California Universal PreK Mixed Delivery Quality & Access Workgroup

The California State Legislature established the Universal PreKindergarten Mixed Delivery Quality and Access Workgroup (the Workgroup), directing the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the California Department of Education (CDE), in consultation with state partners, to convene interest holders to make recommendations related to preschool quality and access. GPG provided project management, facilitation, resource curation, and report development support for this 18-month effort. In doing so, we convened an incredible group of individuals – families, practitioners, experts, researchers, advocates, and public servants and gleaned important wisdom about what matters for preschool quality and access through a mixed-delivery system.

GPG’s support included intensive project management and planning, beginning with an equity-oriented workgroup member application process and ending with a three-part iterative review and public comment process to arrive at the final report. GPG planned and facilitated 12 public workgroup meetings and two informational meetings. In the first phase of workgroup meetings we organized an impressive group of presenters, including over 35 practitioners, experts, and researchers. We also commissioned and curated more than 25 memos and briefs to inform this process. We are proud to have uplifted the voices of hundreds of parents, through surveys, focus groups, and video panels. We received over 270 public comments, and vetted report recommendations with over 800 preschool educators and administrators. On average, more than 300 people attended each Workgroup meeting.

A key early milestone in this work was the development of a child-centered framework, which was a focus of multiple workgroup meetings. The resulting framework is presented in the graphic below.

The graphic centers preschool children, their families, and their educators within the environment of preschool programs in the mixed-delivery system and overarching UPK implementation ecosystem, inclusive of policies, investments, infrastructure, and partnerships. While the Workgroup’s recommendations are directed toward the graphic’s outer segments, the UPK implementation Ecosystem and Preschool Programs within the Mixed-Delivery System, the graphic illustrates that recommendations should be child-centered at their core. Child-centered recommendations support children’s access to high-quality experiences and outcomes, often by improving and increasing positive experiences and conditions for families and educators so that children thrive.