High-Quality Early Education For All of Illinois' Children - Ounce of ...

4. BUILDING ON ALL WE'VE ACCOMPLISHED:Illinois is fortunate to draw on a solid foundation of early learning programs and well-qualified providers acrossthe state. Preschool for All would mean replicating and expanding our best programs, while helping promisingprograms meet higher standards. Preschool for All would allow families to choose from a wide range of settings;improve linkage and integration with child care; build on our existing infrastructure by enhancing training andtechnical assistance, monitoring and evaluation, consultation to promote social and emotional development, andinformation technology; and encourage local community collaborations to link and coordinate services for youngchildren and their families.Putting the Pieces TogetherAt full implementation, Preschool for All would serve an estimated 190,000 children whose parents choose toparticipate. The Illinois Early Learning Council's Preschool for All recommendations are comprehensive and basedon the best research and practices in the field of early childhood education. However, an initiative of thismagnitude cannot be realized overnight. Given the critical role that well-trained teachers play in fostering schoolreadiness, perhaps the greatest challenge is ensuring an adequate supply of qualified preschool teachers toconduct rich learning activities that address each child's needs. The Governor and General Assembly could buildPreschool for All over time, gradually adding new quality components and extending services to more children.Each new investment would add value and bring important benefits to Illinois' children and families.BUILDING NEW CAPACITY: With adequate funding, the Council recommends that Preschool for All be constructed overfive years, building on Illinois' longstanding commitment to serve children who are at risk of school failure and theirfamilies first. However, providers in all communities could apply to begin serving children and families in Year 1. Whichprogram components would be implemented first? While all of the quality components were considered important, therewas wide consensus on the Illinois Early Learning Council that program quality rests most heavily on efforts toguarantee high qualifications for staff, particularly lead teachers and program directors; improve staff preparation; andprovide excellent ongoing professional development. The Council also identified among its top priorities for initialimplementation the need for consultation services by experts who assist preschool staff to evaluate and promotechildren's social and emotional development and manage difficult behaviors in the classroom; ongoing staff training inprogram content and administrative areas; and program and financial quality assurance monitoring and evaluation.FUNDING: Many programs and services for young children already exist in our state, and significant fundingstreams already flow into them. Preschool for All monies would supplement, not replace, these existing fundingstreams. Most Preschool for All funding would pay for direct services. Providers would be able to apply for fundingbased on the type, frequency, and intensity of services they provide. Preschool for All funding would also supportinfrastructure components necessary to ensure that services are of high quality in order to produce schoolreadiness results.FORGING A COORDINATED EARLY LEARNING SYSTEM: The state and federal governments already support an arrayof services for Illinois children from birth to age five, financed through diverse funding streams. But these programsreach only some children. Preschool for All complements and transforms these systems in the interest of a largergood—an excellent early learning system with sufficient capacity to help every child fulfill his or her promise.Preschool for All funds would support new programs as well as be added to existing early childhood programs thatchoose to comply with a consistent set of quality standards for all providers. These steps would move Illinois towarda single, integrated early learning system that families can understand and easily access.v