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

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• All families need assurance that the programs their children attend are of high quality. As we expandaccess, our state can do more to raise the quality of all early childhood services. We can do more to ensureconsistency and promote equity. Currently, depending on their funding source, programs are held todifferent regulations in areas such as family and provider eligibility, teacher requirements, hours ofservice, parent fees, curriculum, and assessment. Many programs lack the resources needed to put intoplace all of the building blocks of school readiness identified by researchers. Preschool for All wouldincrease and standardize program quality across settings statewide.• Families who opt for family child care homes need to know that the quality is high. Many families preferhome-based settings for their young children and choose family child care homes. Quality improvement effortstend to focus on center-based programs. Preschool for All would introduce innovative models that fosterparticipation by licensed family child care homes.• All families need a coherent set of early childhood services that reflect the realities of their lives.As they try to arrange early care and education for their children, Illinois families often contend with afragmented system that encompasses many kinds of programs, including Head Start, State PreK, and childcare. Some operate for a half-day, some correspond to the school day, and others extend to cover the fullworkday. To get the combination of quality and coverage they need for their children, many workingfamilies have to "mix and match" services from different programs. Preschool for All would create a morecoherent set of services by blending funding streams, ensuring consistent quality standards, and takingsteps toward coordinating different kinds of early childhood services—including home-based providers(licensed family child care providers as well as family, friends, and neighbors in license-exempt homes).Why Preschool?HIGH-QUALITY PRESCHOOL RAISES THE ODDS THAT INVESTMENTS IN K-12 EDUCATION WILL PAY OFF:As a state we invest heavily in K-12 education—more than $9.1 billion each year. But public investments ineducation will not fully pay off if we wait until children reach kindergarten before focusing on their optimaldevelopment and learning.Teachers are well aware of early education's benefits. The National Education Association has called on federaland state governments to make voluntary prekindergarten programs a reality for all families, with standards andprofessional credentialing systems that align with K-12 education. 2 After conducting a comprehensive 50-statereview of early education programs and policies, the American Federation of Teachers urged public support forstate implementation of high-quality universal early childhood education. 3Preschool for all three- and four-year-olds has also been endorsed by the states' chief education officers—theindividuals most responsible for elementary and secondary education. A policy statement by the Council of ChiefState School Officers emphasizes that, "efforts to reform and strengthen K-12 education cannot succeed withouta concerted effort to support the people and improve the programs entrusted with the care and education of ouryoungest children." 4 These officials realize that preschool is expensive, but they also know that children whoattend high-quality preschool programs are less likely to need special education and other costly interventionslater on.4
This finding rests on a large body of research, including a landmark study of early education conducted in Illinoisand published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Earlier research had shownthat small, experimental programs of high quality have a lasting impact on participants' learning and life skills.The researchers wanted to know whether large-scale early learning programs could promote children's long-termsuccess as well.The JAMA study followed childrenwho participated in the ChicagoChild-Parent Center Programthrough high school graduation. Itshowed that such programs canindeed have long-term, positiveeffects on participants' achievementand prospects—if the programs areheld to high-quality standards. Theevaluation found that the longerthe children were in the programand the younger children were whenthey entered, the higher the rates ofhigh school completion and thelower the rates of juvenile arrest,school drop out, grade retention,and special education services. 5Chicago Child Parent Center Outcomes at School ExitChicago Child Parent Center Outcomes at School ExitHSGraduationSpecialEducationGradeRepeaterJuvenileArrestProgram groupNo-program group14%17%23%25%25%0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%SOURCE: W. Steven Barnett, National Institute for Early Education Research (www.nier.org)39%38%50%HIGH-QUALITY PRESCHOOL IS SOUND ECONOMIC POLICY: These are challenging times. Even in tight budgetyears, it is imperative to make early education one of our highest priorities because such investments paysignificant dividends throughout a child's school years and beyond. James Heckman, a Nobel Laureate ineconomics from the University of Chicago, has found that the greatest return on investment comes from highqualityprograms that serve the very young because early learning and early success prepare the way for sustainedlong-term payoffs, first upon school entry and later in the labor market. 6 The cost-benefit analysis of longitudinaldata from the Chicago Child-Parent Center study found that for every $1 spent on high-quality early education,$7 was returned to the public, the government, and the participants themselves. Most recently, Federal ReserveBank economist Art Rolnick calculated the rate of return for investment in preschool education at 16 percent. 7As we meet new economic and civic demands, Illinois needs each generation's full complement of ideas, energies,and skills. Among our nation's 50 states, Illinois is seventh for overall number of high-tech workers, 8 and in futuredecades the demand for well-educated workers will only increase. As the Brookings Institution's Isabelle Sawhillhas written, "Making today's children more productive and better able to use emerging technologies can create amuch stronger economy than investing all of our resources in financial capital." 9Based on these considerations, the Committee for Economic Development (CED), a national group representingcorporate leaders, has made an urgent call for universal preschool. According to the CED, "It is time for the UnitedStates to acknowledge society's stake in and responsibility for early education, as it long has for older children, bymaking publicly-funded prekindergarten available to all preschool children whose parents want them to enroll." 105
Page 1: Preschool for AllHigh-Quality Early
Page 4 and 5: Preschool for AllSummary of Recomme
Page 6 and 7: Illinois Early Learning Council Ove
Page 9 and 10: Executive SummaryPreschool for All
Page 11 and 12: • All families need assurance tha
Page 13 and 14: 4. BUILDING ON ALL WE'VE ACCOMPLISH
Page 15 and 16: vii
Page 17 and 18: Part 1Why Preschool for All?Illinoi
Page 19: How Are We Serving Infants and Todd
Page 23 and 24: This ReportThis report provides an
Page 25: 6Preschool for All means peace of m
Page 28 and 29: ✓Make preschool programs accessib
Page 30 and 31: ✓Create a pipeline of qualified s
Page 32 and 33: ✓Promote social and emotional dev
Page 34 and 35: Which providers are eligible to par
Page 37 and 38: Part 3Putting the Pieces TogetherIl
Page 39 and 40: When It All Comes TogetherWhat Will
Page 42 and 43: Appendix ARecommendations for Futur
Page 44 and 45: have access to affordable child car
Page 47 and 48: Part 4Illinois Early Learning Counc
Page 49 and 50: Raydeane JamesIllinois State Board
Page 51: AcknowledgementsThis report was wri

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