RESEARCH BRIEF | SEPTEMBER 2018 Early Childhood Education in California Deborah Stipek Stanford University About: The Getting Down to Facts project seeks to create a common evidence base for understanding the current state of California school systems and lay the foundation for substantive conversations about what education policies should be sustained and what might be improved to ensure increased opportunity and success for all students in California in the decades ahead. Getting Down to Facts II follows approximately a decade after the first Getting Down to Facts effort in 2007. This research brief is one of 19 that summarize 36 research studies that cover four main areas related to state education policy: student success, governance, personnel, and funding. This brief summarizes findings from Early Childhood Education in California (September 2018), an extensive, multipart report examining the overall landscape of early childhood education (ECE) in California. For each topic listed below, the brief summarizes key findings and their implications for California policies related to young children and their families: The Early Learning Landscape Deborah Stipek and Peggy Pizzo Early Learning for Children with Disabilities Nancy Hunt Preparation and Training for Professionals in Early Childhood Education Deborah Stipek Strengthening California’s Early Childhood Education Workforce Lea J. E. Austin, Marcy Whitebook, and Raúl Chávez Program Quality Monitoring and Improvement Deborah Stipek and Sarah Ruskin Bardack PreK-3 Alignment Deborah Stipek Early Child Care Data Systems Deborah Stipek and Madhuvanti Anantharajan These and all GDTFII studies can be found at www.gettingdowntofacts.com. Introduction More than 24 million children ages 5 and younger live in the United States, and about one in eight of them—a little over 3 million—lives in California. Compared to the rest of the country, California has about twice as many children ages 5 and under who are first- or second-generation immigrants and live in families in which the adults are not fluent in English. About one in five of all children ages 5 and younger in California live in poverty, and nearly half of California’s children live in households that are at or near the poverty level. While their parents are at work or in school, about 1.2 million of California’s young children are cared for by relatives or attend preschool, a child-care center, family home care, Head Start, or a combination thereof. Given the rapid brain development during a child’s first five years of life, which lays the foundation for all future learning, California has a compelling interest and responsibility to ensure that these programs provide a safe, socially supportive, and effective educational environment for young children. Considerable research shows that children attending high-quality preschool programs receive significant benefits. California has many good providers; but for a state that once led the nation in early childhood education, ECE today is marked by diminished investments in quality, low wages, and highly fractured oversight. 2 | Early Childhood Education in California KEY FINDINGS • Early childhood education in California is a dizzying array of programs, funding sources, and reg- ulations. • Children attending high-quality preschool do better in school and in life. • Child care is prohibitively expensive for many families and does not meet the needs of nonstan- dard work schedules. • California has a large proportion of children in care with no standards. • California has a poor record of identifying young children with disabilities and providing them with needed services. • Wages are so low that nearly 60% of child-care workers rely on some form of public assistance. • California has low and uneven teacher-training requirements for early childhood education pro- grams. • The process for monitoring quality and improvement is fragmented, inconsistent, and insuffi- cient. • The state has no centralized data collection system, limiting the ability to evaluate improvement efforts. Summary of Key Findings Early childhood education in California is a dizzying array of programs, funding sources, and regulations Early childhood education in California is a fragmented system of many federal, state, and local agencies that administer, license, regulate, and fund the various programs. As Figure 1 illustrates, California oversees state-funded preschool and child care programs for low-income families. The federal government adminis- ters Head Start; local school districts provide some preschool programs as well as transitional kindergarten (TK), a state program for children who will turn 5 within three months of the age cutoff date for kindergarten each school year; for-profit and nonprofit organizations run private centers; and individuals offer care in fam- ily child care homes (FCCH). There is little coordination among the agencies, significant variations in funding, and no standardized licensing or educational requirements for staff. Even within programs overseen by the state, 4-year-olds experience significantly different standards, depending on whether they are enrolled in a TK class, state preschool, or a subsidized day care program. Getting Down to Facts II | 3 Figure 1: Control of California’s Early Childhood Education Programs Federal U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services U.S. Dept. of Education Temporary Office Office of Child Health Office of Spe- Office of Assistance of Head Start Care Resources cial Education Elementary to Needy and Services Programs and Families Organization Secondary Bureau Education CA Dept. of CA Dept. of CA Dept. of Pub- CA Dept. of Dev. First 5 State Social Services Education lic Health Services California Special County Alternative County First 5 School Education Welfare Payment Departments of County Local Districts Local Plan Departments Providers Health Commissions Areas Private License- Licensed Licensed Home Service Schools Exempt Provider Centers Family Homes Visitors Providers Homes Programs Source: California Department of Education. Child Development (2017). http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ Note: This graphic shows the multiple agencies that administer California State Transitional Kin- Head Start state- and federally-funded ECE programs in California. Administrative Preschool dergarten oversight includes setting regulations, allocating resources, Program managing contracts, and overseeing program quality, among other responsibilities. Administrators may, but do not always, provide General Child Care Alternative Pay- Title 1 Funded funding. ECE programs (the colored lines shown in the key) may and ment Preschool be offered by various kinds of local providers, some of whom offer Development Program multiple programs at a given time. Several other organizations— particularly First 5, resource and referral agencies, and Quality Rating Special Home Visiting and Improvement System (QRIS) consortia—also provide considerable Education support providers and programs, although their role varies by county. Source: Learning Policy Institute, June 2017. Note: QRIS stands for Quality Rating and Improvement System. 4 | Early Childhood Education in California In the 2017-18 budget year, California allocated a little more than $4 billion in state and federal funds to about a dozen subsidized programs (see Table 1), serving more than 437,000 children, including transitional kindergartners. Funding for each program depends on which department oversees it. As a result, similar programs may receive vastly different allocations. Table 1: Child Care and Preschool Budget (Dollars in Millions) 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Change from 2016-17 Revised Revised Enacted Amount Percent Expenditures CalWORKs Child Care Stage 1 $334 $418 $361 -$57 -14% Stage 2 $419 $445 $519 $74 17% Stage 3 $257 $284 $306 $21 8% Subtotals ($1,010) ($1,147) ($1,185) ($38) (3%) Non-CalWORKs Child Care General Child Care $305 $308 $360 $52 17% Alternative Payment Program $251 $283 $292 $10 3% Migrant Child Care $29 $31 $35 $4 12% Bridge Program for Foster Children $0 $0 $19 $19 — Care for Children with Severe Disabilities $2 $2 $2 $0 12% Infant and Toddler QRIS Grant (one-time) $24 $0 $0 $0 0% Subtotals ($611) ($623) ($708) ($85) (14%) Preschool Programs State Preschool—part day $425 $447 $503 $55 12% State Preschool—full day $555 $627 $738 $111 18% Transitional Kindergarten $691 $739 $755 $17 2% Preschool QRIS Grant $50 $50 $50 $0 0% Subtotals ($1,721) ($1,863) ($2,046) ($183) (10%) Support Programs $76 $89 $93 $4 4% Totals $3,418 $3,722 $4,032 $310 8% Funding Proposition 98 General Fund $1,576 $1,713 $1,878 $164 10% Non-Proposition 98 General Fund $885 $984 $1,088 $104 11% Federal CCDF $573 $639 $635 -$4 -1% Federal TANF $385 $385 $427 $42 11% Federal Title IV-E $0 $0 $4 $4 — Data: California Legislative Analyst’s Office. Note: QRIS stands for Quality Rating and Improvement System. Getting Down to Facts II | 5 Children attending high-quality preschool do better in school and in life High-quality ECE experiences play a critical role in reducing the gaps seen when children start kindergarten. For example, children who attend high-quality preschools are less likely to be retained in a grade or placed in a special education setting. They are also less likely to become involved in crime and more likely to graduate from high school, go to college, and achieve higher earnings. Some forms of professional development are also associated with better quality. A study conducted in Santa Clara County found that