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The Power of Preschool Promise

The Power of Preschool Promise

by | May 19, 2023 | Preschool, Oregon Policy

Heather Rogen has worn many hats working in early childhood for nearly 32 years – from home visiting to directing Head Start programs, and working in family health programs.  

In 2020, Rogen founded Boulden-Rogen Early Learning Academy. In just two years, the academy expanded to six early learning centers, serving communities in Redmond, Bend, and Prineville.  

“I decided it was time to look at my community and see where the gaps were,” Rogen said. “And I decided to design a program that had the fewest barriers as possible for families.” 

For Rogen, it is essential that all families have access to high-quality early learning and care, so the center offers a variety of payment programs, which gives parents more options for where they send their young children.  

“Part of that is having a private pay program, Employment-Related Day Care, Baby Promise, and Preschool Promise all wrapped into one center that looks the same, no matter who is paying for those spots,” she said.  

The first Boulden-Rogen site in downtown Redmond started small, with Preschool Promise providing some of the initial funding. This gave Rogen the means to build and expand early learning and care centers across Central Oregon, with well-trained and experienced staff, and lower child ratios.

Oregon’s Preschool Promise provides free high-quality preschool education to children ages 3-4 whose families live at 200 percent or below the Federal Poverty Level, foster families, and families in certain rural communities.  

In 2015, Children’s Institute collaborated with 34 partner organizations to support Preschool Promise legislation. After its successful passage, the program launched in 2016 across nine regions, as a part of a larger statewide initiative to improve early childhood education, and partners with public and private providers to expand access to preschool and support the diverse needs of Oregon families. 

Preschool Promise is administered by the state’s Early Learning Division (ELD)—part of the Oregon Department of Education—and coordinated by local early learning hubs, which promote the program, help to recruit families, and process applications.  

 

An agency in transition 

Preschool Promise was a staple source of income for early childhood programs during the pandemic, which devastated an already fragile sector. Coming out of COVID, the ELD has been focused on accountability, implementing new reporting requirements, examining enrollment thresholds, and having more targeted supports and conversations with early learning hubs for enrollment.   

Currently, Preschool Promise serves about 4,300 young children across Oregon. Some regions of the state are still struggling to fill slots and serve eligible families, but ELD director Alyssa Chatterjee is confident that the creation of a new state agency—the Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC)—will be more responsive to communities across the state and will support a more centralized and streamlined early childhood system.

“We need to be more responsive to the information that we get from early learning hubs, and we need to build a system that’s going to allow us to do that. And I think as we’re becoming the Department of Early Learning and Care, we have a lot more control and ability to create those systems,” said Chatterjee.

The passage of Oregon House Bill 3073 (2021) established DELC to centralize and streamline Oregon’s early childhood system, with Chatterjee leading the department. The ELD will begin operating as the DELC starting on July 1, 2023.  

Flexibility to meet families’ diverse needs 

Preschool Promise offers a mixed delivery approach, meaning that families have more flexibility in where they take their children. Chatterjee explained that the mixed delivery system recognizes that high-quality preschool can happen in a variety of settings.  

“That means we have family child care providers, we have small and large private centers, nonprofits, school district partners, community organizations, and recognize that high-quality environments for preschool exists in all those settings,” said Chatterjee. 

An image of the different types of early childhood programs that are funded by Preschool Promise. This includes Head Start and Oregon Pre K, Public Preschool, Public Charter Schools, Private Preschool, Relief Nurseries, Education Service Districts, Community Based Organizations, and Child Care Providers

This allows families to choose a child care arrangement that best meets their needs, whether it be full-time, part-time, evenings and weekends, or drop-in care.  

It also ensures that families experiencing a range of financial and living situations have opportunities to access high-quality early learning and care.  

First Place Kids Preschool is a unique, low-barrier program through St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County that addresses the needs of children and families who are experiencing homelessness. 

The center’s wraparound model offers therapeutic child care, family resource coordination, advocacy and referrals, and family enrichment and bonding activities. 

The preschool is completely free to young children who are experiencing homelessness in the Eugene community and currently has 15 available slots in its first year of Preschool Promise.  

First Place Kids director, Ilana Jakubowski, says that although there has been a bit of a learning curve working with Preschool Promise, it is hugely beneficial both for families and the preschool program itself. 

“This program is huge because it provides a living wage for the preschool staff and free early education for families,” said Jakubowski. “It has allowed us to start a classroom from the ground up.” 

 

A profound impact 

Being a Preschool Promise family provides a peace of mind for parents, knowing they can enroll their children in preschool programs that stimulate healthy child development, help them reach milestones, and support a range of needs.  

Parent Kryssi Aguiar’s 5-year-old daughter, Kens, is enrolled in Preschool Promise at the Ivy School in Medford.  

Aguiar said that she was nervous about enrolling her daughter in Preschool Promise, concerned that she wouldn’t be able to find a program that would support Kens’ needs, as a child with autism. But the Ivy School exceeded her expectations and helped her daughter flourish. 

“We’re coming up on the end of our second year. She has been potty trained for almost a year and a half. She engages with other peers her age and older kids now and previously she wouldn’t,” said Aguiar. “I know that my daughter is safe and I know that she’s loved. I know she’s cared for. I know she’s appreciated and treasured.” 

Before Kens was enrolled in Preschool Promise, Aguiar’s family was a single income household. She said that if she and her husband had both been working, the cost of child care would have been financially impossible. Kens’ enrollment in Preschool Promise has enabled Aguiar to pursue higher education and she now works as a licensed tax professional for the State of Oregon. She and her husband are now both able to work. 

“Without my daughter being able to be at school and be safe, and taken care of, I would have literally never been able to do that,” she said. 

This image shows a table in a preschool classroom with art stations for students and a colorful rainbow.
This image shows a colorful display of school supplies in a preschool classroom.
This image shows a large preschool classroom with cute decorations and stations for different types of learning and play.

Providers are also seeing the direct impact of the program for young children and their families.  

“Our Boulden-Rogen parents are so excited that this program exists,” Rogen said. “We’ve had kiddos go on to kindergarten that are doing super, super well and are able to access the things they need.”  

At First Place Kids Preschool, many parents who waited to access early learning and care can now enroll their children in preschool, which in turn allows parents to access employment and other opportunities for themselves.  

“The families that have been able to access this care have told stories about waiting for months and months to access the care and now they can finally access it, so it definitely seems to be making an impact for families who are signing up,” said Jakubowski. 

“If a preschool program wants to be more accessible, then Preschool Promise is a great way to go.”

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2020 NIEER Report: Federal/State Partnership Needed to Expand High-Quality, Full-Day Preschool

2020 NIEER Report: Federal/State Partnership Needed to Expand High-Quality, Full-Day Preschool

by | Apr 29, 2021 | What We're Reading, Federal Policy, National Research, News, Oregon Policy, Oregon Research, Policy Trends, Preschool, Preschool Landscape, COVID-19, Equity

As expected, the COVID-19 pandemic set back state preschool enrollment and funding across the country, according to the 2020 edition of The State of Preschool Yearbook by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, released earlier this month.

Oregon had achieved an increase in enrollment and inflation-adjusted spending prior to the pandemic, and is poised to continue to make headway on preschool access by funding the Governor’s recommended expansion of Preschool Promise, Oregon Pre-Kindergarten, and the Equity Fund during the 2021 legislative session.

But nationally, the report found that:

  • Growth in state-funded preschool was slowing before the pandemic.
  • The pandemic imposed serious setbacks and reversed recent progress.
  • Uneven progress among states is worsening inequality in children’s access to high-quality preschool.
  • Most states spend too little per child to support high-quality, full-day pre-K and few reach all their 3- and 4-year-olds.

NIEER says now is the time for a renewed commitment to high-quality preschool for all, beginning with those in the lowest-income families.

“Oregon is one of a small number of states approaching levels of per-child spending adequate to truly support high-quality preschool,” said Steven Barnett, Ph.D., NIEER’s founder and senior co-director.

Dana Hepper, CI’s director of policy and advocacy, adds, “Oregon’s per-child spending reflects the progress we’ve made toward achieving funding parity with K-12 schools — which would mean preschool teachers were paid on the same scale as elementary teachers, and full school-day programs were available to 3- and 4-year-olds.”

Federal/State Partnership Needed Beyond COVID Rescue & Recovery Dollars

Nationwide, enrollment in state-funded preschool increased slightly in 2019-2020, but took a hit in 2020-2021 as many programs closed or only offered virtual learning and parents were hesitant to send children to in-person school during the pandemic.

“For nearly 20 years, annual progress on preschool has been slow and uneven, and at this pace universal pre-K will remain an unfulfilled promise into the next century,” said Barnett. “Beyond federal rescue and recovery dollars for the short-term, we need a new federal/state partnership to accelerate progress toward high-quality pre-K beginning with the most disadvantaged children, many of whom still receive no pre-K at all. This would require that federal and state governments steadily increase spending on pre-K during the next 30 years, expanding programs to reach all 3- and 4-year-olds, beginning with the many children in low-income families who still do not attend pre-K.”

As with last year, the survey reveals bipartisan support for preschool across the country, with both “red” and “blue” states among the nation’s leaders in high-quality preschool. That offers hope that the nation can move ahead to expand access more rapidly in the future.

Preschool Promise: 2019 Policy Brief

Preschool Promise: 2019 Policy Brief

by | Dec 19, 2018 | CI Publications

Our latest policy brief focuses on the expansion of Preschool Promise, Oregon’s high-quality preschool program that serves children and families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold.

The brief describes how high-quality programs operate, where Preschool Promise slots are distributed across the state, and why preschool investments are great for Oregon kids.

Our 2019 policy recommendations for the state include expanding public preschool slots to serve an additional 10,000 kids by 2020, fully fund Head Start and Oregon Pre-kindergarten, and strengthen our early childhood workforce.

Read and download the policy brief

Read our complete 2019 policy agenda

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The Time Is Now for Oregon to Invest in Early Childhood

The Time Is Now for Oregon to Invest in Early Childhood

by | Dec 18, 2018 | Benefits of Preschool, Child Care, School Readiness

The Early Years Are Critical

Children experience their most profound cognitive, social, and emotional growth in the first eight years of life. Babies are born learners and their brains produce a million neural connections each second. By the time children reach their third birthday, their brains are 80 percent developed. The quality of children’s early experiences during this crucial period of growth sets the foundation for all future learning.

Despite what we understand about the importance of these early years for lifelong healthy development, there is no comprehensive early childhood system in Oregon to ensure all children get what they need to have the best start in life. Many children who experience institutional barriers to opportunity—children from low-income families, children of color, children with disabilities, dual language learners, and children who live in rural areas—lack access to essential high-quality early care and education opportunities.

The Early Years in Oregon

Forty-seven percent of children ages 0–5 in Oregon live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. That’s 129,000 kids. Oregon can improve its support of these children and their families by first addressing our state’s child care crisis. According to a study by the Center for American Progress, Oregon is a child care desert, with 6.8 infants and toddlers for every licensed, available child care slot.

Even if families can find reliable child care in their area, they may not be able to afford it. According to the Economic Policy Institute, one year of infant and toddler child care in Oregon is more expensive than public college tuition; infant care for one child in Oregon accounts for 20 percent of a typical family’s income.

Our state must also invest more in proven programs like Early Head Start and Home Visiting that serve vulnerable families with young children. These evidence-based programs have been shown to increase optimal child development and school readiness, improve mental health for mothers and positive parenting, and decrease child abuse, neglect, and emergency room visits. Currently critical home visiting services reach less than 20 percent of eligible families. Early Head Start serves only 10 percent of eligible children, with more than 23,000 children under 3 left unserved.

Preschool-age children are similarly underserved. Only 8 percent of 3-year-olds and 12 percent of 4-year-olds participate in publicly-funded preschool, putting Oregon 31st out of 43 states reporting on public preschool access. Our public preschool programs need to reach an additional 30,000 eligible children if we want to ensure that all our kids have access to high-quality early childhood education.   

The Early Years in Oregon

At a Glance

  • 129,000 kids ages 0–5 live at or below 200% of the federal poverty threshold.
  • Oregon is a child care desert.
  • Oregon is the third most expensive state for child care.
  • Home visiting services reach less than 20% of eligible families.
  • Early Head Start serves 10% of eligible children.
  • Only 8% of 3-year-olds and 12% of 4-year-olds attend publicly funded preschool.
  • 30,000 eligible children lack access to publicly funded preschool.
  • Only 29% of children in need of early intervention receive the recommended levels of service.
  • 8,360 children who need EI/ECSE services do not receive the recommended levels of service.

Finally, while Oregon has prioritized developmental screenings for young children, the state does not invest enough in the Early Intervention (EI) and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) children need once they are diagnosed with disabilities and delays. As a result, more than 8,300 children who need EI/ECSE do not receive the recommended levels of service.

Oregon Education Rankings

What Does This Mean for Children in Oregon?

We know that babies are born learners, and that future success in school and life depends on stable, healthy families and high-quality early care and education.

Gaps in language proficiency between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers are apparent as early as nine months. On the first day of kindergarten, children from lower-income families—the same children who are less likely to have access to high-quality early education—score lower in reading, math, and general knowledge than children from higher-income families.

This “school readiness” gap persists over time. Results from the 2017–2018 Oregon Assessments show a correlation between kindergarten and third grade achievement: children who are less prepared at the start of kindergarten are less likely to be reading at grade level by third grade. Those who aren’t proficient in reading by third grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school.

Here in Oregon, our failure as a state to invest in these early years has clear consequences: in 2016–2017, 67 percent of economically disadvantaged students, 81 percent of students with disabilities, and 85 percent of dual language learners were not reading proficiently by third grade. In 2016, Oregon’s high school graduation rate was 74.8 percent—the third worst in the nation.

We Know What Works

We know what children need from birth to age 5 in order to be prepared for and successful in school. And the good news is, we already have proven programs in Oregon that work well for kids and families. Now is the time for Oregon to invest more in these proven programs so that they serve all eligible children across the state. Learn more about the programs that help ensure every child in Oregon has the best start in life.

Early Head Start

Home Visiting

Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education

High-Quality Preschool

 

Q&A: A Kindergarten Teacher in Tillamook, in Her Own Words

Q&A: A Kindergarten Teacher in Tillamook, in Her Own Words

by | Aug 1, 2018 | Benefits of Preschool, Parents and Families, School Readiness, Teacher Voice

This summer Children’s Institute is highlighting the important work of early childhood educators teaching preschool through third grade. In this series of profiles, teachers from across the state tell us why they teach young children, what they wish people knew about their work, and what they’ve learned in their jobs.

Beth Ann Hendrickson Shares Her Life-Long Passion for Teaching

Beth Ann Hendrickson is a preschool teacher at Liberty Elementary School in the Tillamook School District. The school is a Preschool Promise site, serving 20 students. In this interview, Beth Ann tells us how her passion for teaching began at a young age, how she provides her students with a range of activities and lessons, and what she’s learned about teaching from her own students.

Why do you teach preschool?

I don’t think that there has ever been a time when I haven’t wanted to be a teacher. My teaching career began early in life. As the big sister, I bestowed my teaching talents upon my six younger siblings. Since paper was scarce in our house, I often resorted to other resources to teach my lessons. I remember dumping a box of jell-o on a cookie sheet to have them practice handwriting. While my mom was a true supporter of learning, my school was restricted to the outdoors after that incident. This presented a new challenge: now I had to compete with my siblings’ play time. I was undaunted in my pursuit of teaching and decided to incorporate their play into my school which I found to be quite effective. I’m happy to report that two of my siblings have also chosen to be teachers.

For me teaching preschool is such a rewarding and awesome experience! I enjoy being with children. I especially like learning with them and from them. Children love to learn! They absorb their environment with all their senses, letting their imaginations flow and their curious natures take over. There isn’t a dull moment in our classroom; sometimes it’s a moment of discovery, or laughter, or even tears; each of these times is special. This is a time in the lives of children when they often say exactly what is on their minds. Most of them haven’t learned to stop and think before they say things. For the most part, being embarrassed is not even a part of their world. This results in the most delightful conversations. I leave school each day with memories that will last a lifetime.

What is one thing about your job you wish people knew?

I want others to understand that teaching preschool is not babysitting. Teaching preschool is often a difficult, exhausting, and sometimes frustrating job, but it’s important work. It demands a lot of time, attention, and most of all creativity. I want others to know that it’s a balancing act in a preschool classroom. A teacher needs to know when to teach directly, when to provide time for exploration and discovery, when to practice skills, and when to encourage creativity. This is vital in order to provide the optimal learning experience for each child. I love and embrace this challenge every day.

Can you describe a learning experience you’ve had that has impacted your teaching?

There are numerous incidents throughout my teaching career that have impacted me as a teacher. The first time I experienced dropping my child off at school was an eye-opening experience. Michelle, my daughter, was very excited about her first day of school until we walked into the classroom. She clung to me while her younger brothers scampered to play with all the new toys. Amidst the confusion, I vaguely recall her teacher assuring me that if I’d leave, everything would be fine. My heart stopped cold—not too long ago I also used those very same words to “comfort and assure” parents. With a heavy heart, I gathered up the boys, disentangled myself from my daughter’s tight embrace, and trudged back to the car. I alternated between feelings of grief, anger, guilt, and even jealousy all the way home. The gloomy atmosphere didn’t improve back at home. The boys didn’t fully comprehend why Michelle couldn’t come home with them when she didn’t want to stay at school. I have since learned to prepare parents and families for this in my conferences with them before their child starts preschool. Oh, and Michelle did enjoy school that day.

Another important moment for me as a teacher occurred during a listening/following directions activity. Three girls were working on the activity, which asked them to draw a bird under a tree. Two of them held up their completed pictures of a tree with a little bird under the branches and quickly scampered off to play. I then focused on the third young lady, who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. I watched her meticulously draw a beautiful bird with every detail imaginable, and then proceed to draw an equally fabulous tree right on top of the bird, completely covering it. I was astounded and asked her to describe her picture. She looked at me with an equally astounded look, held up her picture, and said, “This is a picture of a bird under a tree.” It took me a moment, but then realized that she was indeed following my instructions; however, she was thinking differently than most children. She was layering the tree on top of the bird, so the bird was indeed under the tree. She has taught me to “think out of the box.” This isn’t the first time this has happened in my teaching career, but it’s a wonderful reminder to think beyond what is accepted as the “norm.” I have since learned that I have to think carefully about how my instructions can be interpreted and carried out and not to make snap assessments when I see the results. I now pause and take a moment before responding to most anything.