CFT advocacy team storms the Capitol and lobbies for quality early childhood education.

Access to high-quality education is the right of every student and the responsibility of us all!

"Right now we have far too many kids, particularly at risk, low-income kids, who can't find quality preschool. We need to do the right thing and make those investments."  Assemblymember Dave Jones, 2008

On January 13, 2009, California Federation of Teachers (CFT) members and staff visited state legislators and urged them to plan for tomorrow by investing in quality early education TODAY. With California's huge budget deficit, getting good value for state expenditures is an absolute necessity. Making significant targeted high-yield educational investments is key to our future prosperity and prioritizing quality preschool makes the most sense.

Experience has taught us that when it comes to education, it pays to invest early. Experienced CFT early childhood educators (ECE) have learned that effective preschool is one of the smartest ways to:

1.   Improve literacy and school readiness;

2.   Give kids in low-performing schools a more even start;

3.   Prepare English language learners for kindergarten; AND

4.   SAVE K-12 DOLLARS through reduced need for special education and grade retention.

Investing in preschool is also the wise thing to do. What our families and communities receive in return on ECE investment far exceeds what we get on most private or public investments. Quality preschool helps families by enabling parents to work, attend school, or get job training, all of which can translate to higher earning potential.

Early childhood educators are key to boosting preschool quality. Research shows that there is a critical link between the quality of early learning experiences for young children and the job quality of those responsible for their care and education. Investing to ensure that early childhood educators are well-educated, more highly compensated, and have a voice in their workplace will help preschool programs attract and retain a qualified workforce. This will lead to improved care and education for children.

Up-front and ongoing teacher training will ensure teachers are able to meet the needs of all of their students. One example: with California's high rate of preschool-age English language learners, investing to have linguistically competent teachers is essential to overall success.

The CFT has been making the case around the state for effective preschool. With this year's support we are disseminating information from RAND's recent study examining the adequacy and efficiency of preschool education in California. Among RAND's many findings were the following:

§ Hundreds of thousands of students are performing below California State standards

§ Half of California's 2nd graders and even more 3rd graders are failing to reach grade-level proficiency in English Language Arts, with those groups of children who are English Language learners or whose parents did not graduate from high school having the highest proportion of students lagging behind

§ This achievement gap first appears as a "readiness gap" among children entering kindergarten and that the groups of children trailing academically in the K-12 years are the same ones that are less ready when they enter school.

     The RAND reports make clear that when it comes to enhancing the quality of preschool in California, there's much to be done. CFT was proud to be an early supporter of SB 1629 and AB 2759, which among other things established the Early Learning Quality Improvement System Advisory Committee (QISAC).

     This 13 member Advisory Committee is to include representatives from the early care and education community that have experience with English learners, or who is a local educational agency teacher who teaches kindergarten. In addition, one slot is reserved for a program administrator of a child development program funded by the California Department of Education, and another for a caregiver for infants and toddlers.

     This committee's charge is to develop recommendations over the next year on how to evaluate and improve the quality of child development programs providing services from birth to age five, including preschool.

     CFT ECE members also asked legislators responsible for making appointments to the QASIC to consider seriously members of the CFT when making committee selections.