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Preschool power
Editorial
The Boston Globe, October 25, 2007

HOW DO you build a better preschool? To find out, Massachusetts has given $4.6 million in grants to programs in 62 cities and towns. The early results of this funding from the Department of Early Education and Care show that preschool should meet working families' needs and advance teachers' educations. Here are three examples.

A public school story. "I felt like Cinderella's ugly stepsister," Marilyn Mahoney said this week at a meeting of the Early Education for All Campaign. Mahoney is the assistant director of early childhood education for Lynn's public schools. When she applied for a preschool quality grant to improve two preschool classes at the Harrington school, she felt like she was stuffing her foot into a glass slipper that didn't fit. Lynn's strength in applying for the grant was its highly qualified teachers. What made it a hard fit was that the school didn't offer full-day, full-year care - the coverage that working parents need. So Lynn used its grant to extend its day and year by partnering with the Gregg Neighborhood House, an after-school program.

Progress at a daycare center. In Lowell, Community Teamwork Inc. used its grant to increase the pay of preschool teachers and staff by 2 percent. "If we're going to have quality, we need to retain staff," said Julie Salois, Community Teamwork's associate executive director. CTI is applying for another grant hoping to raise the $15- to $16-an-hour salaries of teachers with four-year college degrees by another 5 percent. Among the staff are four teachers who spent nights and weekends attending Middlesex Community College and then graduated from Salem State College. The teachers used state scholarship money to pay their school bills.

Family providers. Many parents who have to get to work at 7 a.m. or work long past 5 p.m. rely on people who provide daycare in their homes. "We love these kids," said Blanca Valencia, a homecare provider who makes it clear that she offers care as well as an education in pre-reading, pre-math, and social skills. Valencia is a member of Lowell's Acre Family Day Care, which helps low-income women become economically independent by building family-based child care businesses. Acre has 55 providers and serves 399 children. Acre used its grant to train family providers at Wheelock College and to use tools to assess children's abilities. One result: It's easier to identify children with developmental delays and help their families take advantage of state early intervention services.

Tonight, Governor Patrick is holding a town hall meeting to discuss early education and care in Somerset. It's a chance to make plans for a first-class preschool system.

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