Forty preschoolers in Mountain View’s Castro and Theuerkauf elementary school neighborhoods will have access to Preschool for All services in September 2006, if all goes according to plan.
They will attend three hours of school five days a week in facilities enhanced to meet the program’s standards.
FIRST 5 Santa Clara County gave Preschool for All $50 million in funding Aug. 18 to expand into several county school districts. Of that amount, $258,800 has been allocated for the two Mountain View schools. Countywide, the program will allow an additional 6,440 disadvantaged children to attend preschool.
Preschool for All is a research-based, free, voluntary part-day program providing reading and language curriculum, home visitation and family support.
The program is aligned with state education standards. One of its goals is to bring the expertise of early childhood teachers and caregivers up to par with that of public kindergarten teachers.
Research shows that children from birth to age five are at a critical stage in their development and that preschool can make a positive contribution. For example, research such as the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study shows that children who have participated in good preschool programs are much less likely to require special education services later.
According to county research, a number of school children need more preparation and are not yet ready to enter kindergarten:
• 32 percent do not recognize all letters of the alphabet
• 47 percent do not recognize and produce rhyming words
• 59 percent cannot count 10 objects
• 62 percent do not engage with books
“We are incorporating the very latest research in child development into the design of these high-quality preschool programs,” said Jolene Smith, executive director of FIRST 5, Santa Clara County. “We know that among preschoolers comprehensive programs like this have a significant impact on a child’s later success in school.”
California voters passed Proposition 10 in 1998, adding a 50 cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes to support programs for expectant parents and children from birth to age 5. FIRST 5 Santa Clara County has distributed roughly $72 million in Proposition 10 revenues to programs and services that meet local needs.
