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"content": "\u003cp>Puppetry is more than just child’s play at Children’s Fairyland, Oakland’s iconic storybook theme park. Small children have been stimulated by the wonders of live performance at the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://fairyland.org/events-and-performances/puppet-shows/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Storybook Puppet Theater\u003c/a> since 1956, but now they will also be exposed to arts education programming specially crafted for preschool learners. A new puppet education initiative, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://fairyland.org/events-and-performances/puppet-shows/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Puppet Playdates\u003c/a>, takes hands-on learning to the next level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once upon a time comes alive for a new generation every Thursday after the 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. puppet shows, when children are cordially invited to a nearby meadow to make friends with marionettes after the curtain falls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent morning, Amber Rose Arthur, 5, wasted no time breathing life into the unicorn puppet, its sparkles glittering in the sun. Every so often, she gently nudged other children with the unicorn’s horn to bestow them with magic powers. In the interests of total disclosure: She gave this reporter some enchantment, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2033px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992939\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl wearing a pink vest holds a puppet on her right hand.\" width=\"2033\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1.jpg 2033w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-800x1007.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-1020x1284.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-160x201.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-1220x1536.jpg 1220w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-1626x2048.jpg 1626w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-1920x2418.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2033px) 100vw, 2033px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amber Rose Arthur plays with a puppet. \u003ccite>(Andrew Reed/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They don’t get enough arts in school anymore, so events like this are great,” said her father, Gregory Arthur, watching as the little girl explored the craft of puppetry and social interactions in one fell swoop. “It stimulates the brain more than a lot of other things. It gets them to think and learn, and it makes them smile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nestled on the shores of Lake Merritt, this bewitching arts education program invites children to learn the magic of puppetry while immersing themselves in classic fables, including James M. Barrie’s \u003cem>Peter Pan\u003c/em>, Frank L. Baum’s \u003cem>The Wizard of Oz\u003c/em> and Hans Christian Andersen’s \u003cem>The Snow Queen\u003c/em>. This program also lays the groundwork for a proposed puppet education program that will pay visits to early-learning classrooms in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fairyland is designed to inspire a young child to have a great imagination,” said Joy Peacock, client and community relations director for the PNC Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PNC Bank, which is partnering on the puppet-based early-learning program. “It’s not all laid out there for you, like in TV. You have to rely on your own imagination. Puppetry is very interactive, it’s very tactile, it’s very creative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coming out of the pandemic, Fairyland held focus groups with local teachers to pinpoint what kinds of activities would be most beneficial for the preschool cohort, and the takeaway was that children today need more social-emotional learning as well as more exposure to the creative impulse. Enter puppets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that actually made me really sad is that the teachers were saying the children are losing their imagination,” said Maria Rodriguez, manager of the puppet theater. “They’re losing their ability to make-believe. For me, you know, I can’t imagine life without imagination, so I was just like, oh goodness. We need to help inspire the children to learn how to make-believe. We want to help them to light that spark.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/01ZRaXTZKcM?si=xVwohBbWND7N_X9T\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s basically Jacqui June Whitlock’s calling in life. A former transitional kindergarten teacher with a background in theater and an affinity for puppetry, this is her dream gig. She studied child development in college and the art of shadow puppetry in Bali. She has encountered more than one child who was too afraid to express themselves until she handed them a puppet. Suddenly, they found their voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, this has been like a lifelong career. Incorporating social-emotional learning with puppetry, that’s my bread and butter,” said Whitlock, a puppet education specialist. “Something wonderful happens when you hand a child a puppet. Puppets are a great conduit for storytelling and learning without putting any pressure on the child.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whitlock is a master at teaching through play. Holding court with a cavalcade of puppets, from rabbits and dragons to cats, after a recent performance of “Peter Pan,” she relishes helping children spin yarns of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been dreaming of doing a program like this for years. It’s amazing that we finally have the funding to do it,” she said. “In America, we tend to think of puppets as simple toys for children, but really, there’s so much more to puppetry. Many other cultures think of them as more than that. They can be a very complex tool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the play dates, she helps guide groups of pint-sized puppeteers as they learn and play. If a child has a puppet pretend to bite her, for example, she inquires whether the puppet is hungry, opening up a dialogue with the child. But she always wants the kiddo to lead the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They weave their own story,” said Whitlock, who crafts a lot of her own puppets by hand. “You’re not really telling them what the story is, they’re telling you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Empowering children to express themselves is particularly critical right now, experts say, because this generation missed out on so many formative experiences because of school closures and other pandemic disruptions. The arts can be an effortless way to boost special emotional learning, she says, through the kind of make-believe games that children are naturally drawn to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992940\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Children play with puppets outside.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jacqui June Whitlock, a puppet education specialist at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, teaches through puppet play and imagination. \u003ccite>(Andrew Reed/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Teachers were saying that they were seeing a lack of imagination or a lack of pretend play happening in their classrooms, noticing that children weren’t interacting as much,” she said. “And puppets are an excellent tool for cultivating that pretend play, also just communicating with each other, it’s sort of like a conduit for your personality … It just makes it so easy for them to communicate with each other and break down that barrier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puppets can play a role in helping children communicate on a deeper level, experts say, by externalizing their emotions onto the inanimate object. The puppet becomes a proxy that helps kids process hard situations, grapple with fears and explore their feelings through metaphor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"mindshift_63891,news_11992142,news_11989955\" label=\"Related Stories\"]“One of my favorite things that I’ve observed is that puppet playtime creates a lot of interaction between the grownup and the kiddo,” said Whitlock. “It’s like time slows down for them. Also, I put in a bench recently, so now I’m also seeing a lot of elders, and I love the interactions between grandparents and their littles. It’s very nurturing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, puppetry can also fuel expressions of pure escapism, encouraging little children to create their own big adventures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Children and puppetry go hand in hand because kids have no trouble suspending their disbelief and endowing the simplest props with life,” said Carey Perloff, former artistic director of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater and a longtime puppet proponent. “Puppets are a direct conduit to the imagination. Because they can be realistic or totally abstract, they invite audience members to project their own idea of character and circumstance onto a piece of fabric or some papier mache, and thus to transform it into something magical.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992942\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992942\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"A young boy wearing a blue shirt plays with a puppet next to a woman wearing a green dress who is putting string into a bag.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-800x715.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-1020x911.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-160x143.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-1536x1372.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-2048x1830.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-1920x1715.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trevor Aguilar finds joy in using his imagination with a dragon puppet. \u003ccite>(Andrew Reed/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Trevor Aguilar, for one, celebrated his sixth birthday by weaving a tale of intrigue with his new fuzzy friends. He narrated an adventure in which the grandmother puppet saved the townspeople from the evil machinations of the fire-breathing dragon puppet. The last child at the puppet play date didn’t seem to want the fun to end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, some children become so enamored of the marionettes that they make a point of paying a visit to Whitlock and her buckets of puppets every time they visit the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve got my regulars, which is so great,” said Whitlock. “They know exactly what they want. ‘OK, I’m here. I’m getting the raccoon puppet today.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/puppetry-is-far-more-than-childs-play-for-young-learners-in-oakland/715230\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Puppetry is more than just child’s play at Children’s Fairyland, Oakland’s iconic storybook theme park. Small children have been stimulated by the wonders of live performance at the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://fairyland.org/events-and-performances/puppet-shows/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Storybook Puppet Theater\u003c/a> since 1956, but now they will also be exposed to arts education programming specially crafted for preschool learners. A new puppet education initiative, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://fairyland.org/events-and-performances/puppet-shows/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Puppet Playdates\u003c/a>, takes hands-on learning to the next level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once upon a time comes alive for a new generation every Thursday after the 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. puppet shows, when children are cordially invited to a nearby meadow to make friends with marionettes after the curtain falls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent morning, Amber Rose Arthur, 5, wasted no time breathing life into the unicorn puppet, its sparkles glittering in the sun. Every so often, she gently nudged other children with the unicorn’s horn to bestow them with magic powers. In the interests of total disclosure: She gave this reporter some enchantment, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2033px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992939\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl wearing a pink vest holds a puppet on her right hand.\" width=\"2033\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1.jpg 2033w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-800x1007.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-1020x1284.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-160x201.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-1220x1536.jpg 1220w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-1626x2048.jpg 1626w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Amber-Rose-Arthurjpg-scaled-1-1920x2418.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2033px) 100vw, 2033px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amber Rose Arthur plays with a puppet. \u003ccite>(Andrew Reed/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They don’t get enough arts in school anymore, so events like this are great,” said her father, Gregory Arthur, watching as the little girl explored the craft of puppetry and social interactions in one fell swoop. “It stimulates the brain more than a lot of other things. It gets them to think and learn, and it makes them smile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nestled on the shores of Lake Merritt, this bewitching arts education program invites children to learn the magic of puppetry while immersing themselves in classic fables, including James M. Barrie’s \u003cem>Peter Pan\u003c/em>, Frank L. Baum’s \u003cem>The Wizard of Oz\u003c/em> and Hans Christian Andersen’s \u003cem>The Snow Queen\u003c/em>. This program also lays the groundwork for a proposed puppet education program that will pay visits to early-learning classrooms in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fairyland is designed to inspire a young child to have a great imagination,” said Joy Peacock, client and community relations director for the PNC Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PNC Bank, which is partnering on the puppet-based early-learning program. “It’s not all laid out there for you, like in TV. You have to rely on your own imagination. Puppetry is very interactive, it’s very tactile, it’s very creative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coming out of the pandemic, Fairyland held focus groups with local teachers to pinpoint what kinds of activities would be most beneficial for the preschool cohort, and the takeaway was that children today need more social-emotional learning as well as more exposure to the creative impulse. Enter puppets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that actually made me really sad is that the teachers were saying the children are losing their imagination,” said Maria Rodriguez, manager of the puppet theater. “They’re losing their ability to make-believe. For me, you know, I can’t imagine life without imagination, so I was just like, oh goodness. We need to help inspire the children to learn how to make-believe. We want to help them to light that spark.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/01ZRaXTZKcM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/01ZRaXTZKcM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>That’s basically Jacqui June Whitlock’s calling in life. A former transitional kindergarten teacher with a background in theater and an affinity for puppetry, this is her dream gig. She studied child development in college and the art of shadow puppetry in Bali. She has encountered more than one child who was too afraid to express themselves until she handed them a puppet. Suddenly, they found their voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, this has been like a lifelong career. Incorporating social-emotional learning with puppetry, that’s my bread and butter,” said Whitlock, a puppet education specialist. “Something wonderful happens when you hand a child a puppet. Puppets are a great conduit for storytelling and learning without putting any pressure on the child.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whitlock is a master at teaching through play. Holding court with a cavalcade of puppets, from rabbits and dragons to cats, after a recent performance of “Peter Pan,” she relishes helping children spin yarns of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been dreaming of doing a program like this for years. It’s amazing that we finally have the funding to do it,” she said. “In America, we tend to think of puppets as simple toys for children, but really, there’s so much more to puppetry. Many other cultures think of them as more than that. They can be a very complex tool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the play dates, she helps guide groups of pint-sized puppeteers as they learn and play. If a child has a puppet pretend to bite her, for example, she inquires whether the puppet is hungry, opening up a dialogue with the child. But she always wants the kiddo to lead the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They weave their own story,” said Whitlock, who crafts a lot of her own puppets by hand. “You’re not really telling them what the story is, they’re telling you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Empowering children to express themselves is particularly critical right now, experts say, because this generation missed out on so many formative experiences because of school closures and other pandemic disruptions. The arts can be an effortless way to boost special emotional learning, she says, through the kind of make-believe games that children are naturally drawn to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992940\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Children play with puppets outside.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Childrens-Fairyland-scaled-1-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jacqui June Whitlock, a puppet education specialist at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, teaches through puppet play and imagination. \u003ccite>(Andrew Reed/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Teachers were saying that they were seeing a lack of imagination or a lack of pretend play happening in their classrooms, noticing that children weren’t interacting as much,” she said. “And puppets are an excellent tool for cultivating that pretend play, also just communicating with each other, it’s sort of like a conduit for your personality … It just makes it so easy for them to communicate with each other and break down that barrier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puppets can play a role in helping children communicate on a deeper level, experts say, by externalizing their emotions onto the inanimate object. The puppet becomes a proxy that helps kids process hard situations, grapple with fears and explore their feelings through metaphor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“One of my favorite things that I’ve observed is that puppet playtime creates a lot of interaction between the grownup and the kiddo,” said Whitlock. “It’s like time slows down for them. Also, I put in a bench recently, so now I’m also seeing a lot of elders, and I love the interactions between grandparents and their littles. It’s very nurturing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, puppetry can also fuel expressions of pure escapism, encouraging little children to create their own big adventures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Children and puppetry go hand in hand because kids have no trouble suspending their disbelief and endowing the simplest props with life,” said Carey Perloff, former artistic director of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater and a longtime puppet proponent. “Puppets are a direct conduit to the imagination. Because they can be realistic or totally abstract, they invite audience members to project their own idea of character and circumstance onto a piece of fabric or some papier mache, and thus to transform it into something magical.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992942\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992942\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"A young boy wearing a blue shirt plays with a puppet next to a woman wearing a green dress who is putting string into a bag.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-800x715.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-1020x911.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-160x143.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-1536x1372.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-2048x1830.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Trevor-Aguilar1-scaled-1-1920x1715.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trevor Aguilar finds joy in using his imagination with a dragon puppet. \u003ccite>(Andrew Reed/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Trevor Aguilar, for one, celebrated his sixth birthday by weaving a tale of intrigue with his new fuzzy friends. He narrated an adventure in which the grandmother puppet saved the townspeople from the evil machinations of the fire-breathing dragon puppet. The last child at the puppet play date didn’t seem to want the fun to end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, some children become so enamored of the marionettes that they make a point of paying a visit to Whitlock and her buckets of puppets every time they visit the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve got my regulars, which is so great,” said Whitlock. “They know exactly what they want. ‘OK, I’m here. I’m getting the raccoon puppet today.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/puppetry-is-far-more-than-childs-play-for-young-learners-in-oakland/715230\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>From a distance, the lime-green vehicle with wide awnings looks like a fancy food truck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the tricked-out RV has all the necessities of a preschool classroom, including a short toilet and sink, carpeted play area and cabinets full of building blocks, musical instruments and art supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent morning, the mobile classroom was parked near a recreation center in Oakland’s Chinatown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside, staffers rolled out rugs and laid out books, toys and snacks before gathering a group of children for a singalong. A flat-screen TV hanging on one side of the RV showed “Sesame Street,” but the roughly two dozen toddlers were more interested in chasing bubbles and playing at the sand table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since its launch in November, this preschool on wheels has been going to homeless shelters and city parks in Oakland in an effort to keep more children enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which serve children from lower-income families. The stop in Chinatown gives parents who signed up for Head Start’s home visiting program a chance to socialize and get information about their children’s development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previously, many children weren’t showing up consistently or on time, and a significant number inevitably dropped out, particularly those who didn’t have a stable place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This most recent school year, 78 out 423 Oakland families — or more than 18% — who qualified for Head Start, experienced homelessness, according to Everardo Mendoza, the program’s recruitment and enrollment coordinator. These families can’t afford rent on their own, he said, so they tend to “double up or triple up” in small apartments with other families or sleep in shelters or their cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a way to meet kids and families where they are, Mendoza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988306\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988306\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two mothers play with their young children on a green rug inside a classroom.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Families play with their children inside Oakland’s Head Start mobile classroom on May 24, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t want families to be dropping because they don’t have control of their housing situation,” he said. “We wanted to follow them to wherever they go and continue to provide the services that they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mobile classrooms are increasingly being deployed in places short on accessible and affordable preschools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Colorado, a preschool on wheels rolls up to \u003ca href=\"https://unitedwaydenver.org/news_post/first-mobile-preschool-in-denver-launched/\">Denver neighborhoods with few child care options\u003c/a> and a bilingual preschool on wheels called \u003ca href=\"https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/education/2019-09-09/the-wheels-on-the-bus-el-busesito-preschool-takes-school-on-wheels\">El Busesito\u003c/a> serves Spanish-speaking families in the Roaring Fork Valley. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/Residents/Education/Strong-Start-Academies\">city of Las Vegas\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.xiente.org/programs/preschool-youth-services/mobile-preschool/\">a nonprofit in Philadelphia\u003c/a> also provide half-day early learning programs in their mobile classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s $530,000 investment in its mobile classroom is helping the city meet the growing demand for Head Start. There are more than 400 families on the waitlist for the program, according to the city’s Head Start program director, Diveena Cooppan, who said the program has wrestled with finding enough workers and facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more on early childhood education\" tag=\"early-childhood-education\"]“A facility where we could have that space for all those classrooms, from infants to preschool, is ideal but rare and hard to find,” she said. “So this model is actually more cost-effective than [operating a center].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout Alameda County, almost 700 families are experiencing homelessness, according to \u003ca href=\"https://everyonehome.org/main/continuum-of-care/point-in-time-count-2024/\">a January point-in-time count survey\u003c/a> — down 17% from two years ago. But experts say that’s likely an undercount because families with young kids often get overlooked, as they are more likely to sleep in motels, their cars or on someone’s couch, as opposed to on the street or in a shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why we call it hidden homelessness,” said Erin Patterson, director of education initiatives at SchoolHouse Connection, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., focused on youth homelessness. “And so it really feels like we are ignoring this whole portion of the homeless population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SchoolHouse Connection \u003ca href=\"https://schoolhouseconnection.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Infant-and-Toddler-Homelessness-Across-50-States-2021-2022.pdf\">estimates that in California\u003c/a>, only one in six infants and toddlers experiencing homelessness are enrolled in early childhood development programs like Head Start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a heartbreaking statistic, Patterson said, because these are the kids who need it most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For an infant or toddler to be experiencing homelessness and not knowing where they’re going to sleep during a time when they’re supposed to be potty trained and have routine and consistency, that’s difficult enough,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Programs like Head Start offer a range of support for unhoused families, from free diapers to access to educators who are trained in caring for children affected by trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988312\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988312\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two parents play with a small child outside as a large green truck with the letters 'ready set go' printed on it appears in the background\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parents Jay and Jasmine play with their 18-month-old son, Jayden, outside Oakland’s Head Start mobile classroom at Lincoln Square Park in Oakland on May 24, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Everything the parent or the adult in the situation is experiencing in terms of trauma, the child is also experiencing,” Patterson said. “Babies experiencing homelessness carry trauma. They feel stress, but they can’t articulate it with words yet. And so that’s why it’s even more critical to get interventions and supports to them as early as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who leaned on Head Start services for her son when she was a single mother experiencing homelessness, called the city’s new mobile classroom a “huge game changer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just because your family is going through some housing issues or housing insecurity doesn’t mean that the resources for your children should stop,” she said \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzpQnYLNe2V/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D\">at a news conference\u003c/a> announcing the program last November. “It actually means that you need it more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mobile Head Start classroom currently serves families who signed up for home visits but may not have a steady place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the mobile classroom’s spacious interior includes a kitchenette, a health-check station and a computer area — equipped with its own server— where parents can access the Internet to work on job or housing applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988309\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988309\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A small Asian boy sits on an outside map on the ground, playing with toys.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shi Li Zhong (right) with her two young sons outside the Head Start mobile classroom at Lincoln Square Park in Oakland on May 24, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We know that in a lot of different areas that we are in, there may not be access to technology, so we want to ensure that’s not a barrier to families,” said Shelley Taylor, who oversees Head Start facilities for the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staffers also use the space to conduct developmental screenings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shi Li Zhong, who came to the mobile classroom event in Chinatown, said she didn’t know her older son had a speech delay until he was enrolled in Head Start when he was almost 2 years old. A caseworker referred her to a speech therapist, and she said her son is now starting to talk more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were a lot of things I didn’t know,” Zhong said about being a first-time parent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She came to this event with her second son, who is almost 1, to give him a chance to interact with other children and for her a chance to build community.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>From a distance, the lime-green vehicle with wide awnings looks like a fancy food truck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the tricked-out RV has all the necessities of a preschool classroom, including a short toilet and sink, carpeted play area and cabinets full of building blocks, musical instruments and art supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent morning, the mobile classroom was parked near a recreation center in Oakland’s Chinatown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside, staffers rolled out rugs and laid out books, toys and snacks before gathering a group of children for a singalong. A flat-screen TV hanging on one side of the RV showed “Sesame Street,” but the roughly two dozen toddlers were more interested in chasing bubbles and playing at the sand table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since its launch in November, this preschool on wheels has been going to homeless shelters and city parks in Oakland in an effort to keep more children enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which serve children from lower-income families. The stop in Chinatown gives parents who signed up for Head Start’s home visiting program a chance to socialize and get information about their children’s development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previously, many children weren’t showing up consistently or on time, and a significant number inevitably dropped out, particularly those who didn’t have a stable place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This most recent school year, 78 out 423 Oakland families — or more than 18% — who qualified for Head Start, experienced homelessness, according to Everardo Mendoza, the program’s recruitment and enrollment coordinator. These families can’t afford rent on their own, he said, so they tend to “double up or triple up” in small apartments with other families or sleep in shelters or their cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a way to meet kids and families where they are, Mendoza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988306\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988306\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two mothers play with their young children on a green rug inside a classroom.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Families play with their children inside Oakland’s Head Start mobile classroom on May 24, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t want families to be dropping because they don’t have control of their housing situation,” he said. “We wanted to follow them to wherever they go and continue to provide the services that they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mobile classrooms are increasingly being deployed in places short on accessible and affordable preschools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Colorado, a preschool on wheels rolls up to \u003ca href=\"https://unitedwaydenver.org/news_post/first-mobile-preschool-in-denver-launched/\">Denver neighborhoods with few child care options\u003c/a> and a bilingual preschool on wheels called \u003ca href=\"https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/education/2019-09-09/the-wheels-on-the-bus-el-busesito-preschool-takes-school-on-wheels\">El Busesito\u003c/a> serves Spanish-speaking families in the Roaring Fork Valley. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/Residents/Education/Strong-Start-Academies\">city of Las Vegas\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.xiente.org/programs/preschool-youth-services/mobile-preschool/\">a nonprofit in Philadelphia\u003c/a> also provide half-day early learning programs in their mobile classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s $530,000 investment in its mobile classroom is helping the city meet the growing demand for Head Start. There are more than 400 families on the waitlist for the program, according to the city’s Head Start program director, Diveena Cooppan, who said the program has wrestled with finding enough workers and facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“A facility where we could have that space for all those classrooms, from infants to preschool, is ideal but rare and hard to find,” she said. “So this model is actually more cost-effective than [operating a center].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout Alameda County, almost 700 families are experiencing homelessness, according to \u003ca href=\"https://everyonehome.org/main/continuum-of-care/point-in-time-count-2024/\">a January point-in-time count survey\u003c/a> — down 17% from two years ago. But experts say that’s likely an undercount because families with young kids often get overlooked, as they are more likely to sleep in motels, their cars or on someone’s couch, as opposed to on the street or in a shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why we call it hidden homelessness,” said Erin Patterson, director of education initiatives at SchoolHouse Connection, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., focused on youth homelessness. “And so it really feels like we are ignoring this whole portion of the homeless population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SchoolHouse Connection \u003ca href=\"https://schoolhouseconnection.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Infant-and-Toddler-Homelessness-Across-50-States-2021-2022.pdf\">estimates that in California\u003c/a>, only one in six infants and toddlers experiencing homelessness are enrolled in early childhood development programs like Head Start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a heartbreaking statistic, Patterson said, because these are the kids who need it most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For an infant or toddler to be experiencing homelessness and not knowing where they’re going to sleep during a time when they’re supposed to be potty trained and have routine and consistency, that’s difficult enough,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Programs like Head Start offer a range of support for unhoused families, from free diapers to access to educators who are trained in caring for children affected by trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988312\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988312\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two parents play with a small child outside as a large green truck with the letters 'ready set go' printed on it appears in the background\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-38_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parents Jay and Jasmine play with their 18-month-old son, Jayden, outside Oakland’s Head Start mobile classroom at Lincoln Square Park in Oakland on May 24, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Everything the parent or the adult in the situation is experiencing in terms of trauma, the child is also experiencing,” Patterson said. “Babies experiencing homelessness carry trauma. They feel stress, but they can’t articulate it with words yet. And so that’s why it’s even more critical to get interventions and supports to them as early as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who leaned on Head Start services for her son when she was a single mother experiencing homelessness, called the city’s new mobile classroom a “huge game changer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just because your family is going through some housing issues or housing insecurity doesn’t mean that the resources for your children should stop,” she said \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzpQnYLNe2V/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D\">at a news conference\u003c/a> announcing the program last November. “It actually means that you need it more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mobile Head Start classroom currently serves families who signed up for home visits but may not have a steady place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the mobile classroom’s spacious interior includes a kitchenette, a health-check station and a computer area — equipped with its own server— where parents can access the Internet to work on job or housing applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988309\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988309\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A small Asian boy sits on an outside map on the ground, playing with toys.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-40_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shi Li Zhong (right) with her two young sons outside the Head Start mobile classroom at Lincoln Square Park in Oakland on May 24, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We know that in a lot of different areas that we are in, there may not be access to technology, so we want to ensure that’s not a barrier to families,” said Shelley Taylor, who oversees Head Start facilities for the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staffers also use the space to conduct developmental screenings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shi Li Zhong, who came to the mobile classroom event in Chinatown, said she didn’t know her older son had a speech delay until he was enrolled in Head Start when he was almost 2 years old. A caseworker referred her to a speech therapist, and she said her son is now starting to talk more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were a lot of things I didn’t know,” Zhong said about being a first-time parent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She came to this event with her second son, who is almost 1, to give him a chance to interact with other children and for her a chance to build community.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The number of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/exploring-the-spike-in-chronic-absenteeism-among-k-12-students/\">California kids missing too many school days\u003c/a> tripled — from 12% to 30% — during the pandemic, and school districts have been searching for ways to bring them back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The staff at Alvord Unified School District, which serves roughly 16,000 students in Riverside County, turned to technology to help engage with families after staff got overwhelmed tracking attendance and mailing truancy letters to those with three or more unexcused absences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were spending a large amount of time just doing clerical work that didn’t allow them to actually do what needed to be done,” said Ian Fish, who oversees attendance as the district’s assistant director of student services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, at the beginning of the 2022–23 school year, the district hired an outside firm called SchoolStatus to track attendance data and communicate with parents via texts, emails and postcards in multiple languages. Fish said it has freed up his staff to make phone calls or home visits to better understand the reasons behind the absences and offer help such as counseling or connecting families to social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rather than say ‘what’s going on? You’re going to get a citation,’ why not call and say ‘hey, we miss having [your child] in school. How can we get him here? What can we do to support him?’ I think that’s why we’ve seen some progress over the last two years in terms of our attendance,” Fish said, adding that the district’s chronic absenteeism rate improved by 10 percentage points.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts across California are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in efforts to detect chronically absent students, \u003ca href=\"https://www.edweek.org/leadership/why-chronic-absenteeism-is-a-budget-problem-too/2024/05\">or to hire firms to do that work for them\u003c/a>, because the amount of state funding they receive depends on enrollment and attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvord Unified pays School Status $240,0000 annually for its service, using \u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/elostrategies.asp\">state funding for post-pandemic learning recovery.\u003c/a> The company said \u003ca href=\"https://www.schoolstatus.com/wp-content/uploads/SchoolStatus_National-K-12-Attendance-Data-Insights.pdf\">in a report released Tuesday\u003c/a> that school districts that use its attendance management strategies saw a 22% reduction in chronic absenteeism between the 2021–22 to 2022–23 school years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We like to say we’re creating a culture of achievement, starting with creating a culture of showing up,” said Grace Spencer, an attendance expert at SchoolStatus. “It starts with notifying parents in a timely, consistent manner, with positive messaging in their family’s home language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The messages may start with a notification about how many days their child missed school, how much learning time they missed compared to their classmates, and how students who are chronically absent are likely to struggle academically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the absences continue, the system will step up its warnings but it tries to focus on encouraging and celebrating attendance, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Postcards that say ‘we love it when you’re in school. We miss you when you’re not here.’ It’s that personal touch [saying] we want you in school, and school is important,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sending text messages and postcards with language that “stresses common purpose and is more warm than judgmental” might be an effective, low-cost solution to chronic absenteeism, said Stanford University education professor Thomas Dee.[aside label=\"More Education Stories\" tag=\"early-childhood-education\"]However, he said the SchoolStatus report might be overstating the impact of its service since it doesn’t compare the change in chronic absenteeism rate for districts that weren’t using its services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Messaging is an incredibly promising, important, and underutilized strategy for reducing chronic absenteeism, but I can’t say that this analysis credibly establishes the impact of this service,” Dee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he’d like to see the state make this kind of messaging system available to all districts to help them connect with students and their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a lot to ask any one district to kind of create the system themselves or contract for themselves, so I think that’s one of the key ways in which California and other states are failing to address the enduring problem we have with our academic recovery from the pandemic,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Education didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The number of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/exploring-the-spike-in-chronic-absenteeism-among-k-12-students/\">California kids missing too many school days\u003c/a> tripled — from 12% to 30% — during the pandemic, and school districts have been searching for ways to bring them back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The staff at Alvord Unified School District, which serves roughly 16,000 students in Riverside County, turned to technology to help engage with families after staff got overwhelmed tracking attendance and mailing truancy letters to those with three or more unexcused absences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were spending a large amount of time just doing clerical work that didn’t allow them to actually do what needed to be done,” said Ian Fish, who oversees attendance as the district’s assistant director of student services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, at the beginning of the 2022–23 school year, the district hired an outside firm called SchoolStatus to track attendance data and communicate with parents via texts, emails and postcards in multiple languages. Fish said it has freed up his staff to make phone calls or home visits to better understand the reasons behind the absences and offer help such as counseling or connecting families to social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rather than say ‘what’s going on? You’re going to get a citation,’ why not call and say ‘hey, we miss having [your child] in school. How can we get him here? What can we do to support him?’ I think that’s why we’ve seen some progress over the last two years in terms of our attendance,” Fish said, adding that the district’s chronic absenteeism rate improved by 10 percentage points.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts across California are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in efforts to detect chronically absent students, \u003ca href=\"https://www.edweek.org/leadership/why-chronic-absenteeism-is-a-budget-problem-too/2024/05\">or to hire firms to do that work for them\u003c/a>, because the amount of state funding they receive depends on enrollment and attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvord Unified pays School Status $240,0000 annually for its service, using \u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/elostrategies.asp\">state funding for post-pandemic learning recovery.\u003c/a> The company said \u003ca href=\"https://www.schoolstatus.com/wp-content/uploads/SchoolStatus_National-K-12-Attendance-Data-Insights.pdf\">in a report released Tuesday\u003c/a> that school districts that use its attendance management strategies saw a 22% reduction in chronic absenteeism between the 2021–22 to 2022–23 school years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We like to say we’re creating a culture of achievement, starting with creating a culture of showing up,” said Grace Spencer, an attendance expert at SchoolStatus. “It starts with notifying parents in a timely, consistent manner, with positive messaging in their family’s home language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The messages may start with a notification about how many days their child missed school, how much learning time they missed compared to their classmates, and how students who are chronically absent are likely to struggle academically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the absences continue, the system will step up its warnings but it tries to focus on encouraging and celebrating attendance, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Postcards that say ‘we love it when you’re in school. We miss you when you’re not here.’ It’s that personal touch [saying] we want you in school, and school is important,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sending text messages and postcards with language that “stresses common purpose and is more warm than judgmental” might be an effective, low-cost solution to chronic absenteeism, said Stanford University education professor Thomas Dee.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>However, he said the SchoolStatus report might be overstating the impact of its service since it doesn’t compare the change in chronic absenteeism rate for districts that weren’t using its services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Messaging is an incredibly promising, important, and underutilized strategy for reducing chronic absenteeism, but I can’t say that this analysis credibly establishes the impact of this service,” Dee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he’d like to see the state make this kind of messaging system available to all districts to help them connect with students and their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a lot to ask any one district to kind of create the system themselves or contract for themselves, so I think that’s one of the key ways in which California and other states are failing to address the enduring problem we have with our academic recovery from the pandemic,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Education didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders are negotiating the state’s final budget by July 1 after failing to agree on several sticking points, including \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-legislature-budget-gov-gavin-newsom-d0ecb7821c2fb5a02ab46cb1bad6bd8c\">how much social spending the state will cut\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To plug a multibillion-dollar deficit, Newsom proposed in May to halt a multi-year plan to add 200,000 subsidized child care spaces by 2028 and cut 40% in funding for a program that prioritizes emergency child care for foster children and another 45% for another program that provides home visits to CalWORKS-eligible moms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates say that would set back five years of work building a program that has been shown to improve the health and well-being of parents and children born into poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At a time when there needs to be more investment in the future, taking these kinds of programs away is really just shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Charna Widby, deputy director of Riverside County’s First Five commission, who has been helping to expand the program there.[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CalWORKS home visiting program matches recipients with a nurse, social worker or trained professional for regular visits around the birth and first two years of a child’s life. Advocates say these voluntary home visits can be a lifeline to families during a vulnerable and sometimes isolating life stage. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/calworks-home-visiting-program/evaluation\">An independent evaluation\u003c/a> of the program found that when the participants were referred to housing or mental health services, the majority accessed them. What’s more, participating children received developmental screening at a higher rate than children on Medi-Cal.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" tag=\"early-childhood-education\"]Widby said it had taken a few years to train the workforce and build the system to provide home visits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But it’s started to pick up steam in building capacity, especially in the last two years, so to destabilize that now kind of eliminates a large investment that the state and counties have been making,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the cuts proposed by Newsom go through, Widby said Riverside County can only serve about 200 families — out of more than 20,000 who could be eligible. Legislative leaders want to preserve spending levels for the program in the \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-05/summary-of-joint-legislative-budget-plan.pdf\">preliminary budget they passed Thursday\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In far Northern California, 13 out of 35 currently enrolled families in Humboldt County could lose access to the home visiting program, said Kathryn O’Malley, supervising public health nurse at the county’s Department of Health & Human Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rural communities have less infrastructure to serve families, and most importantly, those families with the greatest social and economic needs,” she said. “We have less access to transportation, low-income housing, subsidized child care and specialty medical care. Providing home visiting services helps close some of the gaps and assists with accessing services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Advocates say the budget cuts would set back a program that has been shown to improve the health and well-being of parents and children born into poverty.",
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"title": "Home Visits for Lower-Income Moms Among California Programs Facing Budget Cuts | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders are negotiating the state’s final budget by July 1 after failing to agree on several sticking points, including \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-legislature-budget-gov-gavin-newsom-d0ecb7821c2fb5a02ab46cb1bad6bd8c\">how much social spending the state will cut\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To plug a multibillion-dollar deficit, Newsom proposed in May to halt a multi-year plan to add 200,000 subsidized child care spaces by 2028 and cut 40% in funding for a program that prioritizes emergency child care for foster children and another 45% for another program that provides home visits to CalWORKS-eligible moms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates say that would set back five years of work building a program that has been shown to improve the health and well-being of parents and children born into poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At a time when there needs to be more investment in the future, taking these kinds of programs away is really just shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Charna Widby, deputy director of Riverside County’s First Five commission, who has been helping to expand the program there.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CalWORKS home visiting program matches recipients with a nurse, social worker or trained professional for regular visits around the birth and first two years of a child’s life. Advocates say these voluntary home visits can be a lifeline to families during a vulnerable and sometimes isolating life stage. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/calworks-home-visiting-program/evaluation\">An independent evaluation\u003c/a> of the program found that when the participants were referred to housing or mental health services, the majority accessed them. What’s more, participating children received developmental screening at a higher rate than children on Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Widby said it had taken a few years to train the workforce and build the system to provide home visits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But it’s started to pick up steam in building capacity, especially in the last two years, so to destabilize that now kind of eliminates a large investment that the state and counties have been making,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the cuts proposed by Newsom go through, Widby said Riverside County can only serve about 200 families — out of more than 20,000 who could be eligible. Legislative leaders want to preserve spending levels for the program in the \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-05/summary-of-joint-legislative-budget-plan.pdf\">preliminary budget they passed Thursday\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In far Northern California, 13 out of 35 currently enrolled families in Humboldt County could lose access to the home visiting program, said Kathryn O’Malley, supervising public health nurse at the county’s Department of Health & Human Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rural communities have less infrastructure to serve families, and most importantly, those families with the greatest social and economic needs,” she said. “We have less access to transportation, low-income housing, subsidized child care and specialty medical care. Providing home visiting services helps close some of the gaps and assists with accessing services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "as-californias-transitional-kindergarten-enrollment-grows-parents-must-make-big-choices",
"title": "As California's Transitional Kindergarten Enrollment Grows, Parents Must Make Big Choices",
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"headTitle": "As California’s Transitional Kindergarten Enrollment Grows, Parents Must Make Big Choices | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>California is in the middle of an ambitious plan to offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year. KQED and LAist are teaming up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989615/california-struggles-with-classroom-space-for-transitional-kindergarten\">on a series\u003c/a> examining the challenges the state faces as it tries to add a new grade to its sprawling public school system.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen the end-of-day bell buzzes in Mrs. Nobriga’s transitional kindergarten class at Holbrook Language Academy in Concord, her students excitedly cluster on the carpet, waiting to be picked up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One student, Galilea, runs to her family and hugs her dad, Victor Buendia, and younger brother, Fabian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Buendia, the simple act of picking up his daughter from school requires some maneuvering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an emergency medical technician, he used to work a day shift and wouldn’t get home until late in the evening. But he switched his schedule to start at 4 a.m., so now he’s off by noon — giving him enough to get home, change, load his 2-year-old son Fabian in the car and pick up Galilea when school ends at 1:35 p.m. His wife, Karina Buendia, handles the morning drop-off before heading to her 9-to-5 job as a nurse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We talked, and we were like, ‘You know what? It’s going to be an early shift,’ but I know I’m going to be out early. I’m going to be able to come and pick her up,” Victor Buendia said. “We want her to know that we’re there for her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989792\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victor and Karina Buendia pick up their daughter Galilea, 5, after a transitional kindergarten class at Holbrook Language Academy in Concord on May 20. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Buendias are among the thousands of parents who have opted into California’s ambitious $2.7 billion expansion of transitional kindergarten. In 2021, lawmakers voted to gradually phase in the grade on public school campuses over a five-year period until it covers all 4-year-olds in the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom has made universal TK a hallmark of his administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enrollment has significantly increased to 150,000 students this past school year, but the state still has a long way to go to reach its goal of serving more than 300,000 by the fall of 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program’s growth will largely depend on parents buying into the program, but the transition to this new grade creates logistical challenges that force working parents like the Buendias to make difficult choices.[aside postID=news_11989465 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-27-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']KQED interviewed several families about their experiences with TK and many said drop-off and pick-up arrangements are a major hurdle. Others said their neighborhood school didn’t offer TK, and programs at other schools were difficult to travel to. Some parents said they missed key deadlines because they didn’t know their child was eligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a major expansion over the course of five years — it’s historic,” said Hanna Melnick, senior policy advisor at the Learning Policy Institute. To accommodate a new grade, schools need additional classroom space, supplies, teachers and outreach to families. The state has provided funding, but progress has varied by school district and individual school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very exciting that California has prioritized early learning,” Melnick said. “It’s going to be messy no matter where you go to expand this quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Learning Policy Institute surveyed parents who didn’t enroll their kids in TK and found that the most common reasons were that the school did not offer before- or after-school care or that the available school was not close to home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some families have opted out of public school altogether or are waiting longer to enroll their kids, like when they are 6 years old. But there is still a gap of missing students, Melnick said, who are not enrolled in public school, private school or homeschooling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988709\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988709\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victor and Karina Buendia, along with their son Fabian, 3, pick up their daughter Galilea, 5, after a transitional kindergarten class at Holbrook Language Academy in Concord on May 20. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We knew coming from the pandemic that enrollment across the country has fallen in preschool everywhere,” she said. “We simply don’t really know what’s happening with a lot of families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many parents, the Buendias worried about sending their 4-year-old to an elementary school and wondered if she would adapt to a structured school environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was kind of skeptical,” Victor Buendia said. “At first, I was like, I don’t know how I feel about leaving my kid for long hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before starting TK, Galilea stayed home with her grandparents, which had its benefits, but she also spent a lot of time isolated from other kids during the pandemic. When she did see other kids, like at the park, she didn’t know how to interact with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that Galilea will be off to kindergarten next fall, her parents are thrilled with the progress she’s made socially and academically and said enrolling her in TK was the right choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In our case, [TK] was a great help,” Karina Buendia said. “Galilea turned 1 during COVID-19. She was struggling with socialization, so for us, she is getting the skills she needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Getting into school and getting there\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Alameda mom, Jennifer Currier, said when she first heard about transitional kindergarten, signing up her daughter Kaia seemed like a no-brainer. She heard great things about Alameda’s public schools and enrolling could help them save the $2,000 monthly tuition they were paying for private preschool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, their neighborhood school did not offer TK, so they had to consider other schools in the district, some of which would require driving through “horrendous traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989660\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989660\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer and Steve Currier leave the house with their two children, Kaia, 5, and Kane, 2, in Alameda on June 10, before Steve takes the kids to camp and Jennifer leaves for work. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Only one Alameda school offering TK was a feasible distance away for Currier’s daughter, so landing a spot was crucial. She compared registration to securing tickets to the Coachella music festival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last school year, 81% of school districts, county offices of education and charter schools reported offering TK at all of their elementary schools. In addition, 82% reported providing full-day classes, and sometimes alongside part-day classes, according to the state Department of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Alameda Unified School District has taken a deliberately slow approach to implementing universal TK, said Tanya Harris, director for elementary education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has nine elementary schools but has added TK incrementally since the statewide expansion started. This fall, six of the district’s schools will offer TK before expanding to all or most of the schools by fall 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demand has been high, with classes filling up to capacity each year, Harris said, but the district has not wanted to rush to add more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has been nice to have the slower rollout to be really thoughtful and really find the right folks to be in the classroom,” Harris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once Currier managed to enroll her daughter, the next step was figuring out transportation. Currier, an eye doctor, and her husband, an air traffic controller, need to be out of the house well before the kids start school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989655\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989655\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer and Steve Currier prepare their two children, Kaia, 5, and Kane, 2, for summer camp at their home in Alameda on June 10. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So they hired a morning nanny who ferries their daughter to school and their 3-year-old son to preschool. In the afternoon, their daughter stays on for after-school care. Even with paying for the morning nanny at $35 per hour and after-school care at $525 per month, the Curriers are saving about $800 a month on childcare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the difficulties, Currier said she feels grateful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a really good fit for [Kaia] to be in TK because she was able to encounter lots of different people from different parts of Alameda,” she said. But she knows others may not be able to make the same choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The hours [for TK] can be challenging for a lot of people,” she said. “My husband and I have talked about this a lot, how do people make it work?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State education officials say they’re encouraged by increased enrollment to TK across all racial and ethnic groups because one of their goals is to provide equitable access to the state’s youngest learners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s that overall hope that more and more families find access to high-quality, universal pre-K and that TK is one of those really strong options that’s available to them in a really good way in their community,” said Sarah Neville-Morgan, deputy superintendent at the CDE. A mark of quality, she added, includes having children in the same neighborhood going to the same TK classroom, regardless of their family’s income level.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘It’s hard to compete with free’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For some parents, the high cost of child care drove them to choose TK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to compete with free,” said Alexis Ford, who lives in Concord and enrolled her son Mikey in TK last fall at the same school as Galilea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexis Ford works at a Head Start child care center, which serves low-income families, but couldn’t enroll her son there because her family’s earnings were above the eligibility requirement for the federal preschool program. Before TK, Mikey was cared for by his grandparents and went to a private preschool part-time because full-time care was too expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989820\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989820\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mikey, 5, (right) works on an exercise with another student in a transitional kindergarten class at Holbrook Language Academy in Concord on May 20. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At first, Ford said she was hesitant about making the transition to TK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could have afforded to send Mikey for full-time at St. Michael’s, we probably would have kept them there until kindergarten,” she said. “Preschool centers and family child care homes can offer a smaller group, more individualized care, for longer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mikey was diagnosed with autism when he was three and now receives specialized services at school to help him with speech and other skills. So far, he’s done well in a regular classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are pretty satisfied,” Ford said. “The plan is he will be here through eighth grade.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some parents, the shifting eligibility deadlines for TK have created confusion. For this current school year, kids had to turn 4 by April 2. For the class entering this fall, the cut-off is June 2. And for the 2025-26 school year, the cut-off date will move for good to Sept. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christina Martinez of Concord said she feels like her daughter, Skye Ruiz, “fell through the TK cracks.”[aside postID=news_11989615 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKBackPack-1020x647.jpg']Skye was too young to enroll in TK last fall. This year, she’s eligible for kindergarten because she will be 5 by Sept. 1, but her mother is unsure if she’s ready. Skye has been attending a half-day program that is mostly play-based. It’s great, Martinez said but hasn’t provided her daughter much academic preparation for kindergarten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez decided to enroll Skye in a private TK program at St. Mary’s, a Catholic School in Walnut Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez said she hopes the extra year will help Skye ease into school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have to pay whatever I have to pay to make sure my kids get an acceptable education at this point,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The whole process of deciding on which school and which grade to start with was “very stressful,” Martinez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did not anticipate that at all,” she said. “These are the things you do not think about when you’re going to have a baby. Like, wow, I’m going to have to think about your whole academic career when you’re 4.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that her family has decided, she’s looking forward to her daughter starting school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just hopefully optimistic,” Martinez said, “that it’s the right place for my daughter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/daisynguyen\">\u003cem>Daisy Nguyen\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed reporting for this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "As California moves toward its goal of serving more than 300,000 students by the fall of 2025, the success of universal TK will largely depend on parents buying into the program.",
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"title": "As California's Transitional Kindergarten Enrollment Grows, Parents Must Make Big Choices | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>California is in the middle of an ambitious plan to offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year. KQED and LAist are teaming up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989615/california-struggles-with-classroom-space-for-transitional-kindergarten\">on a series\u003c/a> examining the challenges the state faces as it tries to add a new grade to its sprawling public school system.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen the end-of-day bell buzzes in Mrs. Nobriga’s transitional kindergarten class at Holbrook Language Academy in Concord, her students excitedly cluster on the carpet, waiting to be picked up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One student, Galilea, runs to her family and hugs her dad, Victor Buendia, and younger brother, Fabian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Buendia, the simple act of picking up his daughter from school requires some maneuvering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an emergency medical technician, he used to work a day shift and wouldn’t get home until late in the evening. But he switched his schedule to start at 4 a.m., so now he’s off by noon — giving him enough to get home, change, load his 2-year-old son Fabian in the car and pick up Galilea when school ends at 1:35 p.m. His wife, Karina Buendia, handles the morning drop-off before heading to her 9-to-5 job as a nurse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We talked, and we were like, ‘You know what? It’s going to be an early shift,’ but I know I’m going to be out early. I’m going to be able to come and pick her up,” Victor Buendia said. “We want her to know that we’re there for her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989792\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-53-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victor and Karina Buendia pick up their daughter Galilea, 5, after a transitional kindergarten class at Holbrook Language Academy in Concord on May 20. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Buendias are among the thousands of parents who have opted into California’s ambitious $2.7 billion expansion of transitional kindergarten. In 2021, lawmakers voted to gradually phase in the grade on public school campuses over a five-year period until it covers all 4-year-olds in the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom has made universal TK a hallmark of his administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enrollment has significantly increased to 150,000 students this past school year, but the state still has a long way to go to reach its goal of serving more than 300,000 by the fall of 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program’s growth will largely depend on parents buying into the program, but the transition to this new grade creates logistical challenges that force working parents like the Buendias to make difficult choices.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>KQED interviewed several families about their experiences with TK and many said drop-off and pick-up arrangements are a major hurdle. Others said their neighborhood school didn’t offer TK, and programs at other schools were difficult to travel to. Some parents said they missed key deadlines because they didn’t know their child was eligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a major expansion over the course of five years — it’s historic,” said Hanna Melnick, senior policy advisor at the Learning Policy Institute. To accommodate a new grade, schools need additional classroom space, supplies, teachers and outreach to families. The state has provided funding, but progress has varied by school district and individual school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very exciting that California has prioritized early learning,” Melnick said. “It’s going to be messy no matter where you go to expand this quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Learning Policy Institute surveyed parents who didn’t enroll their kids in TK and found that the most common reasons were that the school did not offer before- or after-school care or that the available school was not close to home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some families have opted out of public school altogether or are waiting longer to enroll their kids, like when they are 6 years old. But there is still a gap of missing students, Melnick said, who are not enrolled in public school, private school or homeschooling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988709\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988709\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKPARENTSDILEMMA-60-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victor and Karina Buendia, along with their son Fabian, 3, pick up their daughter Galilea, 5, after a transitional kindergarten class at Holbrook Language Academy in Concord on May 20. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We knew coming from the pandemic that enrollment across the country has fallen in preschool everywhere,” she said. “We simply don’t really know what’s happening with a lot of families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many parents, the Buendias worried about sending their 4-year-old to an elementary school and wondered if she would adapt to a structured school environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was kind of skeptical,” Victor Buendia said. “At first, I was like, I don’t know how I feel about leaving my kid for long hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before starting TK, Galilea stayed home with her grandparents, which had its benefits, but she also spent a lot of time isolated from other kids during the pandemic. When she did see other kids, like at the park, she didn’t know how to interact with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that Galilea will be off to kindergarten next fall, her parents are thrilled with the progress she’s made socially and academically and said enrolling her in TK was the right choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In our case, [TK] was a great help,” Karina Buendia said. “Galilea turned 1 during COVID-19. She was struggling with socialization, so for us, she is getting the skills she needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Getting into school and getting there\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Alameda mom, Jennifer Currier, said when she first heard about transitional kindergarten, signing up her daughter Kaia seemed like a no-brainer. She heard great things about Alameda’s public schools and enrolling could help them save the $2,000 monthly tuition they were paying for private preschool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, their neighborhood school did not offer TK, so they had to consider other schools in the district, some of which would require driving through “horrendous traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989660\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989660\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-43-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer and Steve Currier leave the house with their two children, Kaia, 5, and Kane, 2, in Alameda on June 10, before Steve takes the kids to camp and Jennifer leaves for work. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Only one Alameda school offering TK was a feasible distance away for Currier’s daughter, so landing a spot was crucial. She compared registration to securing tickets to the Coachella music festival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last school year, 81% of school districts, county offices of education and charter schools reported offering TK at all of their elementary schools. In addition, 82% reported providing full-day classes, and sometimes alongside part-day classes, according to the state Department of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Alameda Unified School District has taken a deliberately slow approach to implementing universal TK, said Tanya Harris, director for elementary education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has nine elementary schools but has added TK incrementally since the statewide expansion started. This fall, six of the district’s schools will offer TK before expanding to all or most of the schools by fall 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demand has been high, with classes filling up to capacity each year, Harris said, but the district has not wanted to rush to add more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has been nice to have the slower rollout to be really thoughtful and really find the right folks to be in the classroom,” Harris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once Currier managed to enroll her daughter, the next step was figuring out transportation. Currier, an eye doctor, and her husband, an air traffic controller, need to be out of the house well before the kids start school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989655\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989655\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240610-TKParentsDilemma-37-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer and Steve Currier prepare their two children, Kaia, 5, and Kane, 2, for summer camp at their home in Alameda on June 10. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So they hired a morning nanny who ferries their daughter to school and their 3-year-old son to preschool. In the afternoon, their daughter stays on for after-school care. Even with paying for the morning nanny at $35 per hour and after-school care at $525 per month, the Curriers are saving about $800 a month on childcare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the difficulties, Currier said she feels grateful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a really good fit for [Kaia] to be in TK because she was able to encounter lots of different people from different parts of Alameda,” she said. But she knows others may not be able to make the same choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The hours [for TK] can be challenging for a lot of people,” she said. “My husband and I have talked about this a lot, how do people make it work?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State education officials say they’re encouraged by increased enrollment to TK across all racial and ethnic groups because one of their goals is to provide equitable access to the state’s youngest learners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s that overall hope that more and more families find access to high-quality, universal pre-K and that TK is one of those really strong options that’s available to them in a really good way in their community,” said Sarah Neville-Morgan, deputy superintendent at the CDE. A mark of quality, she added, includes having children in the same neighborhood going to the same TK classroom, regardless of their family’s income level.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘It’s hard to compete with free’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For some parents, the high cost of child care drove them to choose TK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to compete with free,” said Alexis Ford, who lives in Concord and enrolled her son Mikey in TK last fall at the same school as Galilea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexis Ford works at a Head Start child care center, which serves low-income families, but couldn’t enroll her son there because her family’s earnings were above the eligibility requirement for the federal preschool program. Before TK, Mikey was cared for by his grandparents and went to a private preschool part-time because full-time care was too expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989820\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989820\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240520-TKParentsDilemma-01-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mikey, 5, (right) works on an exercise with another student in a transitional kindergarten class at Holbrook Language Academy in Concord on May 20. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At first, Ford said she was hesitant about making the transition to TK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could have afforded to send Mikey for full-time at St. Michael’s, we probably would have kept them there until kindergarten,” she said. “Preschool centers and family child care homes can offer a smaller group, more individualized care, for longer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mikey was diagnosed with autism when he was three and now receives specialized services at school to help him with speech and other skills. So far, he’s done well in a regular classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are pretty satisfied,” Ford said. “The plan is he will be here through eighth grade.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some parents, the shifting eligibility deadlines for TK have created confusion. For this current school year, kids had to turn 4 by April 2. For the class entering this fall, the cut-off is June 2. And for the 2025-26 school year, the cut-off date will move for good to Sept. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christina Martinez of Concord said she feels like her daughter, Skye Ruiz, “fell through the TK cracks.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Skye was too young to enroll in TK last fall. This year, she’s eligible for kindergarten because she will be 5 by Sept. 1, but her mother is unsure if she’s ready. Skye has been attending a half-day program that is mostly play-based. It’s great, Martinez said but hasn’t provided her daughter much academic preparation for kindergarten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez decided to enroll Skye in a private TK program at St. Mary’s, a Catholic School in Walnut Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez said she hopes the extra year will help Skye ease into school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have to pay whatever I have to pay to make sure my kids get an acceptable education at this point,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The whole process of deciding on which school and which grade to start with was “very stressful,” Martinez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did not anticipate that at all,” she said. “These are the things you do not think about when you’re going to have a baby. Like, wow, I’m going to have to think about your whole academic career when you’re 4.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that her family has decided, she’s looking forward to her daughter starting school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just hopefully optimistic,” Martinez said, “that it’s the right place for my daughter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/daisynguyen\">\u003cem>Daisy Nguyen\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed reporting for this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Struggles With Classroom Space For Transitional Kindergarten",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>California is in the middle of an ambitious plan to offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year. KQED and LAist are teaming up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989465/california-teacher-shortage-hinders-transitional-kindergarten-and-bilingual-education-goals\">on a series\u003c/a> examining the challenges the state faces as it tries to add a new grade to its sprawling public school system.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen Thomas Pace, director of facilities at San Bernardino City Unified, thinks about all the construction that needs to happen at the schools in his district, he struggles to get the math to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the existing kindergarten classrooms don’t meet \u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/kindergartenstandard.asp#:~:text=Kindergarten%20classroom%20size%20for%20permanent,all%20areas%20of%20the%20classroom.\">state standards\u003c/a>, and now, they’re preparing to layer in another grade for young children: transitional kindergarten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, California embarked on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/07/09/california-roars-back-governor-newsom-signs-historic-education-package-to-reimagine-public-schools/\">$2.7 billion plan\u003c/a> to offer TK to all 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year in what’s poised to be the largest free pre-K program in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But school districts across the state, like Pace’s, are struggling to build or modify the facilities most appropriate for these new young learners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why the rollout is expensive and hard\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Bernardino City Unified is at the tail end of using $250 million in bond money the city raised over a decade ago for school improvements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of the specialized space is highly expensive, and for those school districts that lack the local resources, we struggle to make those improvements on a grand scale,” Pace said. “So we were already struggling to catch up even in the kinder realm. Now, you add in a greater offering for TK, it just puts a larger burden on local school districts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989675\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989675\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction-800x536.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction-1020x684.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction-1536x1030.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mock-ups showing a planned new building and field hang on a fence in front of a construction site at Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/title5regs.asp#:~:text=Kindergarten%20classroom%20size%20for%20permanent,all%20areas%20of%20the%20classroom.\">State requirements\u003c/a> for\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/kinderfaq.asp\"> new TK classrooms\u003c/a> (and kindergarten classrooms) are different than those of typical classrooms. Four-year-olds can’t just sit at desks all day. They also need space to play, indoors and outdoors. They also need supervision when going to the bathroom, which means having a restroom inside the classroom, or close by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Bernardino, 150 of the 190 early education classrooms don’t meet those standards, Pace said.[aside postID=news_11989465 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-27-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']An initial analysis of state data by the Learning Policy Institute, yet to be published, found most districts reported having classroom space for early learners, but a third expressed concerns about adequate facilities, including square footage, bathrooms and outdoor play areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, California expanded a\u003ca href=\"https://www.dgs.ca.gov/OPSC/Services/Page-Content/Office-of-Public-School-Construction-Services-List-Folder/Access-Full-Day-Kindergarten-Facilities-Grant-Program-Funding\"> grant program\u003c/a> to help school districts build or renovate transitional kindergarten classrooms. Through two rounds of funding, the state has given out over $585 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, that program requires school districts to be able to provide matching funds at the local level. And districts have asserted that the way funding is structured makes it harder for lower-resourced districts to get money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have lots of classrooms that need to be modified,” Pace said. “We lack the local funding source to match, and we lack the state funding for it. So if the governor doesn’t continue to fund TK improvements to facilities, we are going to struggle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, the governor, in his May revised budget, \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/education/early-childhood-education-pre-k/governor-newsom-budget-revise-money-for-transitional-kindergarten-classrooms\">cut more than half a billion dollars\u003c/a> for that program. Lawmakers are weighing putting a statewide bond on the ballot in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the Department of General Services said in its last filing round, $1.04 billion worth of requests were not funded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/18298913/embed?auto=1\" width=\"1000\" height=\"820\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why learning environments matter\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Children gather around on a large colorful rug in the center of a TK classroom at Will Rogers Elementary in Santa Monica. The classroom has a wooden toddler play loft, puppets and toys and tiny-sized furniture for 4-year-olds. But it’s only about 900 square feet and doesn’t have a restroom inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Space is important for young children because they learn through play, said Susan Samarge-Powell, director of early learning at Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989676\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989676\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1314\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell-800x548.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell-1536x1051.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Susan Samarge-Powell, director of Child Development Services at Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So rather than students sitting at a desk all day long, that’s not what our early learning environments are about,” she said. “It’s about moving around, they’re moving all day long. And so, having that space to afford them that ability is a big deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said restrooms are also a big deal because four-year-olds don’t have quite the same bladder control as older kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you have little bodies, they have to go to the bathroom often. With the older kids, we can say, we’re going before recess. But with littles, whenever they’re ready, you have to go. So, it’s a challenge,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the other side of the elementary school, construction is underway to build new early learning classrooms that offer students an ideal environment — with their own play yard and bathrooms. District officials hope it’ll be ready by the summer of 2025, but the district won’t be finished with most of its other TK construction until 2026 or 2027, said Carey Upton, the district’s chief operations officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re playing catchup, and I think all school districts are,” Upton said. But Upton added his district, which includes Malibu, has the benefit of high-assessed property values and bond measures that tend to pass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It works OK for school districts that have funding. It works really poorly for school districts that don’t who don’t have the money to front the costs,” Upton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Should the state wait to expand TK?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When state lawmakers \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/05/governor-newsom-signs-early-childhood-legislation-highlights-transformative-investments-in-early-learning/\">announced the expansion of TK in 2021\u003c/a>, officials said it would provide “high-quality learning opportunities” for every child.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Sara Hinkley, a program manager for the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Cities + Schools, said quality may vary based on ZIP code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989679\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989679\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1258\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall-800x524.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall-1020x668.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall-1536x1006.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The transitional kindergarten classroom’s pet hamster at Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you see that as being very uneven, then the idea of TK being a way to make up the difference between kids who have access to nice, expensive preschool experiences and kids whose families can’t afford to send them to those kinds of experiences — we’ve kind of missed the entire goal of the expanded program, and that would be a shame,” Hinkley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think what we’ll also end up seeing is that local districts that can raise money locally, that can issue voter-approved general obligation bonds to retrofit these facilities, will have better educational environments for their very young kids,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LAist reached out to Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, who authored the \u003ca href=\"https://a06.asmdc.org/universal-transitional-kindergarten\">expansion of transitional kindergarten\u003c/a>. His office said he was unable to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dale Farran, professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University, said the state should wait to implement TK until schools have the appropriate spaces for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Kids] need to be up, they need to be exploring, they need to be interacting with each other and with the teacher, and they need to have an environment that facilitates all of that happening,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When bathrooms aren’t in the classroom, for instance, or their lunch is in the cafeteria with older students, it leads to more “transition” time, she explained, with kids having to line up to go to the bathroom or walk down the hall. Not only does that lead to less learning time, but it also leads to teachers having to exert more behavioral control on kids, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of just waiting. And what happens with 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds, is they get fidgety during all that wait time, right? And they may even start talking to a friend. And that leads teachers then to start what we call ‘behavior disapproval,’ Like, ‘Put a bubble in your mouth,’ or ‘I told you no talking in the hall,’” she said. “And so, children are hearing a lot more nos than they are hearing yeses. And that’s also not good for children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farran worked on a 2022 study in Tennessee that found that students who went to Tennessee’s public pre-K program had more behavior problems and lower test scores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If not done right, she said: “It will solidify the inequity at an earlier age.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How does the state help besides money?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Education said there are ways to make classrooms best suited for children, beyond the actual building. It’s advising local school districts on best practices — on how to arrange child-sized furniture and making classrooms appropriate for 4-year-olds. The department also has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.caeducatorstogether.org/resources/124848/developmentally-appropriate-toileting-practices-toolkit-final\">toolkit for helping kids go to the bathroom\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When bathrooms aren’t inside the classroom, teachers work with aides and other support staff to ensure they take kids to the restrooms in teams and developmentally appropriate ways, said Sarah Neville-Morgan, deputy superintendent at CDE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989677\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1297\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder-800x540.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder-1020x689.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder-1536x1038.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An official holds mock-ups for future buildings currently under construction at Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think it goes far beyond what the school looks like now,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A study by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.air.org/resource/qa/transitional-kindergarten-qa-karen-manship\">American Institutes for Research\u003c/a> found children who attended TK in California had stronger literacy and math skills when entering kindergarten than kids who didn’t attend the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neville-Morgan also pointed to touring Boston preschools, where in one case, children had to go up a floor to use the restroom because they were in an older building. “But their outcomes, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/05/18/997501946/the-case-for-universal-pre-k-just-got-stronger\">their results\u003c/a> from the Boston public schools, universal pre-K are phenomenal,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said giving 4-year-olds access to transitional kindergarten will better set them up for success later in life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re investing in [universal TK] … to give more children those chances, those opportunities to later go out and have access to home ownership, to higher ed or for pathways that give them, not just a living wage, but a really good salary occupation,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What do districts without local funds do?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Bernardino City Unified received some funding from the state grant program to help build an early learning center at the site of a high school. But that would just be for seven classrooms across a very large district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pace said the district didn’t apply for another round because they didn’t have enough local money to put up a match, which the state requires for the grants. There’s an exception for financial hardship, but that adds some limits on how money can be spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989680\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989680\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1297\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks-800x540.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks-1020x689.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks-1536x1038.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Instruction books are displayed inside a transitional kindergarten classroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That’s the inequitable part about the system — if you have the money, you can turn in [the applications],” Pace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fontana Unified School District applied for more than $23 million but hasn’t received any of it and the district is in the process of putting a bond in November. Leslie Barnes, associate superintendent of business services at Fontana Unified, said the district is looking to put TK classrooms in seven schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that they haven’t slowed down the TK rollout, but yet aren’t providing the funding, we need to be available to provide that on our own,” Barnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alan Reising, business services administrator with Long Beach Unified and chair of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, said districts will be forced to re-prioritize their local dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was disappointing because there’s such a demand out there for [the funding],” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whether or not we are ready for them, students are coming,” Reising said. “And so, we will do what we have done for decades, which is we will make do with what we have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "California Struggles With Classroom Space For Transitional Kindergarten | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>California is in the middle of an ambitious plan to offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year. KQED and LAist are teaming up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989465/california-teacher-shortage-hinders-transitional-kindergarten-and-bilingual-education-goals\">on a series\u003c/a> examining the challenges the state faces as it tries to add a new grade to its sprawling public school system.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen Thomas Pace, director of facilities at San Bernardino City Unified, thinks about all the construction that needs to happen at the schools in his district, he struggles to get the math to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the existing kindergarten classrooms don’t meet \u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/kindergartenstandard.asp#:~:text=Kindergarten%20classroom%20size%20for%20permanent,all%20areas%20of%20the%20classroom.\">state standards\u003c/a>, and now, they’re preparing to layer in another grade for young children: transitional kindergarten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, California embarked on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/07/09/california-roars-back-governor-newsom-signs-historic-education-package-to-reimagine-public-schools/\">$2.7 billion plan\u003c/a> to offer TK to all 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year in what’s poised to be the largest free pre-K program in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But school districts across the state, like Pace’s, are struggling to build or modify the facilities most appropriate for these new young learners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why the rollout is expensive and hard\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Bernardino City Unified is at the tail end of using $250 million in bond money the city raised over a decade ago for school improvements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of the specialized space is highly expensive, and for those school districts that lack the local resources, we struggle to make those improvements on a grand scale,” Pace said. “So we were already struggling to catch up even in the kinder realm. Now, you add in a greater offering for TK, it just puts a larger burden on local school districts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989675\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989675\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction-800x536.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction-1020x684.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKConstruction-1536x1030.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mock-ups showing a planned new building and field hang on a fence in front of a construction site at Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/title5regs.asp#:~:text=Kindergarten%20classroom%20size%20for%20permanent,all%20areas%20of%20the%20classroom.\">State requirements\u003c/a> for\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/kinderfaq.asp\"> new TK classrooms\u003c/a> (and kindergarten classrooms) are different than those of typical classrooms. Four-year-olds can’t just sit at desks all day. They also need space to play, indoors and outdoors. They also need supervision when going to the bathroom, which means having a restroom inside the classroom, or close by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Bernardino, 150 of the 190 early education classrooms don’t meet those standards, Pace said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>An initial analysis of state data by the Learning Policy Institute, yet to be published, found most districts reported having classroom space for early learners, but a third expressed concerns about adequate facilities, including square footage, bathrooms and outdoor play areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, California expanded a\u003ca href=\"https://www.dgs.ca.gov/OPSC/Services/Page-Content/Office-of-Public-School-Construction-Services-List-Folder/Access-Full-Day-Kindergarten-Facilities-Grant-Program-Funding\"> grant program\u003c/a> to help school districts build or renovate transitional kindergarten classrooms. Through two rounds of funding, the state has given out over $585 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, that program requires school districts to be able to provide matching funds at the local level. And districts have asserted that the way funding is structured makes it harder for lower-resourced districts to get money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have lots of classrooms that need to be modified,” Pace said. “We lack the local funding source to match, and we lack the state funding for it. So if the governor doesn’t continue to fund TK improvements to facilities, we are going to struggle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, the governor, in his May revised budget, \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/education/early-childhood-education-pre-k/governor-newsom-budget-revise-money-for-transitional-kindergarten-classrooms\">cut more than half a billion dollars\u003c/a> for that program. Lawmakers are weighing putting a statewide bond on the ballot in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the Department of General Services said in its last filing round, $1.04 billion worth of requests were not funded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/18298913/embed?auto=1\" width=\"1000\" height=\"820\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why learning environments matter\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Children gather around on a large colorful rug in the center of a TK classroom at Will Rogers Elementary in Santa Monica. The classroom has a wooden toddler play loft, puppets and toys and tiny-sized furniture for 4-year-olds. But it’s only about 900 square feet and doesn’t have a restroom inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Space is important for young children because they learn through play, said Susan Samarge-Powell, director of early learning at Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989676\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989676\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1314\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell-800x548.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKSamargePowell-1536x1051.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Susan Samarge-Powell, director of Child Development Services at Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So rather than students sitting at a desk all day long, that’s not what our early learning environments are about,” she said. “It’s about moving around, they’re moving all day long. And so, having that space to afford them that ability is a big deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said restrooms are also a big deal because four-year-olds don’t have quite the same bladder control as older kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you have little bodies, they have to go to the bathroom often. With the older kids, we can say, we’re going before recess. But with littles, whenever they’re ready, you have to go. So, it’s a challenge,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the other side of the elementary school, construction is underway to build new early learning classrooms that offer students an ideal environment — with their own play yard and bathrooms. District officials hope it’ll be ready by the summer of 2025, but the district won’t be finished with most of its other TK construction until 2026 or 2027, said Carey Upton, the district’s chief operations officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re playing catchup, and I think all school districts are,” Upton said. But Upton added his district, which includes Malibu, has the benefit of high-assessed property values and bond measures that tend to pass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It works OK for school districts that have funding. It works really poorly for school districts that don’t who don’t have the money to front the costs,” Upton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Should the state wait to expand TK?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When state lawmakers \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/05/governor-newsom-signs-early-childhood-legislation-highlights-transformative-investments-in-early-learning/\">announced the expansion of TK in 2021\u003c/a>, officials said it would provide “high-quality learning opportunities” for every child.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Sara Hinkley, a program manager for the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Cities + Schools, said quality may vary based on ZIP code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989679\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989679\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1258\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall-800x524.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall-1020x668.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKClassWall-1536x1006.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The transitional kindergarten classroom’s pet hamster at Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you see that as being very uneven, then the idea of TK being a way to make up the difference between kids who have access to nice, expensive preschool experiences and kids whose families can’t afford to send them to those kinds of experiences — we’ve kind of missed the entire goal of the expanded program, and that would be a shame,” Hinkley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think what we’ll also end up seeing is that local districts that can raise money locally, that can issue voter-approved general obligation bonds to retrofit these facilities, will have better educational environments for their very young kids,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LAist reached out to Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, who authored the \u003ca href=\"https://a06.asmdc.org/universal-transitional-kindergarten\">expansion of transitional kindergarten\u003c/a>. His office said he was unable to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dale Farran, professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University, said the state should wait to implement TK until schools have the appropriate spaces for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Kids] need to be up, they need to be exploring, they need to be interacting with each other and with the teacher, and they need to have an environment that facilitates all of that happening,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When bathrooms aren’t in the classroom, for instance, or their lunch is in the cafeteria with older students, it leads to more “transition” time, she explained, with kids having to line up to go to the bathroom or walk down the hall. Not only does that lead to less learning time, but it also leads to teachers having to exert more behavioral control on kids, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of just waiting. And what happens with 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds, is they get fidgety during all that wait time, right? And they may even start talking to a friend. And that leads teachers then to start what we call ‘behavior disapproval,’ Like, ‘Put a bubble in your mouth,’ or ‘I told you no talking in the hall,’” she said. “And so, children are hearing a lot more nos than they are hearing yeses. And that’s also not good for children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farran worked on a 2022 study in Tennessee that found that students who went to Tennessee’s public pre-K program had more behavior problems and lower test scores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If not done right, she said: “It will solidify the inequity at an earlier age.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How does the state help besides money?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Education said there are ways to make classrooms best suited for children, beyond the actual building. It’s advising local school districts on best practices — on how to arrange child-sized furniture and making classrooms appropriate for 4-year-olds. The department also has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.caeducatorstogether.org/resources/124848/developmentally-appropriate-toileting-practices-toolkit-final\">toolkit for helping kids go to the bathroom\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When bathrooms aren’t inside the classroom, teachers work with aides and other support staff to ensure they take kids to the restrooms in teams and developmentally appropriate ways, said Sarah Neville-Morgan, deputy superintendent at CDE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989677\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1297\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder-800x540.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder-1020x689.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/TKPersonHoldingFolder-1536x1038.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An official holds mock-ups for future buildings currently under construction at Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think it goes far beyond what the school looks like now,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A study by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.air.org/resource/qa/transitional-kindergarten-qa-karen-manship\">American Institutes for Research\u003c/a> found children who attended TK in California had stronger literacy and math skills when entering kindergarten than kids who didn’t attend the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neville-Morgan also pointed to touring Boston preschools, where in one case, children had to go up a floor to use the restroom because they were in an older building. “But their outcomes, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/05/18/997501946/the-case-for-universal-pre-k-just-got-stronger\">their results\u003c/a> from the Boston public schools, universal pre-K are phenomenal,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said giving 4-year-olds access to transitional kindergarten will better set them up for success later in life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re investing in [universal TK] … to give more children those chances, those opportunities to later go out and have access to home ownership, to higher ed or for pathways that give them, not just a living wage, but a really good salary occupation,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What do districts without local funds do?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Bernardino City Unified received some funding from the state grant program to help build an early learning center at the site of a high school. But that would just be for seven classrooms across a very large district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pace said the district didn’t apply for another round because they didn’t have enough local money to put up a match, which the state requires for the grants. There’s an exception for financial hardship, but that adds some limits on how money can be spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989680\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989680\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1297\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks-800x540.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks-1020x689.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/KindergartenBooks-1536x1038.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Instruction books are displayed inside a transitional kindergarten classroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ashley Balderrama)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That’s the inequitable part about the system — if you have the money, you can turn in [the applications],” Pace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fontana Unified School District applied for more than $23 million but hasn’t received any of it and the district is in the process of putting a bond in November. Leslie Barnes, associate superintendent of business services at Fontana Unified, said the district is looking to put TK classrooms in seven schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that they haven’t slowed down the TK rollout, but yet aren’t providing the funding, we need to be available to provide that on our own,” Barnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alan Reising, business services administrator with Long Beach Unified and chair of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, said districts will be forced to re-prioritize their local dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was disappointing because there’s such a demand out there for [the funding],” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whether or not we are ready for them, students are coming,” Reising said. “And so, we will do what we have done for decades, which is we will make do with what we have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>California is in the middle of an ambitious plan to offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year in what’s poised to be the largest free preschool program in the country. KQED and LAist are teaming up on a series examining the challenges the state faces as it tries to add a new grade to its sprawling public school system.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or students in the transitional kindergarten classroom at Oakland’s International Community Elementary School, the day is split in half. They spend their mornings speaking and learning Spanish from teacher Cintya Valdivia. After lunch, they learn everything in English from teacher Sophie Siebert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the school year began, the 4- and 5-year-olds dreaded switching to English, Seibert said. The school is in Fruitvale, home to the city’s largest Latin American immigrant community, and with many students speaking Spanish or a Mayan language called Mam at home, they were not yet comfortable with English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But by the end of the year, assessments showed that the students were picking up a lot of English, Seibert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One student she called her “favorite, rebellious Venezuelan kid” often avoided talking to her by saying, “I can’t speak English, Miss.” He wound up passing his assessments with flying colors, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just looked at him like, ‘OK, you can’t understand me? You did pretty well, bilingual genius,’” Seibert said. “And so, it’s really cool to see their confidence grow in another language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988058\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988058\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A teacher smiles as she plays with students at an outdoor play gym slide\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Sophie Seiberth speaks with transitional kindergarten students during recess at the International Community School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Valdivia said the Spanish-speaking students’ vocabulary grew in their native language, and their sentence structures became more complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valdivia and Siebert’s classroom is a model of California’s effort to boost bilingual education while it also works to make transitional kindergarten available to all 4-year-olds by next fall. School districts are offering TK classes in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and other languages that reflect the linguistic diversity of their community and to seize upon the window when young learners are most open to language development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have a lot of catching up to do: California\u003ca href=\"https://tcf.org/content/report/moving-from-vision-to-reality-establishing-california-as-a-national-bilingual-education-and-dual-language-immersion-leader/\"> is behind other states\u003c/a> when it comes to investing in bilingual education and enrolling English learners in dual-language immersion programs, experts said, and the state may not have enough teachers to reach its big goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988062\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988062\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A young student stands and raises her hand in class as other students around her remain seated in a classroom\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students raise their hands in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are enormous numbers of dual language learners in California, and taking advantage of those children’s languages and helping them develop them fully is going to be a really big lift,” said Conor Williams, a researcher at The Century Foundation who examined the state’s bilingual education policies. “Could the state do more? Absolutely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, nearly 60% of children under the age of 6 live in homes where a language other than English is spoken, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/mpi-nciip_dll-fact-sheet2022_ca-final.pdf\">an analysis of U.S Census data\u003c/a>. [aside postID=news_11979071 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240309-EARLY-START-DEVELOPMENTAL-DELAYS-MD-02-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg']\u003ca href=\"https://www.air.org/resource/blog-post/how-expanding-transitional-kindergarten-california-can-benefit-dual-language\">A five-year study shows\u003c/a> these dual language learners, who are more likely to live in low-income households, benefit the most from a year of transitional kindergarten. When they get to kindergarten, they’re ahead of their peers in math and literacy skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes, we hear, ‘Oh, if they want to learn English, we need to get them in English classrooms,’ but actually, the opposite is true,” said Carolyne Crolotte, who promotes dual language learner programs for Early Edge California. “If children have a very strong foundation in their home language, they actually learn English more easily.”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts across the state are promoting the value of bilingualism. In Oakland, parents can attend district-sponsored presentations on how to keep a child’s home language alive so they don’t lose it when they start going to school. In Los Angeles County, billboards and bus stop benches are plastered with the message “two languages, twice the opportunities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a dramatic shift in public attitude and policy toward bilingual education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1998, California voters passed Proposition 227, which limited bilingual education in public schools. Backers of the measure were worried bilingual instruction was delaying dual language learners’ ability to read, write and speak English because they were spending too much time learning in their home language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988060\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988060\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Three young students hold hands outside as they walk away from the camera towards a play gym structure during recess\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transitional kindergarten students play outside during recess at the International Community School in Oakland on May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2016, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11146643/the-return-of-bilingual-education-in-california\">voters overturned that policy\u003c/a>, paving the way for language immersion programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But by that time, the damage was done. Proposition 227 dismantled bilingual teacher training programs, Crolotte said, and now school districts struggle to find qualified teachers as the demand for language immersion programs grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a challenge trying to get teachers back into the classroom and then also to get new bilingual teachers to fill these classrooms,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shortage affects all grades, but is particularly acute at the TK level because each classroom needs more teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988071\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl reads a bilingual exercise book at a classroom table\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student reads a book in English and Spanish in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland on May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Currently, the state sets the average class size for transitional kindergarten at 24, with one adult for every 12 students to ensure they receive enough attention and supervision — two marks of a high-quality early childhood education program. By the 2025–26 school year, the demand for teachers will be greater as the state lowers the average class size to 20, or one adult for every 10 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, school districts and charter schools surveyed by the California Department of Education said they’re having a hard time finding fully credentialed teachers to teach TK by the 2025–26 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These agencies also had challenges hiring assistant teachers to maintain adult-child ratios, resulting in a 12% vacancy rate for the position at the beginning of the 2022–23 school year. That number slightly improved to 8% by the middle of that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These positions are some of the most difficult to staff because pay is lower, and often those positions are part-day,” said Hanna Melnick, senior policy advisor at the Learning Policy Institute, who analyzed the survey results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988057\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988057\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A teacher smiles in a classroom as a line of young children line up in front of her\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Cintya Valdivia prepares to take transitional kindergarten students outside for recess at the International Community School in Oakland on May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A sample audit of school districts found that at least 20 school districts and 50 charter schools failed to comply with the TK class size requirement and/or adult-to-child ratio in the 2022–23 year when the four-year expansion began. These districts and charter schools faced fines ranging from $1,706 to nearly $7 million, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/these-districts-charters-were-fined-for-violating-tk-requirements/712207\">according to a report by EdSource\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The districts blamed the problem on a nationwide teacher shortage and difficulty hiring assistant teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California invested $25 million to address the shortage to prepare teachers to work in dual-language classroom settings. As part of the TK expansion, the state also invested hundreds of millions of dollars to increase the number of early educators in TK and the California State Preschool Program, which serves income-eligible 3- to 4-year-olds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say the state is missing out on \u003ca href=\"https://cscce.berkeley.edu/publications/data-snapshot/early-educators-equipped-to-teach-tk/\">a valuable source of teachers\u003c/a>: those who already have experience working with 4-year-olds in private and nonprofit child care settings and may already have met some of the requirements for a teaching credential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988064\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988064\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl looks at a bilingual calendar on a classroom wall\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student works on a language exercise in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They also point out that women of color and immigrant women form the backbone of the early child care workforce, and by easing their way into the TK classrooms, they could better reflect the diversity of the student body and improve their wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it comes to young children, you come to work with your entire heart and your full emotional self. That requires training and experience, and just having more education [from a credentialing program] isn’t going to create that,” said Krystell Guzman, co-director of La Plazita Preschool, a private preschool chain in Oakland and San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said most 4-year-old students are leaving her program to attend the Spanish immersion TK classes at OUSD, leaving her to scramble to preserve jobs for the immigrant women on her staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates for racial equity in public education support \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1106/id/2829894\">a bill by Central Valley Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria\u003c/a> that would incentivize educators already in the early learning and care field to train to become TK teachers. Offering stipends, child care, transportation and academic support to those educators — many of whom already have bachelor’s degrees — would give them a boost as they pursue their credential, said Natalie Wheatfall-Lum, director of TK–12 policy at EdTrust-West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988066\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988066\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two young students, photographed from above, work on an exercise at a classroom table\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students work on language exercises in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We know that being in a culturally and linguistically affirming environment and being taught by culturally and linguistically diverse educators is an effective equity strategy — that’s part of what ‘quality’ means,” she said. “So we want families to be able to choose TK without having to compromise on quality — including a space where they feel welcomed and can see themselves represented.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Education is responding to this concern by advising educators that even when they don’t speak their student’s home language, they can learn a few words or provide books that recognize the child’s home language. This recommendation will be included in a new edition of the Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations, which the department will release this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, school districts like Oakland Unified are partnering with a local college to recruit new teachers and offering financial aid to current staff who want to work in TK classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seibert received an emergency permit through the district to co-teach the dual immersion TK classroom at International Community Elementary School while she earned her credential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988068\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Three young children in the foreground work on an exercise as a bilingual alphabet hangs on the wall of a classroom behind them\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students work on language exercises in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The 29-year-old has experience working at a private preschool but said she was drawn to the statewide effort to provide free early education for all children. She said working side-by-side with Valdivia, and getting additional support from a classroom aide, gave her a chance to hone her teaching skills and provide one-on-one support to the students who needed it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her goal was to help students get used to the routines of the school day, learn to solve problems and collaborate with their peers — skills that she said would help them succeed in kindergarten and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are key goals we’re trying to reach. All the letter recognition, rhyming skills and counting are just like the icing on top,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She knows she’s fortunate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, the district won’t have enough funding to put two teachers and an aide in one classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "It’s uncertain whether California will have enough teachers to meet its ambitious goals of providing transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds and increasing bilingual education for dual language learners.",
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"title": "California Teacher Shortage Hinders Transitional Kindergarten and Bilingual Education Goals | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>California is in the middle of an ambitious plan to offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year in what’s poised to be the largest free preschool program in the country. KQED and LAist are teaming up on a series examining the challenges the state faces as it tries to add a new grade to its sprawling public school system.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">F\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>or students in the transitional kindergarten classroom at Oakland’s International Community Elementary School, the day is split in half. They spend their mornings speaking and learning Spanish from teacher Cintya Valdivia. After lunch, they learn everything in English from teacher Sophie Siebert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the school year began, the 4- and 5-year-olds dreaded switching to English, Seibert said. The school is in Fruitvale, home to the city’s largest Latin American immigrant community, and with many students speaking Spanish or a Mayan language called Mam at home, they were not yet comfortable with English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But by the end of the year, assessments showed that the students were picking up a lot of English, Seibert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One student she called her “favorite, rebellious Venezuelan kid” often avoided talking to her by saying, “I can’t speak English, Miss.” He wound up passing his assessments with flying colors, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just looked at him like, ‘OK, you can’t understand me? You did pretty well, bilingual genius,’” Seibert said. “And so, it’s really cool to see their confidence grow in another language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988058\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988058\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A teacher smiles as she plays with students at an outdoor play gym slide\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-55-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Sophie Seiberth speaks with transitional kindergarten students during recess at the International Community School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Valdivia said the Spanish-speaking students’ vocabulary grew in their native language, and their sentence structures became more complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valdivia and Siebert’s classroom is a model of California’s effort to boost bilingual education while it also works to make transitional kindergarten available to all 4-year-olds by next fall. School districts are offering TK classes in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and other languages that reflect the linguistic diversity of their community and to seize upon the window when young learners are most open to language development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have a lot of catching up to do: California\u003ca href=\"https://tcf.org/content/report/moving-from-vision-to-reality-establishing-california-as-a-national-bilingual-education-and-dual-language-immersion-leader/\"> is behind other states\u003c/a> when it comes to investing in bilingual education and enrolling English learners in dual-language immersion programs, experts said, and the state may not have enough teachers to reach its big goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988062\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988062\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A young student stands and raises her hand in class as other students around her remain seated in a classroom\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students raise their hands in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are enormous numbers of dual language learners in California, and taking advantage of those children’s languages and helping them develop them fully is going to be a really big lift,” said Conor Williams, a researcher at The Century Foundation who examined the state’s bilingual education policies. “Could the state do more? Absolutely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, nearly 60% of children under the age of 6 live in homes where a language other than English is spoken, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/mpi-nciip_dll-fact-sheet2022_ca-final.pdf\">an analysis of U.S Census data\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.air.org/resource/blog-post/how-expanding-transitional-kindergarten-california-can-benefit-dual-language\">A five-year study shows\u003c/a> these dual language learners, who are more likely to live in low-income households, benefit the most from a year of transitional kindergarten. When they get to kindergarten, they’re ahead of their peers in math and literacy skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes, we hear, ‘Oh, if they want to learn English, we need to get them in English classrooms,’ but actually, the opposite is true,” said Carolyne Crolotte, who promotes dual language learner programs for Early Edge California. “If children have a very strong foundation in their home language, they actually learn English more easily.”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts across the state are promoting the value of bilingualism. In Oakland, parents can attend district-sponsored presentations on how to keep a child’s home language alive so they don’t lose it when they start going to school. In Los Angeles County, billboards and bus stop benches are plastered with the message “two languages, twice the opportunities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a dramatic shift in public attitude and policy toward bilingual education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1998, California voters passed Proposition 227, which limited bilingual education in public schools. Backers of the measure were worried bilingual instruction was delaying dual language learners’ ability to read, write and speak English because they were spending too much time learning in their home language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988060\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988060\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Three young students hold hands outside as they walk away from the camera towards a play gym structure during recess\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transitional kindergarten students play outside during recess at the International Community School in Oakland on May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2016, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11146643/the-return-of-bilingual-education-in-california\">voters overturned that policy\u003c/a>, paving the way for language immersion programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But by that time, the damage was done. Proposition 227 dismantled bilingual teacher training programs, Crolotte said, and now school districts struggle to find qualified teachers as the demand for language immersion programs grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a challenge trying to get teachers back into the classroom and then also to get new bilingual teachers to fill these classrooms,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shortage affects all grades, but is particularly acute at the TK level because each classroom needs more teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988071\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl reads a bilingual exercise book at a classroom table\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-130-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student reads a book in English and Spanish in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland on May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Currently, the state sets the average class size for transitional kindergarten at 24, with one adult for every 12 students to ensure they receive enough attention and supervision — two marks of a high-quality early childhood education program. By the 2025–26 school year, the demand for teachers will be greater as the state lowers the average class size to 20, or one adult for every 10 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, school districts and charter schools surveyed by the California Department of Education said they’re having a hard time finding fully credentialed teachers to teach TK by the 2025–26 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These agencies also had challenges hiring assistant teachers to maintain adult-child ratios, resulting in a 12% vacancy rate for the position at the beginning of the 2022–23 school year. That number slightly improved to 8% by the middle of that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These positions are some of the most difficult to staff because pay is lower, and often those positions are part-day,” said Hanna Melnick, senior policy advisor at the Learning Policy Institute, who analyzed the survey results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988057\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988057\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A teacher smiles in a classroom as a line of young children line up in front of her\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-45-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Cintya Valdivia prepares to take transitional kindergarten students outside for recess at the International Community School in Oakland on May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A sample audit of school districts found that at least 20 school districts and 50 charter schools failed to comply with the TK class size requirement and/or adult-to-child ratio in the 2022–23 year when the four-year expansion began. These districts and charter schools faced fines ranging from $1,706 to nearly $7 million, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/these-districts-charters-were-fined-for-violating-tk-requirements/712207\">according to a report by EdSource\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The districts blamed the problem on a nationwide teacher shortage and difficulty hiring assistant teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California invested $25 million to address the shortage to prepare teachers to work in dual-language classroom settings. As part of the TK expansion, the state also invested hundreds of millions of dollars to increase the number of early educators in TK and the California State Preschool Program, which serves income-eligible 3- to 4-year-olds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say the state is missing out on \u003ca href=\"https://cscce.berkeley.edu/publications/data-snapshot/early-educators-equipped-to-teach-tk/\">a valuable source of teachers\u003c/a>: those who already have experience working with 4-year-olds in private and nonprofit child care settings and may already have met some of the requirements for a teaching credential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988064\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988064\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl looks at a bilingual calendar on a classroom wall\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-107-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student works on a language exercise in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They also point out that women of color and immigrant women form the backbone of the early child care workforce, and by easing their way into the TK classrooms, they could better reflect the diversity of the student body and improve their wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it comes to young children, you come to work with your entire heart and your full emotional self. That requires training and experience, and just having more education [from a credentialing program] isn’t going to create that,” said Krystell Guzman, co-director of La Plazita Preschool, a private preschool chain in Oakland and San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said most 4-year-old students are leaving her program to attend the Spanish immersion TK classes at OUSD, leaving her to scramble to preserve jobs for the immigrant women on her staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates for racial equity in public education support \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1106/id/2829894\">a bill by Central Valley Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria\u003c/a> that would incentivize educators already in the early learning and care field to train to become TK teachers. Offering stipends, child care, transportation and academic support to those educators — many of whom already have bachelor’s degrees — would give them a boost as they pursue their credential, said Natalie Wheatfall-Lum, director of TK–12 policy at EdTrust-West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988066\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988066\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two young students, photographed from above, work on an exercise at a classroom table\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-113-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students work on language exercises in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We know that being in a culturally and linguistically affirming environment and being taught by culturally and linguistically diverse educators is an effective equity strategy — that’s part of what ‘quality’ means,” she said. “So we want families to be able to choose TK without having to compromise on quality — including a space where they feel welcomed and can see themselves represented.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Education is responding to this concern by advising educators that even when they don’t speak their student’s home language, they can learn a few words or provide books that recognize the child’s home language. This recommendation will be included in a new edition of the Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations, which the department will release this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, school districts like Oakland Unified are partnering with a local college to recruit new teachers and offering financial aid to current staff who want to work in TK classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seibert received an emergency permit through the district to co-teach the dual immersion TK classroom at International Community Elementary School while she earned her credential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988068\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Three young children in the foreground work on an exercise as a bilingual alphabet hangs on the wall of a classroom behind them\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-123-BL_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students work on language exercises in a bilingual transitional kindergarten class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The 29-year-old has experience working at a private preschool but said she was drawn to the statewide effort to provide free early education for all children. She said working side-by-side with Valdivia, and getting additional support from a classroom aide, gave her a chance to hone her teaching skills and provide one-on-one support to the students who needed it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her goal was to help students get used to the routines of the school day, learn to solve problems and collaborate with their peers — skills that she said would help them succeed in kindergarten and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are key goals we’re trying to reach. All the letter recognition, rhyming skills and counting are just like the icing on top,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She knows she’s fortunate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, the district won’t have enough funding to put two teachers and an aide in one classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "several-family-resource-centers-to-close-across-santa-clara-county",
"title": "Several Family Resource Centers to Close Across Santa Clara County",
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"headTitle": "Several Family Resource Centers to Close Across Santa Clara County | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, which runs 11 of the Family Resource Centers out of about 20 in Santa Clara County, will shut down up to six of them across San José and Sunnyvale by this summer, officials told KQED. The closures will create significant challenges for families who rely on these centers, which provide a range of support and educational programs, including classes for parents and children, diapers and food, as well as books and recreational materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The centers’ funding has decreased by roughly 75% due to an ongoing decline in Proposition 10 tobacco taxes. Those taxes fund a range of early childhood development and family support programs around the state, overseen by First 5 California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11955931 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/GettyImages-1486127438-1020x667.jpg']“What was the challenge for us is the depth of the cuts for this coming year,” Catholic Charities CEO Greg Kepferle said. “There’s not enough money to run all these centers. And so tough decisions have to be made.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kepferle said the organization typically received around $4 million annually from the state taxes to run the family centers, administered through a local agency, but is receiving just $1 million for the upcoming fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five centers closing are Sherman Oaks, Evergreen, Cureton and Hubbard in San José and the San Miguel center in Sunnyvale, according to a spokesperson for the nonprofit. Cureton and Hubbard will close in August, while the others will close at the end of June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A sixth center, Luther Burbank, is also at risk of closure, but Catholic Charities is pursuing an alternative funding deal to keep running that location for another year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Due to the potential for closures, Catholic Charities informed 45 employees late last month their jobs were at risk and filed the required layoff notices with the state, according to \u003ca href=\"https://biglocalnews.org/content/tools/layoff-watch.html\">Big Local News’ Layoff Watch\u003c/a>. Kepferle said some of those employees are already finding other roles within the organization, though it’s unclear how many will ultimately be retained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the centers that can stay open, some of which have other funding sources to complement the First 5 money, Kepferle said the level of services is likely to shrink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still want to have a footprint in the neighborhoods, but it may not be the same. One of the things that we have relied on pretty extensively is the power of volunteers. So our hope is that where we can, we’ll try to leverage that power in the volunteer community to keep services going,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephanie Ceja, a mother who started as a client, began volunteering in 2020 to help others. She’s now on staff at Catholic Charities, working in family support programs, and said the cuts could be a major blow to kids and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It will take away so many resources and so many lives that could potentially become better,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By her late 20s, Ceja was a mom to three young children, including a daughter who developed special needs at 15 months old. While her husband worked long hours to help provide for their family, Ceja put her entire focus into making sure her kids got what they needed each day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stress of parenting, while also learning about her daughter Violet’s autism and bouncing between medical appointments, pushed her into a depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I forgot about my passions. I just focused on basically surviving for my kids,” Ceja said. “I left theater, and it was very hard to make friends because I was always with my kids at home or at the store. I wanted to give them the childhood that I didn’t have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when another parent at Violet’s school invited Ceja to come explore the Family Resource Center in San José’s Seven Trees neighborhood, she said things began to improve for her almost immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt heard, and I felt like I was not alone anymore. It was the community that was being formed, the people who were there, the other moms who also felt safe to come here. You talk and forget about, you know, the dirty dishes or the laundry,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She would leave her kids at classes at the center where they would learn, sing and play, while she and later her husband would also take parenting classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just having those resources completely started opening my mind to other ways of parenting and even connecting with people who had other resources for my kids that I didn’t know about,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987559\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2024/05/23/several-family-resource-centers-to-close-across-santa-clara-county/pxl_20240520_2114040012/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11987559\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11987559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-1020x768.jpg\" alt=\"the outside of a low building with a courtyard in front\" width=\"640\" height=\"482\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-1020x768.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-800x602.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-1536x1156.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-2048x1542.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-1920x1445.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Educare Family Resource Center in San Jose is one of the family centers that is scheduled to stay open. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>First 5 Santa Clara County, which oversees and allocates the local portion of tobacco tax funding in the Valley, has been adapting to the tax revenue decline by building \u003ca href=\"https://www.first5kids.org/about-us/strategic-plan/\">new strategic plans\u003c/a>. Leaders say they plan to focus on serving families most in need, including those facing unstable housing, those with children with disabilities or who are lower-income and immigrant families, especially those with no documentation or mixed documentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, officials said the step California lawmakers took to ban the sale of most flavored tobacco products in late 2022 led to a greater decline in tax revenue and added to the need to make steep cuts. Other programs are being affected beyond Family Resource Centers, including some that support children’s mental health and well-being and home visitation services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last five fiscal years, revenues for the First 5 Santa Clara County averaged $26.3 million annually, with about $14 million coming from Proposition 10. This year, tobacco tax funding is down to about $11 million, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do anticipate that for some families, this will be really difficult because their local or their closest Family Resource Center will be closing,” said Jennifer Kelleher Cloyd, CEO of First 5 Santa Clara County. “Our Family Resource Centers have been kind of the hallmark of First 5 work for many years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cloyd said that because First 5 was the primary or sole funder for many of these centers, the organization has been encouraging and supporting nonprofits that carry out this work to seek out other funding from grants, foundations, corporations or local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are really committed to trying to make sure we have communication for families about where else they can continue to access resources,” Cloyd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First 5 chapters from around the state are also appealing to legislators to find other sources of money to backfill early childhood and family support as tobacco tax revenues continue to fall. But it’s unclear if or when that could materialize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the state grappling with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985932/newsoms-solution-to-a-45-billion-budget-deficit\">an estimated $45 billion budget deficit\u003c/a>, additional funding cuts may be in the works. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May budget revision proposed more cuts to programs and services aimed at young children and families, First 5 said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely very painful to see,” Ceja said of the center closures and the loss of some staff members. “At the end of the day, they are part of the community, and people love them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, which runs 11 of the Family Resource Centers out of about 20 in Santa Clara County, will shut down up to six of them across San José and Sunnyvale by this summer, officials told KQED. The closures will create significant challenges for families who rely on these centers, which provide a range of support and educational programs, including classes for parents and children, diapers and food, as well as books and recreational materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The centers’ funding has decreased by roughly 75% due to an ongoing decline in Proposition 10 tobacco taxes. Those taxes fund a range of early childhood development and family support programs around the state, overseen by First 5 California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“What was the challenge for us is the depth of the cuts for this coming year,” Catholic Charities CEO Greg Kepferle said. “There’s not enough money to run all these centers. And so tough decisions have to be made.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kepferle said the organization typically received around $4 million annually from the state taxes to run the family centers, administered through a local agency, but is receiving just $1 million for the upcoming fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five centers closing are Sherman Oaks, Evergreen, Cureton and Hubbard in San José and the San Miguel center in Sunnyvale, according to a spokesperson for the nonprofit. Cureton and Hubbard will close in August, while the others will close at the end of June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A sixth center, Luther Burbank, is also at risk of closure, but Catholic Charities is pursuing an alternative funding deal to keep running that location for another year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Due to the potential for closures, Catholic Charities informed 45 employees late last month their jobs were at risk and filed the required layoff notices with the state, according to \u003ca href=\"https://biglocalnews.org/content/tools/layoff-watch.html\">Big Local News’ Layoff Watch\u003c/a>. Kepferle said some of those employees are already finding other roles within the organization, though it’s unclear how many will ultimately be retained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the centers that can stay open, some of which have other funding sources to complement the First 5 money, Kepferle said the level of services is likely to shrink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still want to have a footprint in the neighborhoods, but it may not be the same. One of the things that we have relied on pretty extensively is the power of volunteers. So our hope is that where we can, we’ll try to leverage that power in the volunteer community to keep services going,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephanie Ceja, a mother who started as a client, began volunteering in 2020 to help others. She’s now on staff at Catholic Charities, working in family support programs, and said the cuts could be a major blow to kids and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It will take away so many resources and so many lives that could potentially become better,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By her late 20s, Ceja was a mom to three young children, including a daughter who developed special needs at 15 months old. While her husband worked long hours to help provide for their family, Ceja put her entire focus into making sure her kids got what they needed each day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stress of parenting, while also learning about her daughter Violet’s autism and bouncing between medical appointments, pushed her into a depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I forgot about my passions. I just focused on basically surviving for my kids,” Ceja said. “I left theater, and it was very hard to make friends because I was always with my kids at home or at the store. I wanted to give them the childhood that I didn’t have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when another parent at Violet’s school invited Ceja to come explore the Family Resource Center in San José’s Seven Trees neighborhood, she said things began to improve for her almost immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt heard, and I felt like I was not alone anymore. It was the community that was being formed, the people who were there, the other moms who also felt safe to come here. You talk and forget about, you know, the dirty dishes or the laundry,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She would leave her kids at classes at the center where they would learn, sing and play, while she and later her husband would also take parenting classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just having those resources completely started opening my mind to other ways of parenting and even connecting with people who had other resources for my kids that I didn’t know about,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987559\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2024/05/23/several-family-resource-centers-to-close-across-santa-clara-county/pxl_20240520_2114040012/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11987559\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11987559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-1020x768.jpg\" alt=\"the outside of a low building with a courtyard in front\" width=\"640\" height=\"482\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-1020x768.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-800x602.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-1536x1156.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-2048x1542.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/PXL_20240520_2114040012-1920x1445.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Educare Family Resource Center in San Jose is one of the family centers that is scheduled to stay open. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>First 5 Santa Clara County, which oversees and allocates the local portion of tobacco tax funding in the Valley, has been adapting to the tax revenue decline by building \u003ca href=\"https://www.first5kids.org/about-us/strategic-plan/\">new strategic plans\u003c/a>. Leaders say they plan to focus on serving families most in need, including those facing unstable housing, those with children with disabilities or who are lower-income and immigrant families, especially those with no documentation or mixed documentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, officials said the step California lawmakers took to ban the sale of most flavored tobacco products in late 2022 led to a greater decline in tax revenue and added to the need to make steep cuts. Other programs are being affected beyond Family Resource Centers, including some that support children’s mental health and well-being and home visitation services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last five fiscal years, revenues for the First 5 Santa Clara County averaged $26.3 million annually, with about $14 million coming from Proposition 10. This year, tobacco tax funding is down to about $11 million, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do anticipate that for some families, this will be really difficult because their local or their closest Family Resource Center will be closing,” said Jennifer Kelleher Cloyd, CEO of First 5 Santa Clara County. “Our Family Resource Centers have been kind of the hallmark of First 5 work for many years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cloyd said that because First 5 was the primary or sole funder for many of these centers, the organization has been encouraging and supporting nonprofits that carry out this work to seek out other funding from grants, foundations, corporations or local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are really committed to trying to make sure we have communication for families about where else they can continue to access resources,” Cloyd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First 5 chapters from around the state are also appealing to legislators to find other sources of money to backfill early childhood and family support as tobacco tax revenues continue to fall. But it’s unclear if or when that could materialize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the state grappling with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985932/newsoms-solution-to-a-45-billion-budget-deficit\">an estimated $45 billion budget deficit\u003c/a>, additional funding cuts may be in the works. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May budget revision proposed more cuts to programs and services aimed at young children and families, First 5 said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely very painful to see,” Ceja said of the center closures and the loss of some staff members. “At the end of the day, they are part of the community, and people love them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "transitional-kindergarten-staffing-ratios-are-often-unmet-teachers-say-so-why-do-some-districts-escape-fines",
"title": "Transitional Kindergarten Staffing Ratios Are Often Unmet, Teachers Say. So Why Do Some Districts Escape Fines?",
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"content": "\u003cp>Four-year-olds, many of whom have never attended school or day care, are entering California classrooms in droves following the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2021/how-californias-new-universal-transitional-kindergarten-program-will-be-rolled-out/657818\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rapid expansion\u003c/a> of transitional kindergarten, a grade preceding kindergarten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this grade, known as TK, young students are exposed to academics and become familiar with letters, sounds and numbers. They also acquire social, emotional and intellectual skills through play and exploration. For example, by sharing toys with their peers in a structured environment, they learn to communicate with each other and handle conflict.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once designed to serve only children who missed the kindergarten age cutoff, TK has evolved and is now projected to reach all the state’s 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year. TK is the first year of a two-year kindergarten program that uses a curriculum modified for the age and developmental level of the participating children. When fully implemented, California will have the\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/what-parents-should-know-about-transitional-kindergarten/688373\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> largest universal preschool program\u003c/a> in the nation, serving nearly 400,000 children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the state’s largest school districts, including \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/lausd-teachers-hesitant-but-hopeful-as-tk-expansion-set-to-roll-out/669620\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Los Angeles Unified \u003c/a>and Fresno Unified, are ahead of the state’s timeline in offering that access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fresno Unified operates 116 transitional kindergarten classes. Los Angeles Unified has not released the number of TK classes it offers, but according to\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://my.lausd.net/opendata/landing_page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> district data\u003c/a>, they serve nearly 11,000 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though imperative for students, the expansion has created a problem: Some districts are not staffing TK classrooms with enough adults to maintain the required 1:12 staff-student ratio, a problem that educators say puts the 4-year-old pupils at risk, hampers learning and violates state legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty schools in LAUSD have been cited by the state for understaffing classes and violating the ratio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers told EdSource that 4-year-olds can’t learn if they aren’t safe and properly supervised by adults and that not having enough adults in the classroom jeopardizes children’s safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re one adult and you’re managing so many children that have never been to school before, there isn’t any teaching going on,” said David Hunter, a teacher in Fresno Unified who has taught TK for the last six years of a 17-year career. “You’re just keeping them safe as best as you can, but you’re not actually able to teach.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts jeopardize state funding if they fail to meet the state-set TK requirements of the 1:12 staff-student ratio and the average class size of 24 kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/these-districts-charters-were-fined-for-violating-tk-requirements/712207\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Out of the 1,815 audit reports t\u003c/a>hat the California Department of Education reviewed, just seven school districts and 16 charter schools have been fined and will lose thousands of dollars in funding from their Local Control Funding Formula for failing to meet the staffing ratios during the 2022–23 school year. Teachers and others in the classroom say that many more districts and charters are not meeting the requirements but are managing to avoid punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles Unified, which is facing multimillion-dollar fines, considers being fined because the classes do not have one additional adult unfair, district leaders said at a board meeting earlier this year. Many other penalized districts blamed the national shortage of teachers and paraprofessionals, while some districts were critical of the California Department of Education for not clearly outlining the requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some teachers, on the other hand, say that what is unfair is that TK classes are not being staffed as outlined by the legislation to support young students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the Fresno Teachers Association, more than a dozen TK classes were out of compliance with staffing ratios during the 2022–23 school year, yet Fresno Unified was not fined. Fresno educators told EdSource that school districts that were not in compliance last year, such as Fresno Unified, escaped detection and fines because fiscal penalties are based on sample auditing that did not check every school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a systems issue,” Hunter said, “and I want to see the system be better for everyone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why do TK classes need extra staffing?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Education (CDE) \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/documents/tkrequirementswebinar.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has outlined numerous benefits\u003c/a> of a lower adult-to-student ratio in TK classes, including opportunities for individualized instruction, additional adult support, attention and supervision at all times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislation requires district staff such as paraprofessionals to work alongside teachers to meet the ratio requirement and share responsibilities of serving the students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On any given day, a TK student may need to use the restroom or have a potty accident; another may get sick, and others will require different types of attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do you manage that when there’s one of you and 21 4-year-olds?” Hunter said. “You need another adult to help deal with those situations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter said he taught a class of 21 TK students without an aide from August to December 2022 during the 2022–23 school year, the first school year after the state added fiscal penalties related to TK requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said a teacher and an aide can split a large class into small groups to foster individualized learning, improve student assessment and evaluation and, ultimately, educate the young students — things that won’t happen in one large group of up to 24 4-year-olds.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Verifying compliance is difficult\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>State compliance with TK requirements is verified in a district’s annual audit at the end of the school year, which is based on a representative sample of the district’s schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schools that are out of compliance may go unchecked if the sampled schools in the district are compliant because the sampled schools meet compliance, even though other schools do not, some districts and charters avoid penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fresno Unified, Hunter’s district, was not one of the school systems fined. District spokesperson AJ Kato told EdSource that Fresno Unified has not had problems meeting the requirements other districts may be experiencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s not what teachers say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least 13 classes, according to Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla, only had one adult for more than 12 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district could have done a better job at hiring additional folks … or in an emergency term, having their administrative staff provide additional support, but that seemingly didn’t happen,” Bonilla said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Fresno Unified TK teacher and union leader surveyed his colleagues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were out of compliance with the state, and ultimately, the problem is that the students aren’t getting the additional support that’s necessary,” Bonilla added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter said this is the second consecutive school year he’s been teaching out of compliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This school year, Hunter has a part-time aide but is still out of compliance because he is the only adult for 16 students on days the aide isn’t scheduled to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having a full-time aide or the equivalent, he said, should be the baseline and is mandated by law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the state Education Department, to be counted in the staffing ratio, the “assigned” adult must be a district employee who is dedicated and available to all TK students the entire school day. Student teachers and volunteers do not count toward it, nor do staff such as a special education aide or speech therapist who are assigned to work with specific students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part-time aides can satisfy the classroom staffing ratio, but only if the working time equals 100% of the time of a full-time aide, according to the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/tkfiscalfaq.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CDE\u003c/a>. Because Hunter’s class has 16 students, he needs more than one part-time aide working enough hours to equal the hours of a full-time aide. He has only had one part-time aide this school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laton Joint Unified was penalized $30,943 for having a 1:16 ratio last school year. The school had a paraprofessional scheduled for 1 hour, 45 minutes each day, and that person was not available for all students the entire school day, the audit report detailed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are also instances of aides being pulled for recess or cafeteria duty or other teaching responsibilities, such as removing that aide from the instructional minutes with students, teachers told EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rina,” a former TK teacher who asked to be identified only by her nickname, said that when she took a job at Ballington Academy in San Bernardino City Unified in the 2023–24 school year, the school’s one TK classroom had 18 students. Rina and her aide would align with state compliance for the 18 students. About a week before school started, Rina said the school informed her that the aide, though assigned to her TK students, would be pulled to other elementary classrooms whenever a teacher was absent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was wrong,” she said. She only stayed in the position for about a week after school started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some schools and districts, such as Scholarship Prep Charter School in Oceanside, Pomona Unified in eastern Los Angeles County, and Culver City Unified in Los Angeles County, said in their audit reports that staffing shortages prevented them from complying with state guidelines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s no excuse, teachers say, because it’s up to district administration to recruit, hire and retain paraprofessionals, instead of making it the teacher’s problem, Rina said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some suggest that the problem with hiring and retaining paraprofessionals is the low compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A preschool teacher’s aide at Ericson Elementary in Fresno Unified is not in the TK classroom but works with students who are the same age as those entering transitional kindergarten. Speaking with EdSource on condition of anonymity, she said aides, whether in the TK or preschool class, are dealing with the same challenge: subpar pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the day, especially when working in groups, she helps the preschoolers with writing their names and learning letters and numbers. At other times during the day, such as during reading time, the aide ensures students keep their hands to themselves and listen to the teacher. As an aide, she sees the impact and importance of her role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re like their (teacher’s) spine,” she said about paraprofessionals. “We’re there to support and help. We do so much for these kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She is paid $15.90 an hour and has, over the last two years, questioned whether she should remain in the role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not helping me,” she said. She’s had to take on side jobs in the district, such as at sporting events, or resorted to borrowing money from friends and family. “I have to buy food, pay bills and then, I have four kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they’re still going keep that low (salary), people are not going … to apply for a position as an aide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can teachers do anything?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As a teacher who’s been working out of compliance, Hunter wants districts to be held accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a mechanism there, and I’d like to see that enforced,” Hunter said about the fiscal penalties outlined in legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11983586,news_11983016,news_11979071\"]While the only way to address the compliance is with fines — which Hunter called “reactive” — he said a tool to report violations throughout the year could push districts to comply sooner and stop teachers from working out of compliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, there is no such system or tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if teachers are providing instruction in classrooms that are out of compliance, they would not report the violation to the state, CDE spokesperson Scott Roark said via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Complaints against a district, school, principal, teacher or school personnel are not within the jurisdiction of the CDE unless the complaint falls within the scope of the Uniform Complaint Procedures\u003cem>,” \u003c/em>Roark said, explaining that the TK requirements are under local control, with each district’s school board having authority over the complaint process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same reasoning applies to a teachers union hoping to report compliance concerns or violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the struggles teachers are experiencing shouldn’t detract from the importance of TK.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">TK expansion is necessary; schools just need support\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Patricia Lozano, executive director of the advocacy group Early Edge California and a champion for expanding transitional kindergarten,\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/what-parents-should-know-about-transitional-kindergarten/688373\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> told EdSource last year about the importance\u003c/a> of the program, including how it provides children who were infants during the pandemic with social and intellectual engagement as well as age- and developmentally-appropriate structure and routine to help them thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simply put, TK is imperative for students, said many teachers interviewed by EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter, who has a background in early childhood education, said TK is vital for introducing students to what school is, for teaching socialization and exposing them to academics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any child who’s been through TK is that much more ready to hit the ground running in kindergarten,” he said. “I just want to see the appropriate support that not only the state promised, but I want to see the districts live up to that support so we can show these learners the best we can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/staffing-ratios-arent-being-met-teachers-say-why-are-some-districts-escaping-fines/712442\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Transitional Kindergarten Staffing Ratios Are Often Unmet, Teachers Say. So Why Do Some Districts Escape Fines? | KQED",
"description": "Four-year-olds, many of whom have never attended school or day care, are entering California classrooms in droves following the state’s rapid expansion of transitional kindergarten, a grade preceding kindergarten. In this grade, known as TK, young students are exposed to academics and become familiar with letters, sounds and numbers. They also acquire social, emotional and intellectual skills through play and exploration. For example, by sharing toys with their peers in a structured environment, they learn to communicate with each other and handle conflict. Once designed to serve only children who missed the kindergarten age cutoff, TK has evolved and is now projected",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Four-year-olds, many of whom have never attended school or day care, are entering California classrooms in droves following the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2021/how-californias-new-universal-transitional-kindergarten-program-will-be-rolled-out/657818\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rapid expansion\u003c/a> of transitional kindergarten, a grade preceding kindergarten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this grade, known as TK, young students are exposed to academics and become familiar with letters, sounds and numbers. They also acquire social, emotional and intellectual skills through play and exploration. For example, by sharing toys with their peers in a structured environment, they learn to communicate with each other and handle conflict.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once designed to serve only children who missed the kindergarten age cutoff, TK has evolved and is now projected to reach all the state’s 4-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year. TK is the first year of a two-year kindergarten program that uses a curriculum modified for the age and developmental level of the participating children. When fully implemented, California will have the\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/what-parents-should-know-about-transitional-kindergarten/688373\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> largest universal preschool program\u003c/a> in the nation, serving nearly 400,000 children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the state’s largest school districts, including \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/lausd-teachers-hesitant-but-hopeful-as-tk-expansion-set-to-roll-out/669620\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Los Angeles Unified \u003c/a>and Fresno Unified, are ahead of the state’s timeline in offering that access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fresno Unified operates 116 transitional kindergarten classes. Los Angeles Unified has not released the number of TK classes it offers, but according to\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://my.lausd.net/opendata/landing_page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> district data\u003c/a>, they serve nearly 11,000 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though imperative for students, the expansion has created a problem: Some districts are not staffing TK classrooms with enough adults to maintain the required 1:12 staff-student ratio, a problem that educators say puts the 4-year-old pupils at risk, hampers learning and violates state legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty schools in LAUSD have been cited by the state for understaffing classes and violating the ratio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers told EdSource that 4-year-olds can’t learn if they aren’t safe and properly supervised by adults and that not having enough adults in the classroom jeopardizes children’s safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re one adult and you’re managing so many children that have never been to school before, there isn’t any teaching going on,” said David Hunter, a teacher in Fresno Unified who has taught TK for the last six years of a 17-year career. “You’re just keeping them safe as best as you can, but you’re not actually able to teach.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts jeopardize state funding if they fail to meet the state-set TK requirements of the 1:12 staff-student ratio and the average class size of 24 kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/these-districts-charters-were-fined-for-violating-tk-requirements/712207\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Out of the 1,815 audit reports t\u003c/a>hat the California Department of Education reviewed, just seven school districts and 16 charter schools have been fined and will lose thousands of dollars in funding from their Local Control Funding Formula for failing to meet the staffing ratios during the 2022–23 school year. Teachers and others in the classroom say that many more districts and charters are not meeting the requirements but are managing to avoid punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles Unified, which is facing multimillion-dollar fines, considers being fined because the classes do not have one additional adult unfair, district leaders said at a board meeting earlier this year. Many other penalized districts blamed the national shortage of teachers and paraprofessionals, while some districts were critical of the California Department of Education for not clearly outlining the requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some teachers, on the other hand, say that what is unfair is that TK classes are not being staffed as outlined by the legislation to support young students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the Fresno Teachers Association, more than a dozen TK classes were out of compliance with staffing ratios during the 2022–23 school year, yet Fresno Unified was not fined. Fresno educators told EdSource that school districts that were not in compliance last year, such as Fresno Unified, escaped detection and fines because fiscal penalties are based on sample auditing that did not check every school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a systems issue,” Hunter said, “and I want to see the system be better for everyone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why do TK classes need extra staffing?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Education (CDE) \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/documents/tkrequirementswebinar.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has outlined numerous benefits\u003c/a> of a lower adult-to-student ratio in TK classes, including opportunities for individualized instruction, additional adult support, attention and supervision at all times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislation requires district staff such as paraprofessionals to work alongside teachers to meet the ratio requirement and share responsibilities of serving the students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On any given day, a TK student may need to use the restroom or have a potty accident; another may get sick, and others will require different types of attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do you manage that when there’s one of you and 21 4-year-olds?” Hunter said. “You need another adult to help deal with those situations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter said he taught a class of 21 TK students without an aide from August to December 2022 during the 2022–23 school year, the first school year after the state added fiscal penalties related to TK requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said a teacher and an aide can split a large class into small groups to foster individualized learning, improve student assessment and evaluation and, ultimately, educate the young students — things that won’t happen in one large group of up to 24 4-year-olds.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Verifying compliance is difficult\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>State compliance with TK requirements is verified in a district’s annual audit at the end of the school year, which is based on a representative sample of the district’s schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schools that are out of compliance may go unchecked if the sampled schools in the district are compliant because the sampled schools meet compliance, even though other schools do not, some districts and charters avoid penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fresno Unified, Hunter’s district, was not one of the school systems fined. District spokesperson AJ Kato told EdSource that Fresno Unified has not had problems meeting the requirements other districts may be experiencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s not what teachers say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least 13 classes, according to Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla, only had one adult for more than 12 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district could have done a better job at hiring additional folks … or in an emergency term, having their administrative staff provide additional support, but that seemingly didn’t happen,” Bonilla said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Fresno Unified TK teacher and union leader surveyed his colleagues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were out of compliance with the state, and ultimately, the problem is that the students aren’t getting the additional support that’s necessary,” Bonilla added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter said this is the second consecutive school year he’s been teaching out of compliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This school year, Hunter has a part-time aide but is still out of compliance because he is the only adult for 16 students on days the aide isn’t scheduled to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having a full-time aide or the equivalent, he said, should be the baseline and is mandated by law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the state Education Department, to be counted in the staffing ratio, the “assigned” adult must be a district employee who is dedicated and available to all TK students the entire school day. Student teachers and volunteers do not count toward it, nor do staff such as a special education aide or speech therapist who are assigned to work with specific students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part-time aides can satisfy the classroom staffing ratio, but only if the working time equals 100% of the time of a full-time aide, according to the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/tkfiscalfaq.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CDE\u003c/a>. Because Hunter’s class has 16 students, he needs more than one part-time aide working enough hours to equal the hours of a full-time aide. He has only had one part-time aide this school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laton Joint Unified was penalized $30,943 for having a 1:16 ratio last school year. The school had a paraprofessional scheduled for 1 hour, 45 minutes each day, and that person was not available for all students the entire school day, the audit report detailed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are also instances of aides being pulled for recess or cafeteria duty or other teaching responsibilities, such as removing that aide from the instructional minutes with students, teachers told EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rina,” a former TK teacher who asked to be identified only by her nickname, said that when she took a job at Ballington Academy in San Bernardino City Unified in the 2023–24 school year, the school’s one TK classroom had 18 students. Rina and her aide would align with state compliance for the 18 students. About a week before school started, Rina said the school informed her that the aide, though assigned to her TK students, would be pulled to other elementary classrooms whenever a teacher was absent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was wrong,” she said. She only stayed in the position for about a week after school started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some schools and districts, such as Scholarship Prep Charter School in Oceanside, Pomona Unified in eastern Los Angeles County, and Culver City Unified in Los Angeles County, said in their audit reports that staffing shortages prevented them from complying with state guidelines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s no excuse, teachers say, because it’s up to district administration to recruit, hire and retain paraprofessionals, instead of making it the teacher’s problem, Rina said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some suggest that the problem with hiring and retaining paraprofessionals is the low compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A preschool teacher’s aide at Ericson Elementary in Fresno Unified is not in the TK classroom but works with students who are the same age as those entering transitional kindergarten. Speaking with EdSource on condition of anonymity, she said aides, whether in the TK or preschool class, are dealing with the same challenge: subpar pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the day, especially when working in groups, she helps the preschoolers with writing their names and learning letters and numbers. At other times during the day, such as during reading time, the aide ensures students keep their hands to themselves and listen to the teacher. As an aide, she sees the impact and importance of her role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re like their (teacher’s) spine,” she said about paraprofessionals. “We’re there to support and help. We do so much for these kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She is paid $15.90 an hour and has, over the last two years, questioned whether she should remain in the role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not helping me,” she said. She’s had to take on side jobs in the district, such as at sporting events, or resorted to borrowing money from friends and family. “I have to buy food, pay bills and then, I have four kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they’re still going keep that low (salary), people are not going … to apply for a position as an aide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can teachers do anything?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As a teacher who’s been working out of compliance, Hunter wants districts to be held accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a mechanism there, and I’d like to see that enforced,” Hunter said about the fiscal penalties outlined in legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While the only way to address the compliance is with fines — which Hunter called “reactive” — he said a tool to report violations throughout the year could push districts to comply sooner and stop teachers from working out of compliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, there is no such system or tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if teachers are providing instruction in classrooms that are out of compliance, they would not report the violation to the state, CDE spokesperson Scott Roark said via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Complaints against a district, school, principal, teacher or school personnel are not within the jurisdiction of the CDE unless the complaint falls within the scope of the Uniform Complaint Procedures\u003cem>,” \u003c/em>Roark said, explaining that the TK requirements are under local control, with each district’s school board having authority over the complaint process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same reasoning applies to a teachers union hoping to report compliance concerns or violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the struggles teachers are experiencing shouldn’t detract from the importance of TK.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">TK expansion is necessary; schools just need support\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Patricia Lozano, executive director of the advocacy group Early Edge California and a champion for expanding transitional kindergarten,\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/what-parents-should-know-about-transitional-kindergarten/688373\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> told EdSource last year about the importance\u003c/a> of the program, including how it provides children who were infants during the pandemic with social and intellectual engagement as well as age- and developmentally-appropriate structure and routine to help them thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simply put, TK is imperative for students, said many teachers interviewed by EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter, who has a background in early childhood education, said TK is vital for introducing students to what school is, for teaching socialization and exposing them to academics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any child who’s been through TK is that much more ready to hit the ground running in kindergarten,” he said. “I just want to see the appropriate support that not only the state promised, but I want to see the districts live up to that support so we can show these learners the best we can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/staffing-ratios-arent-being-met-teachers-say-why-are-some-districts-escaping-fines/712442\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "state-court-upholds-alameda-county-tax-measure-yielding-hundreds-of-millions-for-child-care",
"title": "State Court Upholds Alameda County Tax Measure Yielding Hundreds of Millions for Child Care",
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"content": "\u003cp>After four years of legal debate, California’s highest court upheld an Alameda County sales tax measure to increase access to child care and pediatric health care for lower-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ruling makes Alameda County the latest Bay Area local government to increase a tax to fund early childhood education and care. San Francisco began implementing Baby Proposition C about two years ago after a legal challenge to the commercial tax initiative was resolved in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/dockets.cfm?dist=1&doc_id=2410200&doc_no=A166404&request_token=NiIwLSEnXkw7W1BZSyMtTE9IMEw6UVxfJSM%2BVzpSMCAgCg%3D%3D\">denied a petition\u003c/a> to review a lower court’s ruling that Measure C is legitimate, thus making that decision final. That will allow the county to spend hundreds of millions of dollars collected from the 0.5% sales tax since July 2021. The funds have been held in escrow pending a taxpayer group’s legal challenge to the measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling “validates the will of Alameda County voters to fund early education and ensure child care is accessible to all families, and that the labor of child care providers is honored and respected,” Clarissa Doutherd, executive director of the advocacy group Parent Voices Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are thrilled for the initial funding that will lift up children and families throughout the county who have had to suffer through delays that would have helped address growing poverty, under-resourced child care facilities, and severe pediatric needs,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measure was passed by 64% of voters in March 2020, but the Alameda County Taxpayers Association argued\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/07/alameda-countys-measure-c-for-child-care-funding-scores-a-legal-win-but-money-cant-flow-yet/\"> that state law requires 66%, or two-thirds vote, to pass\u003c/a> for local governments to raise taxes for a specific purpose. The group contends that elected officials, including the late county supervisor Wilma Chan, initiated the measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county countered that the measure was put on the ballot after enough signatures were gathered to support it. For that reason, only a simple majority is needed for a citizen initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doutherd’s effort to put the measure before voters was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.clarissasbattle.com/\">subject of a documentary called “Clarissa’s Battle.”\u003c/a> Her struggle as a single mother trying to maintain work as a bookkeeper and pay for preschool for her son led to her advocacy for affordable early childhood education.[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='early-childhood']“What this means for me is that in my lifetime, I will see a huge transformation through this initiative that will make sure that parents at least will have an easier time and not know the panic and the fear and the pain of not being able to support themselves and go to work or go to school or even just know that their children are in a safe, nurturing environment,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://first5alameda.org/files/Appendix%20C-%20Local%20Child%20Care%20Ballot%20Measures.pdf\">When it was first proposed,\u003c/a> officials estimated the tax would raise about $150 million a year over 20 years to add more subsidized child care slots, increase early educators’ pay to at least $15 per hour (with annual adjustments for inflation) and offer free or low-cost pediatric health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First 5 Alameda County, which will administer the child care fund, also plans to use the money to fund training and professional development classes for providers to raise the quality of early education programs. The effort mirrors an ongoing effort in San Francisco to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948690/business-tax-provides-crucial-funding-for-early-childhood-education-and-care-in-san-francisco\">use revenue from a commercial rent tax \u003c/a>to better compensate early educators and lower child care costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The impact of this investment on Alameda County’s children, families and [early childhood education] workforce is not just transformative; it’s imperative for the health of our communities,” Kristin Spanos, CEO of First 5 Alameda County, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said 21 licensed child care centers and 270 in-home family child care businesses in the county closed permanently between 2019 and 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and deepened the vulnerabilities of our already fragile, underfunded and fragmented system of licensed care,” Spanos said. “Funding from Measure C is a significant milestone in our journey toward creating an equity-centered early childhood system of care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A citizen oversight committee will oversee spending from the pediatric health care fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After four years of legal debate, California’s highest court upheld an Alameda County sales tax measure to increase access to child care and pediatric health care for lower-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ruling makes Alameda County the latest Bay Area local government to increase a tax to fund early childhood education and care. San Francisco began implementing Baby Proposition C about two years ago after a legal challenge to the commercial tax initiative was resolved in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/dockets.cfm?dist=1&doc_id=2410200&doc_no=A166404&request_token=NiIwLSEnXkw7W1BZSyMtTE9IMEw6UVxfJSM%2BVzpSMCAgCg%3D%3D\">denied a petition\u003c/a> to review a lower court’s ruling that Measure C is legitimate, thus making that decision final. That will allow the county to spend hundreds of millions of dollars collected from the 0.5% sales tax since July 2021. The funds have been held in escrow pending a taxpayer group’s legal challenge to the measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling “validates the will of Alameda County voters to fund early education and ensure child care is accessible to all families, and that the labor of child care providers is honored and respected,” Clarissa Doutherd, executive director of the advocacy group Parent Voices Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are thrilled for the initial funding that will lift up children and families throughout the county who have had to suffer through delays that would have helped address growing poverty, under-resourced child care facilities, and severe pediatric needs,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measure was passed by 64% of voters in March 2020, but the Alameda County Taxpayers Association argued\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/07/alameda-countys-measure-c-for-child-care-funding-scores-a-legal-win-but-money-cant-flow-yet/\"> that state law requires 66%, or two-thirds vote, to pass\u003c/a> for local governments to raise taxes for a specific purpose. The group contends that elected officials, including the late county supervisor Wilma Chan, initiated the measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county countered that the measure was put on the ballot after enough signatures were gathered to support it. For that reason, only a simple majority is needed for a citizen initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doutherd’s effort to put the measure before voters was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.clarissasbattle.com/\">subject of a documentary called “Clarissa’s Battle.”\u003c/a> Her struggle as a single mother trying to maintain work as a bookkeeper and pay for preschool for her son led to her advocacy for affordable early childhood education.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“What this means for me is that in my lifetime, I will see a huge transformation through this initiative that will make sure that parents at least will have an easier time and not know the panic and the fear and the pain of not being able to support themselves and go to work or go to school or even just know that their children are in a safe, nurturing environment,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://first5alameda.org/files/Appendix%20C-%20Local%20Child%20Care%20Ballot%20Measures.pdf\">When it was first proposed,\u003c/a> officials estimated the tax would raise about $150 million a year over 20 years to add more subsidized child care slots, increase early educators’ pay to at least $15 per hour (with annual adjustments for inflation) and offer free or low-cost pediatric health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First 5 Alameda County, which will administer the child care fund, also plans to use the money to fund training and professional development classes for providers to raise the quality of early education programs. The effort mirrors an ongoing effort in San Francisco to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948690/business-tax-provides-crucial-funding-for-early-childhood-education-and-care-in-san-francisco\">use revenue from a commercial rent tax \u003c/a>to better compensate early educators and lower child care costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The impact of this investment on Alameda County’s children, families and [early childhood education] workforce is not just transformative; it’s imperative for the health of our communities,” Kristin Spanos, CEO of First 5 Alameda County, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said 21 licensed child care centers and 270 in-home family child care businesses in the county closed permanently between 2019 and 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and deepened the vulnerabilities of our already fragile, underfunded and fragmented system of licensed care,” Spanos said. “Funding from Measure C is a significant milestone in our journey toward creating an equity-centered early childhood system of care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A citizen oversight committee will oversee spending from the pediatric health care fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Despite California's Investments in Public Preschool, Child Care Challenges Continue",
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"content": "\u003cp>A year before I-Ting Quinn’s son was old enough for kindergarten, she and her husband had the option to enroll him in “transitional kindergarten,” a program offered for free by California elementary schools for some 4-year-olds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, they kept their son, Ethan, in a private day care center in Concord, Contra Costa County, at a cost of $400 a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transitional kindergarten’s academic emphasis was appealing, but Ethan would have been in a half-day program, and options for after-school child care were limited. And for two parents with hectic work schedules in the hospitality industry, there was the convenience of having Ethan and his younger brother at the same day care, with a single stop for morning drop-off and evening pickup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ethan is navigating changes at home with a new younger brother and then possibly a new school where he is the youngest,” Quinn said. “That doesn’t even include the concerns around drop-off and pickups, including transportation to and from his class to after-school care at a different location. It is just a lot to consider.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Investments that California and other states have made in public preschool have helped many parents through a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/daycare-child-care-democrats-congress-2919cf689423f62d90e28f7f40de2f39\">child care crisis\u003c/a>, in which quality options for early learners are often scarce and unaffordable. But many parents say the programs don’t work for their families. Even when Pre–K lasts the whole school day, working parents struggle to find child care before 9 a.m. and after 3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state has a more ambitious plan for universal preschool than California, which plans to extend eligibility for transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds by fall 2025 as part of a $2.7 billion, four-year expansion. The idea is to provide a two-year kindergarten program to prepare children earlier for the rigors of elementary school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enrollment in the optional program has grown more slowly than projected. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, had estimated about 120,000 students would enroll last year; however, the average daily attendance was around 91,000 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through December of this school year, the average daily attendance was about 125,000 students, said Sara Cortez, a policy analyst for the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, some families \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/kindergarten-school-registration-homeschool-f6a0c3a8f97f8d6cf616f201f68c04fe\">no longer see the same value\u003c/a> in traditional kindergarten. Some are just as happy with programs that don’t have an academic component. School days requiring midday pickups also can sway families toward private day cares, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/head-start-preschool-child-care-teacher-pay-256a66cc4df8a331a2d0badcba7f72e8\">Head Start programs\u003c/a> and other alternatives offering full-day care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some schools hosting transitional kindergarten offer child care before or after instruction, but not all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your school doesn’t offer those wraparound child care services at the beginning or end of school days, then staying in child care may be the only option parents have,” said Deborah Stipek, a former dean of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, who has advocated for equitable access to early childhood education in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States including Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey and Washington have provided early learning options similar to transitional kindergarten, and there is evidence of the program’s benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, where the programs are taught by educators with the same credential requirements as kindergarten teachers, a five-year study found their students \u003ca href=\"https://www.air.org/project/study-californias-transitional-kindergarten-program\">entered kindergarten\u003c/a> with stronger mathematics and literacy skills. In Michigan, where the transitional kindergarten program is not offered statewide, the programs have been linked to \u003ca href=\"https://edworkingpapers.com/ai24-920\">increases in third-grade test scores\u003c/a> in math and English. A California study, however, found \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/assessing-transitional-kindergartens-impact-on-elementary-school-trajectories/\">no such test score increase\u003c/a> by third or fourth grade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kids are getting the opportunity to become familiar with the school environment before they start kindergarten,” said Anna Shapiro, a policy researcher at RAND who has studied early childhood program effectiveness for about a decade and analyzed the TK program in Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another benefit to transitional kindergarten is that it’s free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>María Maldonado, who has seven children and works at a deli in Los Angeles, sends her 4-year-old daughter, Audrey, to transitional kindergarten at Para Los Niños Charter Elementary School. Her daughter likes it so much, Maldonado said she would happily pay even if it wasn’t free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program includes after-school care, so Audrey remains at the school from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Audrey is learning to read and can count to 35, and asks to stay at the school longer when her parents arrive well before pickup time, her mother said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maldonado only wishes she had heard about the program sooner for her other children. She said she was sold on the school after visiting and speaking to the teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Academically, they have to learn everything they’re taught. But if the atmosphere is good, that’s a combination that will keep kids happy. As a result, this girl loves going to school,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of this school year, California’s transitional kindergarten was open only to 4-year-old children who turn 5 by early April. The cutoff will widen to include more kids this fall in a graduated expansion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Ethan’s parents, the emphasis on play-based learning at his day care center, run by KinderCare, was an important factor in their decision to keep him there, in addition to the all-day care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are families who choose to stay with us because we have full-time, full-year care,” said Margot Gould, senior manager of government relations for KinderCare, which operates in 40 states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan’s father, Scott Quinn, recalls thinking, “How bad can it be?” when they opted out of transitional kindergarten. But he has been discouraged to see Ethan — one of the oldest kids in his day care class — pick up the behavior of kids who are several years younger than him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In retrospect, it would have been better to send him to school to be around kids his age and older,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11983016,news_11979071,news_11982934\"]I-Ting Quinn said she also has feelings of regret as she sees Ethan outgrow some of his previous needs, including a midday nap. The couple considered enrolling him in TK midway through the school year, but ultimately decided it would cause too much stress in managing the logistics of their work schedules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raising Ethan was her first exposure to the fragmented landscape of early education, and she said she wishes she started considering the options even before she was pregnant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s easier said than done,” she said. The Quinns are planning to move to Connecticut this year to be closer to family and are looking into kindergarten options for Ethan. “We are for sure enrolling him in a public kindergarten. Not only is he ready, but we are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ap.org/about/standards-for-working-with-outside-groups/\">standards\u003c/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at \u003ca href=\"https://www.ap.org/discover/Supporting-AP\">AP.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A year before I-Ting Quinn’s son was old enough for kindergarten, she and her husband had the option to enroll him in “transitional kindergarten,” a program offered for free by California elementary schools for some 4-year-olds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, they kept their son, Ethan, in a private day care center in Concord, Contra Costa County, at a cost of $400 a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transitional kindergarten’s academic emphasis was appealing, but Ethan would have been in a half-day program, and options for after-school child care were limited. And for two parents with hectic work schedules in the hospitality industry, there was the convenience of having Ethan and his younger brother at the same day care, with a single stop for morning drop-off and evening pickup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ethan is navigating changes at home with a new younger brother and then possibly a new school where he is the youngest,” Quinn said. “That doesn’t even include the concerns around drop-off and pickups, including transportation to and from his class to after-school care at a different location. It is just a lot to consider.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Investments that California and other states have made in public preschool have helped many parents through a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/daycare-child-care-democrats-congress-2919cf689423f62d90e28f7f40de2f39\">child care crisis\u003c/a>, in which quality options for early learners are often scarce and unaffordable. But many parents say the programs don’t work for their families. Even when Pre–K lasts the whole school day, working parents struggle to find child care before 9 a.m. and after 3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state has a more ambitious plan for universal preschool than California, which plans to extend eligibility for transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds by fall 2025 as part of a $2.7 billion, four-year expansion. The idea is to provide a two-year kindergarten program to prepare children earlier for the rigors of elementary school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enrollment in the optional program has grown more slowly than projected. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, had estimated about 120,000 students would enroll last year; however, the average daily attendance was around 91,000 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through December of this school year, the average daily attendance was about 125,000 students, said Sara Cortez, a policy analyst for the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, some families \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/kindergarten-school-registration-homeschool-f6a0c3a8f97f8d6cf616f201f68c04fe\">no longer see the same value\u003c/a> in traditional kindergarten. Some are just as happy with programs that don’t have an academic component. School days requiring midday pickups also can sway families toward private day cares, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/head-start-preschool-child-care-teacher-pay-256a66cc4df8a331a2d0badcba7f72e8\">Head Start programs\u003c/a> and other alternatives offering full-day care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some schools hosting transitional kindergarten offer child care before or after instruction, but not all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your school doesn’t offer those wraparound child care services at the beginning or end of school days, then staying in child care may be the only option parents have,” said Deborah Stipek, a former dean of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, who has advocated for equitable access to early childhood education in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States including Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey and Washington have provided early learning options similar to transitional kindergarten, and there is evidence of the program’s benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, where the programs are taught by educators with the same credential requirements as kindergarten teachers, a five-year study found their students \u003ca href=\"https://www.air.org/project/study-californias-transitional-kindergarten-program\">entered kindergarten\u003c/a> with stronger mathematics and literacy skills. In Michigan, where the transitional kindergarten program is not offered statewide, the programs have been linked to \u003ca href=\"https://edworkingpapers.com/ai24-920\">increases in third-grade test scores\u003c/a> in math and English. A California study, however, found \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/assessing-transitional-kindergartens-impact-on-elementary-school-trajectories/\">no such test score increase\u003c/a> by third or fourth grade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kids are getting the opportunity to become familiar with the school environment before they start kindergarten,” said Anna Shapiro, a policy researcher at RAND who has studied early childhood program effectiveness for about a decade and analyzed the TK program in Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another benefit to transitional kindergarten is that it’s free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>María Maldonado, who has seven children and works at a deli in Los Angeles, sends her 4-year-old daughter, Audrey, to transitional kindergarten at Para Los Niños Charter Elementary School. Her daughter likes it so much, Maldonado said she would happily pay even if it wasn’t free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program includes after-school care, so Audrey remains at the school from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Audrey is learning to read and can count to 35, and asks to stay at the school longer when her parents arrive well before pickup time, her mother said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maldonado only wishes she had heard about the program sooner for her other children. She said she was sold on the school after visiting and speaking to the teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Academically, they have to learn everything they’re taught. But if the atmosphere is good, that’s a combination that will keep kids happy. As a result, this girl loves going to school,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of this school year, California’s transitional kindergarten was open only to 4-year-old children who turn 5 by early April. The cutoff will widen to include more kids this fall in a graduated expansion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Ethan’s parents, the emphasis on play-based learning at his day care center, run by KinderCare, was an important factor in their decision to keep him there, in addition to the all-day care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are families who choose to stay with us because we have full-time, full-year care,” said Margot Gould, senior manager of government relations for KinderCare, which operates in 40 states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan’s father, Scott Quinn, recalls thinking, “How bad can it be?” when they opted out of transitional kindergarten. But he has been discouraged to see Ethan — one of the oldest kids in his day care class — pick up the behavior of kids who are several years younger than him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In retrospect, it would have been better to send him to school to be around kids his age and older,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I-Ting Quinn said she also has feelings of regret as she sees Ethan outgrow some of his previous needs, including a midday nap. The couple considered enrolling him in TK midway through the school year, but ultimately decided it would cause too much stress in managing the logistics of their work schedules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raising Ethan was her first exposure to the fragmented landscape of early education, and she said she wishes she started considering the options even before she was pregnant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s easier said than done,” she said. The Quinns are planning to move to Connecticut this year to be closer to family and are looking into kindergarten options for Ethan. “We are for sure enrolling him in a public kindergarten. Not only is he ready, but we are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ap.org/about/standards-for-working-with-outside-groups/\">standards\u003c/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at \u003ca href=\"https://www.ap.org/discover/Supporting-AP\">AP.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Preschools Wrestle to Comply With State’s Tightened Suspension Rules",
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"headTitle": "California Preschools Wrestle to Comply With State’s Tightened Suspension Rules | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Like many babies born around the time of the COVID-19 shutdowns, 4-year-old Cole grew up watching \u003cem>Cocomelon\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Bluey\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The popular kids shows kept him entertained while his mom, Grace McPherson, helped his older sister with distance learning. However, too much screen time and social isolation took a toll on Cole’s development. His mom said he was “pretty much nonverbal” when he was 3 years old.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Grace McPherson, mother of 4-year-old Cole\"]‘They said that he’s not ready for preschool, and I was just shocked.’[/pullquote]So last fall, McPherson enrolled her son in a preschool in the Bay Area town of Oakley to help him catch up. The first day went smoothly. But on the second day, not long after dropping him off, the school called McPherson to pick up Cole because he refused to sit at circle time and was crying inconsolably.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said that he’s not ready for preschool, and I was just shocked,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preschool director suggested coming back when Cole was more ready to follow directions, McPherson said. But she had made up her mind: she’d rather forfeit the $400 deposit for his tuition than return to a preschool that couldn’t support her son through a tantrum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like they were just passing the buck,” she said. “And it’s just, ‘Here you go, here’s your child back. Figure out something else.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school never told McPherson they suspended her son when they asked her to take him home. Still, their experience would be considered a suspension under a state law designed to limit exclusionary discipline in early childhood education.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Nina Buthee, executive director, EveryChild California\"]‘The intention is good, but in actuality, there just aren’t the resources there to help support these preschool programs to do it in a really effective way.’[/pullquote]Suspending or expelling children from preschool for hitting, biting and other challenging behavior\u003ca href=\"https://cep.asu.edu/sites/default/files/2022-09/exclusionary-discipline-093022-1.pdf\"> is surprisingly common\u003c/a>. It happens way more often to Black children, boys, and children with learning differences than others, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-discipline-school-climate-report.pdf\">federal civil rights data. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California recently toughened rules around exclusionary discipline at preschools and child care centers that receive state funding, but implementing them has been tough for providers who are still dealing with stressed-out teachers, kids with fewer social skills and other long-lasting effects of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The intention is good, but in actuality, there just aren’t the resources there to help support these preschool programs to do it in a really effective way,” said Nina Buthee, executive director of EveryChild California, an association of publicly funded early education programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘What it means to exclude a child’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is among 24 states with laws limiting preschool suspension and expulsion, according to \u003ca href=\"https://cep.asu.edu/sites/default/files/2023-12/state-discipline-120523_0.pdf\">the Children’s Equity Project\u003c/a> at Arizona State University, because studies have found that children who are removed from their classroom or sent home from school as a form of discipline tend to repeat the pattern in later years and become disengaged from school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not acceptable,” said Adonai Mack, a founding member of Black Men for Education Equity, which advocated for the law. “There should be no reason why a young child in their earliest development is excluded from an educational opportunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976825\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976825\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grace McPherson spends time with her son Cole, 3, at Los Medanos College Child Study Center in Pittsburg on Feb. 15, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A 2017 law requires state-funded preschools to pursue and document ways they tried to support children with challenging behavior before resorting to expulsion. Another law passed in 2022 prohibits expulsion \u003cem>and\u003c/em> suspension and applies to both preschools and state-subsidized child care programs for infants and toddlers.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Adonai Mack, founding member, Black Men for Education Equity\"]‘There should be no reason why a young child in their earliest development is excluded from an educational opportunity.’[/pullquote]\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/mb2308.asp\">The rules \u003c/a>specifically prohibit teachers from sending children to another room or home in the middle of the day because of their behavior. That would be considered suspension. Teachers also can’t encourage a parent to unenroll from a program, and suspension or expulsion can only be used as a last resort when serious safety concerns exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California law outlines one of the clearest definitions of suspension and expulsion, said Walter Gilliam, executive director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gilliam said teachers often don’t realize they’re suspending or expelling a child when they advise parents to find another school that’s “a better fit” or when they repeatedly ask parents to pick up their child early, creating an inconvenience that could lead parents to look elsewhere for more reliable child care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we’re not very clear about what it means to exclude a child, then we run the risk of local implementers thinking that an exclusion means one thing and policymakers thinking that it means a completely different thing,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976829\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976829\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Jorgenson, known to students as Teacher Dani, cheers for students as they jump during a preschool class at Los Medanos College Child Study Center in Pittsburg on Feb. 15, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To ensure accountability, California law requires teachers to document ways they try to support children with challenging behaviors, such as setting behavior goals along with their parents and referring them to mental health consultants. Parents have the right to appeal a suspension or expulsion to state authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help make the policy work, lawmakers increased funding for preschool and child care centers that provide early childhood mental health consultation services — such as marriage and family therapists, social workers and child psychologists — for kids, their families or teachers.[aside postID=news_11979071 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240309-EARLY-START-DEVELOPMENTAL-DELAYS-MD-02-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg']But Buthee said the law is placing demands on preschools and child care centers that are stretched thin by staffing shortages. Teachers sometimes get caught between providing one-on-one support for an ill-behaved child and ensuring there are enough adults in the room for the rest of the class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Requiring teachers to keep records of how they dealt with a child acting up “feels like a gotcha policy” and makes a bigger deal out of what might be an age-appropriate behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members are also telling her they have a hard time finding early childhood mental health consultants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To actually find an individual in their community who is able to come in for an hour or a couple hours a week on a pretty short-term basis is very challenging,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Building trust in a child’s life\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Linda Brault with the education research organization WestEd has seen this, too. She trains preschool teachers to work with children with challenging behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, the stress level of the provider, and the fact that so many people haven’t gotten time to go to a training because they don’t have substitutes, or they’re working two jobs or whatever … I think we really have to address that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976828\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976828\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Jorgenson, known to students as Teacher Dani, works with Cole, 3, in the garden during a preschool class at Los Medanos College Child Study Center in Pittsburg on Feb. 15, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The issue is crucial because the more stressed a teacher is, the more likely the teacher is to discipline a child. When teachers do have enough professional support and training to respond to a misbehaving child, Brault said, they tend to stay in their job and have fewer problems in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is documentation and data that says children who are expelled and suspended in early childhood have a tendency to continue that pattern, so we really want to interrupt that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McPherson eventually enrolled her son Cole at the Child Study Center, a preschool on the campus of Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, which is also a training ground for early educators. For the last decade, the school has been working hard to prevent suspensions and expulsions by meeting children where they’re at emotionally and developmentally.[aside postID=news_11968835 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/20231108-Alameda-Black-Maternal-Health-021-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg']Cole’s teacher Danielle Jorgensen said when he first got there, he had trouble communicating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He would try to tell us something. We couldn’t understand him. So he would fall to the ground, kick and scream,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she would get on the floor, take deep breaths and try to understand him. If you discipline a child while their brain is not able to think and process, she said, you’re not helping the child learn how to self-calm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the things that we work on here is teaching them that it’s OK to have emotions and how to deal with them,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jorgensen can take the time to work individually with Cole because there were enough interns in the room to watch over the other children, thanks to the preschool’s unique relationship with the college. She said she also tries to build relationships with parents and their kids to foster trust because once children feel safe, their brains are more open to learning.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Grace McPherson, mother to 4-year-old Cole\"]‘It really starts with the attuned, calm, trusted caregiver, teacher, parent in the child’s life. That really sets the tone for the relationships that the kids are going to have.’[/pullquote]McPherson said in just a few months, her son’s vocabulary exploded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His confidence, his ability to make friends, just overall his growth was extraordinary,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting her son reliable child care allowed McPherson to go back to school. She enrolled at Los Medanos to get a certification to teach middle school. She also received a grant to lower Cole’s preschool tuition, and in turn, she had to take a child development class and volunteer as a helper at the preschool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the class gave her a greater appreciation for conscious discipline, a series of strategies used at the Child Study Center to teach social-emotional skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really starts with the attuned, calm, trusted caregiver, teacher, parent in the child’s life. That really sets the tone for the relationships that the kids are going to have,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more information about California’s laws and how to prevent suspension and expulsion in early child care and education programs, check out \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://preventingchildcareexpulsionca.org/\">\u003cem>https://preventingchildcareexpulsionca.org/\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": " New state rules make it harder for child care and preschool programs that receive state funding to suspend or expel children. Providers say the rules are placing more demands on a workforce still coping with post-pandemic challenges. ",
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"title": "California Preschools Wrestle to Comply With State’s Tightened Suspension Rules | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Like many babies born around the time of the COVID-19 shutdowns, 4-year-old Cole grew up watching \u003cem>Cocomelon\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Bluey\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The popular kids shows kept him entertained while his mom, Grace McPherson, helped his older sister with distance learning. However, too much screen time and social isolation took a toll on Cole’s development. His mom said he was “pretty much nonverbal” when he was 3 years old.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>So last fall, McPherson enrolled her son in a preschool in the Bay Area town of Oakley to help him catch up. The first day went smoothly. But on the second day, not long after dropping him off, the school called McPherson to pick up Cole because he refused to sit at circle time and was crying inconsolably.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said that he’s not ready for preschool, and I was just shocked,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preschool director suggested coming back when Cole was more ready to follow directions, McPherson said. But she had made up her mind: she’d rather forfeit the $400 deposit for his tuition than return to a preschool that couldn’t support her son through a tantrum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like they were just passing the buck,” she said. “And it’s just, ‘Here you go, here’s your child back. Figure out something else.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school never told McPherson they suspended her son when they asked her to take him home. Still, their experience would be considered a suspension under a state law designed to limit exclusionary discipline in early childhood education.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Suspending or expelling children from preschool for hitting, biting and other challenging behavior\u003ca href=\"https://cep.asu.edu/sites/default/files/2022-09/exclusionary-discipline-093022-1.pdf\"> is surprisingly common\u003c/a>. It happens way more often to Black children, boys, and children with learning differences than others, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-discipline-school-climate-report.pdf\">federal civil rights data. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California recently toughened rules around exclusionary discipline at preschools and child care centers that receive state funding, but implementing them has been tough for providers who are still dealing with stressed-out teachers, kids with fewer social skills and other long-lasting effects of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The intention is good, but in actuality, there just aren’t the resources there to help support these preschool programs to do it in a really effective way,” said Nina Buthee, executive director of EveryChild California, an association of publicly funded early education programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘What it means to exclude a child’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is among 24 states with laws limiting preschool suspension and expulsion, according to \u003ca href=\"https://cep.asu.edu/sites/default/files/2023-12/state-discipline-120523_0.pdf\">the Children’s Equity Project\u003c/a> at Arizona State University, because studies have found that children who are removed from their classroom or sent home from school as a form of discipline tend to repeat the pattern in later years and become disengaged from school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not acceptable,” said Adonai Mack, a founding member of Black Men for Education Equity, which advocated for the law. “There should be no reason why a young child in their earliest development is excluded from an educational opportunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976825\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976825\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-14-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grace McPherson spends time with her son Cole, 3, at Los Medanos College Child Study Center in Pittsburg on Feb. 15, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A 2017 law requires state-funded preschools to pursue and document ways they tried to support children with challenging behavior before resorting to expulsion. Another law passed in 2022 prohibits expulsion \u003cem>and\u003c/em> suspension and applies to both preschools and state-subsidized child care programs for infants and toddlers.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/mb2308.asp\">The rules \u003c/a>specifically prohibit teachers from sending children to another room or home in the middle of the day because of their behavior. That would be considered suspension. Teachers also can’t encourage a parent to unenroll from a program, and suspension or expulsion can only be used as a last resort when serious safety concerns exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California law outlines one of the clearest definitions of suspension and expulsion, said Walter Gilliam, executive director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gilliam said teachers often don’t realize they’re suspending or expelling a child when they advise parents to find another school that’s “a better fit” or when they repeatedly ask parents to pick up their child early, creating an inconvenience that could lead parents to look elsewhere for more reliable child care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we’re not very clear about what it means to exclude a child, then we run the risk of local implementers thinking that an exclusion means one thing and policymakers thinking that it means a completely different thing,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976829\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976829\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-35-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Jorgenson, known to students as Teacher Dani, cheers for students as they jump during a preschool class at Los Medanos College Child Study Center in Pittsburg on Feb. 15, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To ensure accountability, California law requires teachers to document ways they try to support children with challenging behaviors, such as setting behavior goals along with their parents and referring them to mental health consultants. Parents have the right to appeal a suspension or expulsion to state authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help make the policy work, lawmakers increased funding for preschool and child care centers that provide early childhood mental health consultation services — such as marriage and family therapists, social workers and child psychologists — for kids, their families or teachers.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But Buthee said the law is placing demands on preschools and child care centers that are stretched thin by staffing shortages. Teachers sometimes get caught between providing one-on-one support for an ill-behaved child and ensuring there are enough adults in the room for the rest of the class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Requiring teachers to keep records of how they dealt with a child acting up “feels like a gotcha policy” and makes a bigger deal out of what might be an age-appropriate behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members are also telling her they have a hard time finding early childhood mental health consultants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To actually find an individual in their community who is able to come in for an hour or a couple hours a week on a pretty short-term basis is very challenging,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Building trust in a child’s life\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Linda Brault with the education research organization WestEd has seen this, too. She trains preschool teachers to work with children with challenging behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, the stress level of the provider, and the fact that so many people haven’t gotten time to go to a training because they don’t have substitutes, or they’re working two jobs or whatever … I think we really have to address that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976828\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976828\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/240215-PRESCHOOLSUSPENSION-29-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Jorgenson, known to students as Teacher Dani, works with Cole, 3, in the garden during a preschool class at Los Medanos College Child Study Center in Pittsburg on Feb. 15, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The issue is crucial because the more stressed a teacher is, the more likely the teacher is to discipline a child. When teachers do have enough professional support and training to respond to a misbehaving child, Brault said, they tend to stay in their job and have fewer problems in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is documentation and data that says children who are expelled and suspended in early childhood have a tendency to continue that pattern, so we really want to interrupt that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McPherson eventually enrolled her son Cole at the Child Study Center, a preschool on the campus of Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, which is also a training ground for early educators. For the last decade, the school has been working hard to prevent suspensions and expulsions by meeting children where they’re at emotionally and developmentally.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cole’s teacher Danielle Jorgensen said when he first got there, he had trouble communicating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He would try to tell us something. We couldn’t understand him. So he would fall to the ground, kick and scream,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she would get on the floor, take deep breaths and try to understand him. If you discipline a child while their brain is not able to think and process, she said, you’re not helping the child learn how to self-calm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the things that we work on here is teaching them that it’s OK to have emotions and how to deal with them,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jorgensen can take the time to work individually with Cole because there were enough interns in the room to watch over the other children, thanks to the preschool’s unique relationship with the college. She said she also tries to build relationships with parents and their kids to foster trust because once children feel safe, their brains are more open to learning.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>McPherson said in just a few months, her son’s vocabulary exploded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His confidence, his ability to make friends, just overall his growth was extraordinary,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting her son reliable child care allowed McPherson to go back to school. She enrolled at Los Medanos to get a certification to teach middle school. She also received a grant to lower Cole’s preschool tuition, and in turn, she had to take a child development class and volunteer as a helper at the preschool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the class gave her a greater appreciation for conscious discipline, a series of strategies used at the Child Study Center to teach social-emotional skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really starts with the attuned, calm, trusted caregiver, teacher, parent in the child’s life. That really sets the tone for the relationships that the kids are going to have,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more information about California’s laws and how to prevent suspension and expulsion in early child care and education programs, check out \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://preventingchildcareexpulsionca.org/\">\u003cem>https://preventingchildcareexpulsionca.org/\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
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"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
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