Preschool Promise: High-Quality Preschool for More Oregon Kids

Preschool Promise: High-Quality Preschool for More Oregon Kids

Preschool PromisePassed by the 2015 Legislature, we are excited that Preschool Promise will begin serving 1,300 children from low-income families in September. The program opens the door to diverse high-quality preschool providers and gives families the opportunity to choose the setting that best meets their needs.

This investment is an important first step, but there is more work to be done. More than 32,000 low-income children in Oregon still don’t have access to high-quality preschool, and effective implementation of Preschool Promise will require collaboration and support for providers. It is our hope that this brief provides insight about how to reap the benefits of Preschool Promise.

We also hope it inspires leaders and partners who share our vision of giving more children a strong start in life to join us in calling for ongoing investment in Preschool Promise.
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Partnership strengthens preschool in Yoncalla

It’s late morning on a sunny Wednesday in Yoncalla, Oregon and 14 preschoolers are gathered on a colorful alphabet rug. Most are cross-legged, but several are wiggling, struggling to contain their excitement. All eyes are on Jill Cunningham, the Yoncalla library’s branch manager, who has come to visit their classroom at Yoncalla Elementary. They are singing This Old Man together, complete with hand motions.

“What rhymes with three?” Cunningham asks, holding three fingers high.

“Tree!” A girl in pink shouts.

“I like it,” says Cunningham.

“He played knick-knack on his tree,” they sing.

Cunningham is a frequent visitor to the preschool class, which is taught and operated by lifelong Yoncalla resident Cassie Reigard. Reigard is operating the preschool that was started decades ago by her grandmother – who just recently passed away. Reigard’s mother ran the preschool after her grandmother, and Cassie took over when her mother retired.

The Yoncalla school district provides space at the elementary school for Reigard to operate the program. And this year, the partners that are part of the Early Works initiative at Yoncalla have supported Reigard to receive professional development and assistance that will help her students be ready to succeed in kindergarten. Teaching preschool is in Reigard’s blood and she is a great person for Early Works to support. After all, she has dedicated her career to Yoncalla’s young children.

Partnership strengthens preschool in Yoncalla“I love the kids. I love watching them learn; I love teaching them,” Reigard says.

The professional development and help that the Yoncalla School District and other Early Works partners have provided Reigard has resulted in a new opportunity for her to serve more kids from low-income Yoncalla-area families. The South-Central Oregon Early Learning Hub – its service area includes Yoncalla – was one of nine early learning hubs in Oregon that last month was awarded some of the new state funding to support high-quality preschool for children from low-income Oregon families. Some of that funding now will be going to help kids in Yoncalla.

The Children’s Institute has worked closely with the state to ensure the passage and develop the program, called Preschool Promise. The program will support high-quality preschools in a mix of settings, including public schools, Head Start and private, community-based programs.

Jan Zarate, Yoncalla School District superintendent, said Reigard and the school district submitted a joint application for the Preschool Promise funding; the South Central early learning hub plans to fund their effort. “We are going to get the opportunity to pull more partners to the table and do more braiding of funds” says Jan Zarate, Yoncalla School District superintendent.

When she heard the news, Reigard says, she was ecstatic. “I feel very excited for the children in our community and the opportunities this will provide for them,” she says.

Zarate says that while the support from the school district and other Early Works partners was important in helping to secure the Preschool Promise funding, so was Reigard’s experience and foundation in the Yoncalla community.

“Cassie’s capacity to build relationships with people and make them comfortable is amazing. Parents trust her,” says Zarate. “There are also areas to grow and there is a personal commitment on Cassie’s part to know more and be even better prepared.”

Reigard says the Early Works support for her professional development is very helpful. “I’m always open to improving anything that I can,” she says.

Partnership strengthens preschool in YoncallaAt a recent conference at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, she learned some new strategies to help her students understand the reasons behind their feelings. “I’ve struggled with some students in class that don’t know how to handle their feelings and so I’ve really been able to take them aside and talk about their feelings and really just work on supporting them emotionally,” she says.

A very important new tool was added to Reigard’s teaching arsenal this spring: the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, or ASQ. A developmental screening survey that is simple for parents to complete, the ASQ pinpoints developmental progress in children up to age five, allowing teachers, caregivers, and service providers to understand what individual supports a child might need to be healthy and ready for school.

Almost all of the preschool parents agreed to participate, and Reigard loved conducting the screening survey. “It was one of the best things I could have done to develop a more personal relationship with parents and to understand their children better,” she says.

In addition to relationship-building, the screening survey helped Reigard tailor her instruction to her students’ needs and interests. “Not only did it show what I need to work on in specific areas with the students, but it clarified reasons why some students were more behind than others, not just academically.”

Finally, the screening survey led to Reigard being able to refer several students to additional programs and services that will help the students in their learning.

In the future, Reigard plans to conduct the ASQ screening in the fall, ideally even before school starts, to inform her teaching from the beginning. “My goal is to connect with families and work together with them to help prepare their children for kindergarten,” she says.

Early Works is focused on supporting Reigard, and other teachers and service providers in Yoncalla, to learn and hone new strategies to help students succeed. At the same time, the Children’s Institute is working hard at the state level to help advocate and secure funding for programs like Preschool Promise.

Oregon Announces Preschool Promise Awardees

Oregon Announces Preschool Promise AwardeesLast week, Oregon’s Early Learning Division announced their Preschool Promise award recommendations. The announcement marks an important step in the state’s process to increase publicly funded preschool opportunities for low-income children in Oregon. Preschool Promise, or House Bill 3380, was passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2015 with the goal of providing high-quality preschool in a variety of settings. Preschool Promise expands the types and number of providers that can receive funding for high-quality preschool programs in the state, and increases the number of families and children that are able to access the services. Early Learning Division staff estimate that the implementation of Preschool Promise will mean that approximately 1,300 more Oregon children will receive high-quality preschool in the 2016-2017 school year.

Gwyn Bachtle, an Early Learning Specialist in the Early Learning Division described the visionary goal of the new program as, “having children in programs that are quality-rated…and really working to increase the capacity of our communities.”

An award team, composed of state executive staff and three Early Learning Council members, reviewed applications from Early Learning hubs around the state. The hubs will be responsible for contracting with local providers and implementing the new preschool programming in their communities. Applications were evaluated based on demonstrated need; the capacity to support a mixed-delivery model; and the capacity to support high-quality preschool programs.

In total, ten hubs submitted a total of seven applications (one application was a joint application including multiple hubs) – with their combined requests reflecting the preschool needs of more than 2,600 children. Five of the seven applications were approved for funding, and these hubs will be working with the Early Learning Division closely in the upcoming weeks and months – gaining technical assistance and finalizing contracts with providers.

Awardees of 2016-17 Preschool Promise funding

  • Marion and Polk Early Learning Hub:
  • South-Central Oregon Early Learning Hub
  • Lane Early Learning Alliance
  • Southern Oregon Early Learning Hub
  • NW Regional Joint Application
  • NW Regional Early Learning Hub
  • Early Learning Washington County
  • Early Learning Multnomah
  • Clackamas Early Learning Hub

The Preschool Promise announcement is, as Molly Day, Early Learning Multnomah Director says, “a big deal. The state is deciding to invest in preschool, for its residents who are furthest from opportunity. Families in poverty, families that aren’t being served now…it is a lot of change all at once, and that makes it challenging, but it is a wonderful opportunity.”

“We hope this is just the beginning,” says Dana Hepper, Children’s Institute Director of Policy and Program. “There are many disadvantaged Oregon children who still lack access to high-quality preschool.” In fact, three-quarters of Oregon’s young children still don’t have access.

“The Children’s Institute is supporting the state to ensure successful implementation of Preschool Promise,” Hepper says. “We look forward to seeing the program grow.”

Take Action: Keeping the Promise

Take Action: Keeping the Promise

The 2016 legislative sessionIn 2015, the Oregon Legislature made a promise to Oregon’s children. They invested in Preschool Promise, a program that will provide high-quality preschool to more than 1,000 kids from low-income families.

This critical investment is now being threatened and we need your help!

Pick up the phone and call the leaders of the Ways and Means Committee. We hope you’ll help us ensure that Oregon keeps its promise to underserverd children.

Here’s your talking points, including who to call.

The 2016 legislative session: continuing to work for Oregon’s underserved children

The 2016 legislative sessionOregon’s 2016 legislative session begins on February 1 and the Children’s Institute is already meeting with legislators and attending hearings to discuss issues impacting Oregon’s at-risk young children and families. We have developed an advocacy platform built on the foundation of our 2015 legislative victories.

The Children’s Institute’s 2016 legislative priorities include:

  • Releasing the $17.5 million allocated to begin the Preschool Promise program and start providing preschool to more than 1,000 3- and 4-year-olds in the 2016-17 school year. Preschool Promise was created by the 2015 Oregon Legislature’s approval of House Bill 3380, which envisioned a future where all low-income children have access to a high-quality preschool that will meet their needs. Stakeholders have spent the past eight months fleshing out the details for how to spend this money, and now the Legislature must move the funds to the Early Learning Division of the Oregon Department of Education so that it can distribute the funds to the communities most ready to pilot the new approach.
  • Fixing a $5.2 million Head Start budgeting mistake. During the 2015 legislative session, lawmakers thought they were allocating $8.7 million to expand access to Head Start for low-income preschoolers. But due to a staff error in estimating the cost to continue the existing services, Head Start only received $3.5 million in new funding. This has left hundreds of Oregon’s most vulnerable children unserved.
  • Allocating $5.4 million to ensure young Oregon children who are identified with developmental delays get the help and services they need. Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education services help children from birth to five years old with a diagnosed developmental delay, along with their families. With Oregon’s commitment to universal developmental screenings, more children with delays are being identified earlier and accessing services. Unfortunately, funding for the program has remained essentially flat while the number of children and families served continues to grow. Intervening early saves money down the road in reduced special education costs.

Through the Early Works program, the Children’s Institute has deepened our understanding of how important early learning opportunities are for Oregon’s young children. At Earl Boyles Elementary in east Portland, we see the smiling faces of 3- and 4-year-olds entering the preschool. And we hear from kindergarten teachers, reinforced by the data, about how dramatically preschool is improving these children’s school readiness. At Yoncalla Elementary in Yoncalla, we work with a wonderful community preschool struggling to meet growing parent demand while lacking local funding.

These stories mirror communities across Oregon. Getting more children served in high-quality early learning remains a top priority for The Children’s Institute. We will be working throughout the legislative session over the next several weeks to urge legislators to continue making headway for Oregon’s youngest children. We will also continue to report on our progress and on developments during the session.