kindergarten in five states. On vocabulary tests, children who attended a state-supported preschool scored 31 percent higher than a similar group that did not. On tests of early math skills, the state preschoolers outscored other children by 41 percent. The findings were essentially the same in a recent study of preschool students in Oklahoma, which has universal preschool.

"Childhood Investment Yields Big Payoff," a WestEd report, notes that those who participate in high-quality early childhood programs tend to have:

• Higher math and reading scores;
• Greater language abilities;
• Less grade retention;
• Less need for special education and remedial classes;
• Lower dropout rates;
• Better high school graduation rates;
• Higher levels of school attainment;
• Improved nutrition and health;
• Higher earnings as adults;
• Lower rates of alcohol or drug use;
• Less reliance on welfare.

A Rand Corp. study estimates that every dollar spent on preschool will yield $2.62 in savings for the state by boosting graduation rates and cutting juvenile crime. In addition, it finds fewer children would need to be retained at any grade level, and fewer years of special education would be necessary.

"With the high standards we have in California, I definitely think that preschool should be available to all students," says Lynch. Kindergarten, on the other hand, is available to all children, "but should be mandatory. Who knows? Perhaps one day both of them will be mandatory."

Initiative calls for training opportunities

Initiative backers believe that the best way to encourage teachers to choose preschool as a career is to offer training opportunities and competitive salaries.

If voters approve the Preschool for All initiative, preschool teachers would have until 2016 to earn bachelor's degrees, 24 units in early childhood care/education and a yet-to-be-established early learning credential. At present, preschool "certificates" can be earned by taking classes, but there is no teaching credential for preschool. Public colleges and universities would receive funding under the initiative to develop relevant coursework and degree programs.

The initiative also stipulates that certificated preschool teachers would be paid a salary on par with what K-12 teachers earn in the surrounding community. Preschool teachers today earn salaries on par with parking lot attendants. Turnover approaches 40 percent.