The Preschool Research and Technical Assistance Project for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Project

Young boy in a library The Preschool Research and Technical Assistance Project, supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation from 2007-2012, provided the foundation for much of AIR’s work offering research-based technical assistance to state and local entities on how to phase in access to high-quality preschool to all children in California, beginning in the neighborhoods with the greatest unmet need. The project has helped state and local planners as well as grant applicants determine priority areas for preschool expansion as new resources become available.

Signature contributions include a repository of practical tools, resources, and methodologies intended to assist policymakers and state, county, and city planners with designing, implementing, and evaluating preschool and other school readiness programs.

One such resource is the Early Learning Needs Assessment Tool (ELNAT), for which AIR has compiled early care and education data at the zip code and county level. Each county needs assessment includes population factors that impact the need for early care and education as well as on the licensed supply and enrollment in publicly supported programs (e.g., State Preschool, Head Start, General Child Care, Early Head Start, Transitional Kindergarten, etc.).

Packard Foundation support also made possible several policy briefs, such as Preschool Supply and Demand in the State of California: An Assessment of Preschool Enrollment in Publicly Contracted and Privately Operated Preschool Programs and First 5 Power of Preschool: Lessons from an Experiment in Tiered Reimbursement.

Related Work

10 May 2009
Policy Brief

Preschool Supply and Demand in the State of California

Unlike the K-12 school system, the preschool system does not maintain unique child identifiers, making it difficult to impossible to track children’s enrollment in child care. This needs assessment of preschool supply and demand in the state of California uses existing public data sources to estimate, by county and zip code, the population of preschool children and the number enrolled in publicly contracted and privately operated programs.
Topic: 
School Finance, Early Childhood, Early Childhood and Child Development
10 Apr 2009
Policy Brief

First 5 Power of Preschool: Lessons from an Experiment in Tiered Reimbursement

In 2003, First 5 California approved $100 million to establish the Power of Preschool (PoP) Demonstration Program to expand access but also to provide financial incentives to improve the quality of preschool. This brief addresses what lessons can be learned from the PoP demonstration projects to help inform the development of reimbursement rates, not only for the potential continuation of the First 5-funded programs, but also for other publicly financed efforts designed to serve preschool children.
Topic: 
Early Childhood, Early Childhood and Child Development
10 Apr 2009
Policy Brief

Financing a Full-Day, Full-Year Preschool Program in California: Strategies and Recommendations

In California, the demand for full-day, full-year early care and education programs has grown over time due to changing family needs. The purpose of this policy brief is specifically to address the financing issues involved in providing full-day, full-year preschool programs.
Topic: 
School Finance, Early Childhood, Early Childhood and Child Development
15 Nov 2007
Policy Brief

Estimating the Cost of Preschool for All in California: A Policy Brief

States have traditionally limited public expenditures for preschool programs to children from low-income families or those with disabilities. The Packard Foundation awarded collaborative grants to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and AIR to estimate the cost of a preschool program that would be accessible to all four-year-olds in California. This policy brief summarizes the findings from that project.
Topic: 
Early Childhood, Early Childhood and Child Development
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