Funding and Quality Improvement Strategies for Preschool Programs




Weisenfeld, a senior early childhood education policy specialist at NIEER, and Petterson, co-executive director of CityHealth, co-authored a new CityHealth article called “How Can Cities Find Funding and Improve the Quality of Their Pre-K Programs?” The article put forward two approaches that will help cities increase access to preschools and improve the quality of their programs. Weisenfeld and Petterson include a link to eleven funding methods that NIEER and CityHealth recognized.

The article talks about the proposed $200 billion the Biden administration has earmarked to help increase access to preschool to all children between ages three and four-year-olds “builds on the momentum generated by cities and states across America,” they posit. According to Weisenfeld and Petterson, The Biden administration believes that the investment would benefit five million children and families will save about $13,000 yearly.

The article urges cities to study how to fund the expansion of preschool programs and adopt the self-assessment framework for quality improvement.

The newsletter touched on the issue of racial and ethnic inequalities. The core of the self-assessment framework recommended by Petterson and Weisenfeld contains what is called an “equity index.” The equity index of indicators addresses racial and ethnic inequities and intends to provide or support the different equity strategies that cities use. The stand-alone components in the framework feature guarantee equity for children with special needs and children whose English is not their primary language.

My takeaway from this article is that high-quality programs all preschoolers can access are vital for the well-being of the children, the communities, and society at large.


                                                         Reference

Patterson,D, C, & Wiesenfeld, G., G.(2021). How can cities find funding and improve the quality of their      pre-K programs? Retrieved from https://www.cityhealth.org/blog/2021/5/11/how-can-cities-find-

    funding-and-improve-the-quality-of-their-pre-k-programs

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