TOPIC

Access, quality & alignment in early childhood education

Early Childhood Eduction

More than 24 million children ages 5 and younger live in the United States, and about one in eight of them—a little over 3 million—lives in California. Given the rapid brain development during a child’s first five years of life, which lays the foundation for all future learning, California has a compelling interest and responsibility to ensure that programs for young children provide a safe, socially supportive, and effective educational environment.

Considerable research shows that children attending high-quality preschool programs receive significant benefits. California has many good providers; but for a state that once led the nation in early childhood education, early childhood education today is marked by diminished investments in quality, low wages, and highly fractured oversight and implementation.

PACE’s work related to early childhood education is designed to help policymakers understand the challenges in current state policies and develop paths forward toward a high-quality, aligned early childhood system that benefits all California children.

Recent Topic Publications
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The Influence of Family Structure, Parental Practices, and Home Language
Recent work reveals sharp disparities in which types of children participate in center and preschools. Enrollment rates are especially low for Latino children, relative to Black and Anglo preschoolers, a gap that remains after taking into account…
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Recently, we published Child Care Indicators, 1998: Part I. The present report represents Part II of this same series—aimed at providing local and state-level policy makers more complete data on the current capacity of the childcare system, as…
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Preliminary Figures
California's childcare system has long been comprised of a vast and vibrant collec­tion of service providers, community organizations, and activists. Decentralization and diversity represent rich strengths within the childcare community. But this…
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How Do Parents Adjust to Scarce Options in Santa Clara County?
In winter 1998, the PACE research center began a phone survey of low-income and blue-collar parents. Most were mothers who had signed up on one of three child­care waiting lists maintained by different agencies within Santa Clara County. This survey…