As the 3 o’clock dismissal bell rings at schools across Chicago, Yesenia Rivera and hundreds of other preschoolers are pouring into city classrooms to begin their day.
Fresh from a nap at home, 3-year old Yesenia joins 14 other wiggling bodies on a reading rug at the Belmont-Cragin Early Childhood Demonstration Center, a state-funded preschool operated by the Chicago Public Schools.
With parents clamoring for services, the Chicago school system recently added a “third shift” of free preschool at four sites on the Northwest Side, even turning a storefront in a shopping mall into a classroom for the 3 to 5:30 p.m. classes.
These slots reflect an increasing emphasis on early childhood education in Illinois, an effort boosted by $60 million in additional state funding over the last two years. Emboldened by the additional resources, a growing group of state policymakers is lobbying for Illinois to ensure access to preschool for all families.
They tout educational and economic studies to make the argument that high-quality preschool and child care results in improved school performance, fewer dropouts, fewer prison inmates and increased tax revenue.
The stumbling block remains how to pay for it in a state where kindergarten through 12th-grade school districts are pushing for more cash and an overhaul of the tax system that supports the schools.
Only Oklahoma and Georgia offer preschool to all 4-year-olds, regardless of income. Florida voters recently mandated access for all, but the program is not yet operating. Most other states, including Illinois, try to serve the neediest children first.
Illinois considers income when assessing need, as well as other risk factors, such as whether families speak English or if children are born with low weights, which have been linked to developmental delays or educational difficulties later. But other states have different income standards and ways of defining need.
In New Jersey, all preschoolers 30 highest-poverty school districts are served as the result of a state Supreme Court ruling that found children needed services in order to be successful in elementary school.
Other states, such as New York, technically have a “universal” program open to all, but, in reality, the initiatives were never funded to that level.
The result is a hodgepodge of programs from state to state of varying quality.
In his recent budget address, Gov. Rod Blagojevich proposed $30 million be added to the $244 million the state spends on early childhood education. If approved by the legislature, Blagojevich will have met his campaign promise to add $90 million to state early childhood programs.
After only two weeks in state-funded preschool, Yesenia and her little classmates already know to head for the letter on the colorful reading rug that corresponds to their first name. And they know that “rojo” is the color red and “azul” is blue as they listen to teacher Tania Sanchez read a story.
“We’re working on the basics to get everyone ready for kindergarten,” Sanchez explained in her classroom in a former private school at 6041 W. Diversey Ave. “Things like recognizing your name, learning to sit still, taking turns.”
Chicago’s third shift serves about 250 youngsters, but Chicago school officials expect the model will spread to other neighborhoods with more demand than space, such as schools near Midway Airport.
“This is the only solution available for neighborhoods where the schools are so overcrowded that we have no available classrooms,” said Barbara Bowman, who heads early childhood education for the Chicago Public Schools. “These kids have had a nice lunch and a nap at home and they’re ready to go.”
Demand is soaring from parents who want their little ones to have a leg up as they enter an increasingly competitive education world where 1st graders must read and students are judged by their test scores as early as 3rd grade.
“A lot of states with budget problems have been cutting back so it is significant that Illinois has been increasing its state-funded programs,” said W. Steve Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
To many, funding for quality programs matters more than a declaration that the state will serve all 4-year-olds.
“At the end of the day, the thing that matters is `show me the money,’ and the governor keeps putting money in this during a time of scarce resources,” said Harriet Meyer, president of the Chicago-based Ounce of Prevention Fund.
The Early Learning Council, a governor-appointed group co-chaired by Meyer, is expected to make a recommendation this spring that Illinois continue expanding its program until there is access to quality preschool for all Illinois families. Blagojevich recently told the Tribune’s editorial board that he did not expect Illinois would offer preschool to all before the end of his term in January 2007.
While budget shortfalls caused the Chicago school system to cut back its tuition-based preschool program for middle-income families to about 400 students, the free, state-funded program for children at risk has expanded to serve about 20,325 youngsters in the city. That’s almost a third of the some 67,000 children served with the same program across Illinois.
Even if Illinois commits to making sure every family has access to preschool, that won’t mean every Illinois child would be in a cookie-cutter classroom, or even that the state would foot the entire bill, early childhood experts said. A web of federal, state and private funding sources and services would continue to provide early education in private and public settings. And the price tag for the voluntary program could vary widely, depending on eligibility details and how fancy a program legislators would be willing to endorse.
One reason state pre-kindergarten is popular is because it is free, which is why Chicago’s third shift filled up so quickly even though its late start time is far from ideal for many families. Yesenia’s mother, Heber Rivera, like many parents, would prefer something earlier in the day to cut down on the amount of time she spends ferrying her three children, all on different schedules in different buildings, back and forth between home and school.
“But it is important to prepare her for kindergarten, so she can progress with the other children,” said Mrs. Rivera in Spanish. She hurries home with Yesenia at the end of class so all her family can eat a home-cooked dinner together before her husband goes to his evening job at Federal Express.
The emphasis on early childhood education reflects a growing body of research that shows learning begins at birth.
It also reflects a marked change in attitude about how little children should spend their time, especially as more mothers have joined the workforce. By the 1980s, about half of the 4-year-olds and a third of 3-year-olds were in school, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. By 2002, those numbers had jumped to where the majority of 4-year-olds–70 percent–went to school, along with 40 percent of 3-year-olds.
“The research is so overwhelming that society has to invest more in early childhood education,” said Jerry Stermer, president of Voices for Illinois Children. “That doesn’t change that parents still have the most important role in their child’s development.”
Indeed, quality preschool programs are built around parent involvement and the late afternoon shift in Chicago has a strong base of parental support. Chicago school officials only added the slots at Belmont-Cragin, in the Hall Mall and at Hanson Park and Lloyd Elementary Schools after lobbying from Latino parents in the Northwest Neighborhood Federation working with state Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago).
“The parents identified the need,” del Valle said. “Gentrification is driving up the prices in Wicker Park and Logan Square so families are moving to Belmont-Cragin for lower housing prices and rents.”
Marta Moya Leang, head teacher at Belmont-Cragin, said the center taps parent interest by having workshops that show them how to turn routine tasks into learning experiences.
“When you’re folding laundry, you can turn it into a lesson on sorting by colors, by size. Have the children count the towels, name the pieces of clothing,” Moya Leang said.
Parents at Belmont-Cragin also are required to work on a weekend book report with their preschoolers, in which they read a story to their child and then record their little one’s verbal answers to questions about the story.
“We have to explain to parents that learning at this age is playing,” Moya Leang said. “Most important, we have to get parents to turn off the TV.”
“Some parents are innate teachers,” she said. “Others need a little direction.”
