An Op-Ed by Betty Robinson-Harris

Commencement season is one of my favorite times of the year, a moment when I watch our eager young graduates celebrate in caps and gowns, confident that they will be ready for their next big step this fall – kindergarten.

A recently released final report in a series on preschool confirms what I have seen in 37 years of teaching: early childhood education makes all the difference in whether children succeed in school later on. The report by the RAND Corporation finds that children who start out behind tend to stay behind, and the achievement gap is evident as early as kindergarten.

The good news is high-quality early childhood education can narrow that gap by getting kids ready to learn.  Even more exciting is that President Obama has made early learning a top priority, calling it the first pillar of education reform. He has included more than $5 billion for it in the federal stimulus package, at least $500 million of which could come to California.  At a time when we are all searching for ways to turn the economy around, early childhood education is a strategy for economic recovery and long-term economic growth.

In 20 years at Burnett Child Development Center in the Bayview Hunter’s Point community, I have seen generations of children graduate from preschool with the social, emotional and academic tools they need to do well in elementary school.

Preschool provides children with a safe, consistent structure, and the social and emotional support they need.  I’ve seen children who come to class crying overcome their shyness and make friends, share and volunteer answers at story time. Children who hit others when they’re upset learn to resolve conflicts with words instead.  About half of my children are English language learners, and we build their vocabulary and pre-literacy skills so they leave preschool bilingual.

Unfortunately, only about half of low-income children have access to preschool, compared to 80 percent of children whose families make more than $100,000 a year, the RAND report says. Where I work in San Francisco, we are fortunate to be the first county to open our free, voluntary high-quality Preschool for All program to 4 year-olds in every neighborhood. However, as a First 5 San Francisco Commissioner, I know that learning begins at birth, and we must do even more to take advantage of that window of opportunity when infants’ brains are rapidly developing. 

I also work in after school care, and see many of my students once they have gone onto elementary school.  It is astonishing what they recall – one of my former students, Juandell, told me that in preschool, “my brain just got bigger and bigger” and it “started me off on how to be successful.”

As a member of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) Early Childhood Education Committee, I know that a hallmark of a high-quality program is expert, well-trained teachers. Unfortunately, California lacks a well-designed, coordinated plan to prepare early childhood education teachers, a problem cited by RAND.

California is on track to addressing another problem identified in the report. Due to legislation passed last year, we are developing an early learning quality rating and improvement system to evaluate quality and provide financial incentives to reach higher levels.

One of my favorite parts about working at Burnett is knowing we are investing in our future and our economy by giving children skills they will take with them for the rest of their lives. I hope many of my students will have another occasion to don caps and gowns 16 years from now – when they graduate from college.

Betty Robinson-Harris, who teaches preschool at Burnett Child Development Center, received the Mayor’s Teacher of the Month Award last year. She is also a First 5 San Francisco Children and Families Commissioner and a member of the California Federation of Teachers Early Childhood Education Committee.