Big Lifts and Launches: Resource Equity and Other Key Considerations for Implementing Major New Initiatives Like UPK and UTK — Part 1: A Statewide Perspective
Theme music begins.
Sarah Neville Morgan, Guest:
How can you not get excited when you’re actually making history? So, having waited 20 years for this ‘aha,’ I literally get up and I pinch myself. I am part of making change in California that ultimately means our children will do better.
Jason Willis, Host:
That’s Sarah Neville-Morgan, Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education.
Two years ago, California’s state budget agreement included an ambitious new initiative to fund and implement “Universal Transitional Kindergarten (or UTK), so that all 4-year-olds in the state have access to it. It’s also part of a larger long-term goal the state and school districts have been working towards to expand early education and ultimately provide universal access to Pre-Kindergarten, or UPK, for all students.
In this two-part episode of Budgeting for Educational Equity, we’ll explore how school systems can approach major new initiatives, specifically early learning and how the UTK-UPK implementation process is going so far—including challenges and impacts for advancing equity.
In our first part, we’ll hear from early education leader Sarah Neville-Morgan. Then, in part two, we’ll hear from Maria Ceballos, a leader in Fresno Unified School District, who has a wealth of insight to share from the powerful work her district is doing. You’re definitely going to want to make sure you listen to both parts for the full experience!
Music ends.
Jason:
To gain a statewide perspective about major new initiatives such as UTK and UPK, back in the spring I spoke with Sarah Neville-Morgan at the CDE. She’s been someone vital in shaping early education policy for decades.
Jason:
So Sarah, to help give us a foundation, an initial question I wanted to raise is around the “why” of early education, and how early ed both contributes to the overall progress of students in the system, but also specifically advances equity within the system itself. So, give us the rundown: If you were talking to a group of superintendents who were maybe a little bit reluctant to move to full implementation or really engage or lean in on the strategy, what would you say to them about how UPK and early education could really help how they’re supporting students in their systems?
Sarah:
Yeah, and actually I feel like a few years ago I would’ve had to do more on the why. I feel like now at this moment, most of what I hear is excitement and that, all across the system, people understand the value of high-quality pre-K and how that can actually help address how we later see an achievement gap. So, addressing that opportunity gap and making sure more children have access to high quality pre-K means that you’re narrowing that later achievement gap. And I think most people now have seen the brain science, have seen results from across the country. So many states now have Pre-K; President Biden had it as part of his Build Back Better proposal and keeps trying to carry that forward. So that’s out there. Really, universal access to pre-K and to TK creates this delivering on the promise of what education is meant to be—that we know that we need to start earlier and best support our children so that they are ready to thrive when they hit school. [And] not ready to learn ‘cuz children are born ready to learn. They really want to soak things up and grab and just go. But having that high quality, developmentally informed, joyful play that embeds math and literacy—the more we can have bilingual or dual and language immersion programs—all of that means that our children are really hitting kindergarten and first and second and third ready to soar.
Jason:
Yeah, I appreciate that reflection on the why Sarah. And so, having, if you will, softened the ground around the why, I think one of the next natural questions becomes around the how and what things that you’re seeing out in the field that, both the state in collaboration with local systems, have had to confront, particularly when it comes to ensuring that you’re rebuilding or building new systems that are truly providing more equitable access and opportunity for communities of color or low-income communities and families of students with disabilities?
Sarah:
Yeah, so if you look at some of the systemic barriers and we look across some of the historical pieces like racism or just lack of equitable access to a lot of things, including some of our LEAs that are rural, there’s a lot of support that’s been circling around to make sure that UPK is really successful. It’s not just CDE, we have other partners across the state from CCEE, the California Commission on Educational Excellence. You have the rural small school districts support. You’ve got our California Ed partners who really come in and work with schools. There’s a lot of focus and drive and intentionality around this area. So, we at CDE have launched a lot, as I said, around the UPK part. We have something on California Educators together so that you can access all of our materials. You can look at the research that’s on there, some of that why that we talked about, but other research that tells you some of the how; we have toolkits on there. We have guidance. So, a lot of resources for LEAs and other partners. We have that P-3 alignment series. To date we’ve had 11 webinars focused on that P-3 frame. Everything from coming out of the hardest parts of the pandemic to addressing “build back better” to recent ones where we focused on engaging and partnering with tribes, an area where California desperately needs to do better as we look at equity and ensuring that we’re creating a sense of belonging and affirmation of identity and how critical culture is as part of school success. And then in February we launched our centering and cultivating Black family voices in a preK to third grade frame. So, leveraging those investments in that place. But guidance is never enough. And that’s why I think it’s so important to keep our tables open, to not sit in CDE and just write it, but have that back-and-forth dialogue with LEAs and other community-based partners so that it really reflects what they need and what they’re learning.
Music interlude.
Jason:
Let’s pause here for a minute so I can share a bit more about our guest, Sarah Neville-Morgan. Sarah has served in many key leadership and policy positions at the state level. She was previously the Director of the CDE Early Learning and Care Division; Deputy Director of Program Management at First 5 California; Deputy Executive Director of the Governor’s Early Learning Advisory Council during the Schwarzenegger and Brown administrations; and served as an Academic Child Development Specialist at the University of California, Davis Center for Child and Family Studies. And now, currently, Sarah serves as a Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education.
Sarah:
So, to give a little bit of context, Jason, to who I am and what I have at CDE, I am over something called the Opportunities for All branch. As the deputy superintendent of that, I have five fabulous divisions: early education, expanded learning, multilingual support, nutrition services, and special education. So, a lot of staff who are really committed and passionate as well as a lot of programs and investments that go out to our LEAs as well as some community-based partners to support those areas.
Jason:
That’s great. And, you know, Sarah, you’ve been in this space a long time; you and I have worked together on a number of these different projects in this space over the years, [so] just taking a really big step back [and] thinking over the trajectory of early education in California, like what’s your perspective? Are we just moving along here or is this a historic moment?
Sarah:
This is truly a historic moment and I have to remind my staff because the work is also hard and long.
Jason:
Mm-hmm.
Sarah:
…But they, we, are making history—so history in action—and it’s beyond early ed, but the early ed is a key part of it. So, I have been working in state service for just over 20 years and for most of that have been working towards universal pre-kindergarten. We’re finally there—like a few other times I thought we were super close. There was a ballot initiative, there was a preschool for all movement, and we didn’t make it. And here we are, and by 2025, all 4-year-olds in California will be eligible for transitional kindergarten. That is phenomenal and historic. And at the same time, there are a lot of other parts of that system that we have to think of—everywhere from the childcare side to the other parts of preschool, to how it affects our local education agencies and partners. So, it is historic and we still have to think of how we lift up a whole system while we’re moving forward with a UTK part of our universal pre-kindergarten movement in California.
Jason:
Yeah, I heard that [and] when you say lifting up the whole system, Sarah, how do you see those two things interacting? Like the focus so much on early ed and this historic opportunity to introduce universal preschool, transitional kindergarten for all fours? What do you mean when you say lift up all the entire system?
Sarah:
Yeah. So early education has often lived in this interesting space where it’s not quite childcare and yet care is a huge part of it. And it’s not quite always been part of our K -12 system. We now have a TK-12 system. So that early education, those 4-year-olds are part of our public education system, which is part of that history in the making; and how dollars flow, how our LEAs support; how they look at early childhood and brain science in a really different way; and how we look at continuity and alignment across curriculum, professional learning, use of assessments, how we support and engage families — all of that is part of that whole system. And we still have to think about the other part that had 4-year-olds previously. So, thinking through childcare and other parts of preschool and how we make sure we’re supporting them. Our California State Preschool program is near and dear to my heart. We have that here with us at the Department of Education in our early education division, and we’re really looking at this moment and the opportunities to serve more 3-year-olds in more of a targeted universalism approach to preschool in California. So, as more 4-year-olds decide to go into TK—they won’t all—they still will have choice to be in a private pay, to be in Headstart, to be in state preschool or some other option, including staying home with their families. But as more choose TK, that lets us have more space in our state preschool programs and in Headstart for 3-year-olds. We currently serve only eight and a half percent of eligible 3-year-olds in our state preschool—only eight and a half percent. So you can just think about all the opportunities that can afford to ensure more children have access to preschool actually starting at age three.
Jason:
Yeah, I mean, I think that the “systemness” of what you’re describing becomes so incredibly essential there, Sarah, because on the one hand, state policy is helping to advance and open up more seats in traditional school district settings, which should be creating capacity in other mixed delivery providers that could really bolster that 8 percent figure that you talked about for 3-year-olds.
Sarah:
Exactly. And at the same time, if we think of that side of the system that I just talked about, but as we also think of our LEAs and what this means for them and a new way of doing business and a way of doing business that’s really developmentally informed…We talk a lot about how UPK has to be in the umbrella of pre-K to third brain so that we’re not just putting TK in there and we’re not just partnering with state preschool in some of those transitions and supporting 3-year-olds as well, but really developmentally informed all the way up. So, you’re really bringing those teachers in, you’re aligning, you’re understanding what it means to be child led, to be developmentally informed. And that whole child piece that we hear more and more about right now—that starts with early childhood and they’ve been doing it for a long time. So, here’s an opportunity for the other part of our educational system to really learn from the early ed side.
Music interlude.
Jason:
So, you obviously were involved as the legislation outlining universal TK, and it sounds like some of the rebranding on Universal preK, as [that] kind of moved forward. I want to kind of go back to those moments in which, you know, those conversations were happening about how the policy should be shaped. Was there a moment, an experience that you had where, the team that you were working with, even if it was across agencies, was struggling with a particular issue and, what was that conversation like and how did you, and how did we end up where we did, if you will, in terms of the stuff we have in law today around this expansion?
Sarah:
Yeah, I feel like you’re wanting to peek behind the curtain a little bit there, Jason?
Jason:
Yeah, a small little moment would be great.
Sarah:
Yeah, for sure. There were so many moments. And I’m not part of the governor’s administration, so there were other conversations that we were definitely not privy to, but I was part of that Master Plan for Early Learning and Care core team, where these ideas really fermented and we pulled from other reports, other experience, other expertise to really put it in there and say, this is what we need. And then working inside CDE with our State Board partners; we have as a State Board president, Dr. Linda Darling Hammond—like, how can you not get excited when every day that’s your State Board president and the champion for universal Pre-K in California? So the fact that I get to work with her, that I get to talk with her, that really deep intellectual conversation back and forth and then on the ground listening to LEAs and our state preschools and Headstart, like how do we make this work? That part’s really exciting.
But we did grapple with some of this because it is also hard. Change is never easy. And I think trying to navigate a space where we were really child focused, like what in the long term is going to be hard for kids? Knowing that along the way there are going to be some moments, even some years, that are harder and that we still have to keep our eyes focused on that ultimate vision and always put children at the heart of front and center and make sure that our public schools are there and ready to embrace this change and help the rest of the field navigate. We grappled with that. We discussed that and with my team, concerns about our workforce. Like how are we getting that pipeline? We know we need better rates, we know we need better compensation. Some of those opportunities for partnership with CTC—they’re launching a PK to third grade credential like, Go, California! That was part of our master plan, but now it’s happening, and we’re able to move that forward.
What else did we talk about? Unintended consequences. We talk a lot about race and equity, equity and access. How do we make sure that all of these programs create a sense of belonging and affirmation for children? We haven’t always done that well. We still don’t do that well everywhere. So, you’ve got some great programs, you’ve got some great LEAs. You have others who struggle and the who don’t feel that sense of identity and support. This is our opportunity, but we still know that we have to grapple with it and push and elevate any of the issues so that those pieces do change and do move forward. So, lots of conversations. Yeah, lots of master planning. And we actually meet monthly as a UPK state leadership team across State Board governor’s office, Department of Finance and CTC where we bring in elephants and rumors; we bring in, here is the latest hot topic; how do we all address and deal with this so that Department of Finance can do their magic in the budget, the Governor’s office can work on their pieces and that we at CDE can make sure that our guidance, our conversations, the way we hold the space, the way we listen and learn are all authentically expressed in the work that we’re doing.
Jason:
One of things that you had brought up, which I think is critical and crucial—obviously one of the big aims of many of California’s reforms in the education space is really addressing some of the vast equity gaps that we see between different student groups, and the inequities in their opportunity and access. And you kind of surfaced already, offering that there’s still work to do for communities of color, low-income communities, families with students with disabilities—and I’m wondering if you could help us understand a bit more about how you’ve seen progress so far with UPK implementation. Like what early returns, results, you’re seeing from that and how you all are wrestling with how to help that go faster, more efficient, better, as you guys continue into implementation?
Sarah:
Yeah. I will at least try to dive into that, Jason. So, overall we would say that TK or transitional kindergarten implementation is going really well, but we’re also in the first year of that expansion, moving towards the UTK.
Jason:
Mmm-hmm.
Sarah:
So, we haven’t collected data yet on how this first year is going, nor do we have descriptive data on the demographic breakdown of students enrolled. So, we don’t know about that access point to know how we’re really supporting and reaching communities of color, low-income students with disabilities, any of those particular areas—we don’t know yet. But we do have data around what our local education agencies were planning to implement and how they were really wanting to do this, not just this school year for TK, but for that universal pre-K part as a whole. And remember how I said we like to think of this within a P-3 frame, and we also like to think of it within a broader universal pre-K or UPK frame so that it’s not just TK, but we’re always talking about state preschool, Headstart, other community-based partners because of parental choice and because of our 3-year-olds and how important two years of pre-K is.
So, if we’re just looking at this expansion around TK, we have that data around what they’re [LEAs are] planning to do. But we also know in assisting and looking at those budgets and how they’re using what we had in the budget around UPK planning and implementation grants, that’s where we’re collecting some data. So from that, 60 percent of our school districts and charter schools said that they were planning to offer TK at all of their school grade sites, so that it’s really accessible to parents and families. We know that right now, that’s not how TK had rolled out because it was just those fall birthdays for so long, it was usually offered just in a scattering, which meant a lot of families weren’t able to access it. So, we also know that 70 percent of our districts and charter schools report that they plan to offer full day TK, which we also know is really important for our working families—another access point in our favor as we really look at expanding this. So, while we don’t know yet how implementation is going this year in supporting communities of color and children with disabilities, we also know that 43 percent of our LEAs have reported that their site leaders and their principals would be receiving professional learning on implicit bias, culturally and linguistically responsive practice and how to engage with culturally and linguistically diverse families. 38 percent are planning to do something around ACEs or adverse childhood experiences and trauma-informed practices. 57 percent are planning to do professional learning to site leaders and principals on serving children with disabilities and inclusive settings. All of this, we feel is really positive and we think as we see professional learning rollout, that more and more of that will be offered. Historically speaking though, we can tell you that 57 percent of our TK enrollments are students who identify as Hispanic-Latino, 10 percent have been Asian or Pacific Islander and 5 percent are black. So, while we feel there’s still room for improvement in how TK reaches communities of color, we’re at least excited to see that they, our schools, are really thinking of this and how they roll it out and how they support it and how they’re really focused on equity. I also say that we at CDE are taking a deeper dive into that equity. So, you might have seen different pieces that we’ve held up either around our P-3 webinars or additional guidance or best practices.
Jason:
Yep.
Sarah:
Yay, I’m glad you’ve seen it. So that’s some of what we try to raise up around saying, Hey, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond really wants us to focus on Black students and a Black teacher pipeline. So those are pieces that we hold together with this expansion of TK.
Jason:
Yeah, I mean, I really appreciate Sarah, those statistics. I think they offer some even like early insight into the types of training and supports that leaders are intending. And this emphasis on the access and opportunity, particularly with the expansion to full day, which, as we know is like a big deal when you have adults that need to work a full day from nine to five, yet they only have a half day of care, seems really, really important.
Music Interlude.
Jason:
So, Sarah, our audience for this podcast includes school business leaders—and they typically oversee the gamut of everything from facilities to operations, to issues around budgeting and accounting, to school nutrition. And the experiences we hear that they’re having with UTK and some of the other big new initiatives—it’s often around needing to manage a large amount of one-time funds, and the need for time to do some of the long-term building and aligning of these different systems. I mean, as you know, there’s a lot of opportunity on the table for them as professionals to build up this system—but I think some of them are wrestling with, Should I go after this grant application or that application, or should I not go after any of it? And, I’m just wondering, from the standpoint of somebody that’s sitting near the center of the rollout of a lot of this: What advice would you give to them in terms of—maybe going back to what you had said earlier of—of how do they take advantage of this historic moment and opportunity, and not just UTK and UPK but with all the other new initiatives hitting, and do that it in a way that is manageable for the workload of both themselves and their colleagues and systems?
Sarah:
Yeah, that’s such a great question. So definitely beyond UPK, but navigating all of those other components that are coming towards them. Yeah. So some pieces like the UTK, they don’t really have a choice. Those are actually required in law as well as the Expanded Learning Opportunities program. So there are parts where it’s like, all right, we gotta figure this out and let’s do it well and right, and lean in together to make sure that we’ve created this program and access. The other part I would say is, back from my “Race to the Top” early learning challenge days, you have to be ambitious, yet you still have to be achievable. And we know that we have staffing shortages across everything from bus drivers to nutrition service workers, to janitorial staff—all really critical key elements of a high functioning school and district. And then we have the teachers, we have instructional aides, you have special ed, and now we’re adding in, hey, for TK, we want to make sure they have child development, expanded learning. You need to understand how to work with 4-year-olds too…
Jason:
Yep.
Sarah:
There is a lot there. So, I would say start with your community. What does your community want and need? And have those families engage with you. Have your teachers engage with you so that you really, regardless of whether or not you apply for that Community Schools funding, which is what I would encourage everyone to [do], but let’s say you’re not ready, you’re thinking about it. All of our schools need to be more community schools. We need to have our families at the table, not just getting to show up and we listen once, but really helping co-design and partner with us in this space. And we need our teachers to lean in and co-design and really partner in that space. And Jason, if I go back to our SB 75 days together, you need your health and your mental health partners.
Jason:
Yeah.
Sarah:
…To really lean in. And I think giving yourself a couple years to build it out. And I know there’s a pandemic, I know everyone is overwhelmed with plans, but having someone on your team who can integrate those funding streams so they don’t stay off to the side as a silo, but truly weave throughout—that’s how you’re gonna create that richer school climate, school community that transforms, and that—even if it was a one-time investment—those investments keep going because you have transformed your school.
Jason:
So, just like, continue on with that theme. What else would you put on the table? I love this point about really centering the voice of students and youth and families as a main driver of what matters for the system and how you prioritize. In addition to that, what other advice would you put on the table for district leaders in this moment around UTK and UPK and early childhood expansion?
Sarah:
First and foremost, it’s always gonna be about not just the child and their family, but those teachers. So how are you supporting your teachers in creating that workforce that really can provide the equitable access to high quality pre-k? My model, like my ideal, would be that all of our LEAs have a state preschool program contract and can offer state preschool starting at age three. And then we can think of those littles who have disabilities and are transitioning out of Part C into Part B and are able to go into a full inclusion preschool program right away. Like that, to me, for the children who, where that makes sense, is the ideal. And then you either have two years in that or you’ve got your strong TK, you’ve got both there and then creating that P-3 frame. So really bringing your teachers in, having the professional learning go across those early grades; look at your curriculum, make sure your curriculum is not just ensuring in pre-K that scope and sequence around math, supporting English language development, and supporting a child’s home language—because so many of our children come in and they are multilingual learners. So those pieces, and how teachers now need to be supported to work with such a diverse array of children and really understand development at its core and still do the joyful learning as part of it. So, teacher, teacher, teacher, workforce, workforce, workforce—how we support them and their bridge—number one area. Obviously facilities matter and obviously you want a space that welcomes the families, [and] that the children see themselves reflected in—seeing a lot about our books need, need to show the children. They shouldn’t just be a typical, but like, what do our children love and need in that space? And making sure our environments embrace and support them, beyond universal design for learning, which they all need, but really that affirmation of a child at our center of everything that we’re doing.
Jason:
Yep, that’s helpful advice, that’s great…
Sarah:
And I didn’t talk about communications—communications—It’s really critical. So make sure you get that in there, Jason. We did a whole communications campaign. We have parent materials that people can access. But people need to know what’s available. And so communications is really critical. And data, look at your data, look at your children, who your children are, make sure data flows with them so that the teachers have that information and that you can do differentiation of each child and what they need starting in preschool and have it go up with them. Okay, now I’ll let you finish.
Jason:
No, no, that was, that was great. So, here’s a question I’ll just put on the table. So, you are at the center of implementing a major initiative for the State of California. It’s complex, it’s huge, you know, and many of our leaders out in out in systems are also leading other big initiatives for implementation. As you step back as a leader and you reflect on your role in leading that effort, at being one of the leaders that’s leading that effort, what advice would you give to others about, you know, as they embark on or are in the middle of implementing their own major initiatives? What’s one [piece of] advice as a professional, one professional to another, that you would say is vitally important to keep in mind?
Sarah:
My team is so critical and I’ve had to pause and make sure I’m celebrating them and keeping their work joyful as well. They’ve been tired. They themselves went through a lot of transitions, the pandemic. And so really your staff are critical for your success.
And, in that we do all the time put the children front and center. So, we ask ourselves in our meetings, is this good for the kids? What else do we need to do? And I’ve asked [my team] to join me in a learner stance knowing that we don’t know all the answers, and so how are we listening and learning together and creating, not a safe space but more of a brave space to address issues of race, culture, and equity in a true, authentic way so that we are able to support California in this transformative time.
Theme music begins.
Jason:
We’ve been talking about Universal Transitional Kindergarten and Universal Pre-Kindergarten, especially in the context of implementing major new initiatives. My guest has been Sarah Neville-Morgan, Deputy Superintendent for the California Department of Education. Many thanks to Sarah for sharing her insights!
Be sure to listen to Part Two of this episode to hear more about UTK and UPK from a local school district perspective. Fresno USD Early Education Leader Maria Ceballos joins us and provides so much great, practical information—you don’t want to miss it!
Also, be sure to check our Show Notes for more information and related links, as well as our Companion Brief. In particular, I want to call your attention to recent research by the Learning Policy Institute about the implementation of UTK to date.
And lastly, it’s important to acknowledge that districts face different challenges in implementing UTK, especially depending on the size of the district, facilities, resources, staffing, and more. Some of these are topics that we’ll dig into even more in Part Two with Maria. Stay tuned….