Use local resources to serve children birth through age 3 to stabilize community providers as 4-year-olds move into TK¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

As universal transitional kindergarten expands, community-based providers lose 4-year-old enrollment; the report recommends that local leaders use local resources to serve younger children instead. The report states that "using local resources to serve children birth through age 3 can help bolster community providers whose 4-year-old enrollment declines as TK expands." Because serving younger children is more expensive, requiring smaller group sizes and age-appropriate facilities, sites paired this with funding: San Francisco used commercial rent tax revenue for infant and toddler slots and facility grants, and Alum Rock Union converted an underenrolled elementary school into a birth-to-5 campus.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Grants and technical assistance to modify facilities and train staff to work with younger children
• Funding sufficient for the higher cost of serving infants and toddlers

Constraints¶

• Serving younger children is more expensive than serving 4-year-olds because they need smaller group sizes and age-appropriate facilities

Target Learners¶

• Children birth through age 3
• Children from low- and moderate-income families

Target Learning Goals¶

• Access to high-quality early learning environments
• Continuity of a mixed delivery provider system

Related Strategies¶

• State supports for UPK expansion: fund facilities and ratio implementation, update reimbursement rates, offer curriculum and assessment technical assistance, and expand professional development and inclusive-classroom supports
• Support coordinated enrollment across the mixed delivery system to ensure family choice and provider stability
• Four-part state policy agenda: coherent administration, universal affordability, a well-qualified workforce, and quality improvement for all programs
• Expand transitional kindergarten and preschool by braiding UPK funds with hiring, culturally responsive curriculum, and community college partnerships
• Six state policy recommendations to stabilize, support, and expand the early childhood workforce and build diverse TK pathways
• Five ways state and local chambers can support working families by supporting female providers of color

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Melnick, H., Wechsler, M. E., Wang, V., & Plasencia, S. (2026). Universal preschool in California: Promising practices for mixed delivery systems. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/724.211