For the most part, free public education in the United States begins at kindergarten level when children are around the age of five. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed smart start on his program means that next year, he will allow an additional 5,000 children to attend preschool, ultimately adding a total of 20,000 slots. The plan will also add funding to raise wages for early education providers.
April Janney, CEO of Illinois Action for Children, believes Pritzker’s proposal is the next iteration to make Illinois a leader in early childhood education.
“I think the whole state of Illinois is ahead,” Janney said. “We’ve been focusing on and investing in the smallest learners for a long time, and I think we’ve started investing more in the last few years.”
Meghan Gowin of the Erikson Institute said providing resources to pay more teachers for early education could have a strong positive impact. The Ericsson Institute recently offered her three primary endorsements of Special Education, Bilingual/ESL and Early Childhood Education to help fill teacher shortages and expedite accreditation to diversify the educational workforce. I started the program.
“I actually started my career as a pre-kindergarten teacher assistant,” says Gowin. He was 4 months and 2 years old at the time. I believe that investing in the workforce in such a way that it is well rewarded will only increase our commitment to quality. ”
Early education teachers remain underpaid despite increasing certification requirements for the position, Janney said.
“The majority of them are women, and the majority of them are black women,” Janney said. “And it’s a price for them to push their training and get a better education, but we’re not paying them professionally.”
According to Sonya Crumb Knight, chief program and impact officer at the Carroll Robertson Center for Learning, some of these ideas have historically been used to compare the care and education of very young children. It is said that it is rooted in a protected model.
“It really upends the old notion of child care, doesn’t it?” said Crumknight. “This is a historically underappreciated piece of work because it was done by women of color. So raising wages and building that workforce through higher education can ensure quality outcomes for our children.It’s a not-so-secret source, but it’s there.”
Gowin said the prospect of more funding flowing into a system that has long been coveted for resources is a first step toward more equitable delivery of early childhood education.
“The investment in quality programs and the money allocated to providers actually building their own infrastructure, money as we know it, is built in to support the workforce. I think … now you see where this investment puts that financial pressure, the system, right?” said Gowin. “We’ve heard. Everyone cares about young children and families, but now we’re looking at it in dollars.”
