Ms. Hernández is President & CEO of the California Community Foundation.

When Jesus Orozco first attended preschool at the age of three, the odds were stacked against him.  English was not his first language.  He had a mild speech impediment. His parents had an elementary school education.  Having recently immigrated from the northern Mexican state of Zacatecas, his father and mother made ends meet by working as a day laborer and a seamstress. 

Mr. Orozco not only went on to kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school, but he also excelled academically.  Last year, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in Spanish literature.  He plans on pursuing a Master’s degree in architecture.

The 25-year-old Mr. Orozco represents an exception to the rule among a segment of the population that studies have shown lag behind in school-readiness skills necessary for kindergarten.  Studies have shown that children who did not attend preschool may lack basic math and literacy skills and important social skills such as paying attention and eagerness to learn.
 
Rand Corporation’s recently-released report, California Preschool Study, is California’s first and the nation’s most comprehensive look at this readiness gap. The report paints a grim picture on the widening gap in school-readiness skills that eventually grows into an achievement gap as children get older, according to the report. 

If we do not prepare children early through preschool, we will always be playing catch up to address poor academic performance in later years, which is much more costly and harder to do.  A study of Oklahoma’s universal preschool program found that children who participated were months ahead of similar children who had not. Latinos – who make up 1 out of every 2 babies born in California – benefited the most.  Latino children’s test scores increased by 79 percent in letter-word identification, 39 percent in spelling and 54 percent in applied problem-solving.

That is not to say that preschool is the panacea to solving K-12 underachievement.  Parents need to be empowered to work closely with their children and facilitate their learning.  We also need to improve professional development for teachers and address curriculum relevance for English learners. Statistics show that children whose parents did not graduate from high school, English learners, Latinos, African Americans and low-income children lag most in schools. 

In Los Angeles, English learners make up almost half (48 percent) of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) K-5 students and 38 percent of LAUSD K-12 students. 

Quality preschool education is one of the California Community Foundation’s priority areas of funding.  During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007, we made approximately $1.1 million in grants to various nonprofits in Los Angeles County working on education.  Half of the grants (53%) supported organizations working on preschool programs and school readiness efforts.  We do not purport to replace the public sector’s role in addressing school performance.  We do, however, see an opportunity to support innovative preschool programs that have helped students like Mr. Orozco to succeed in life.

He attended the Mar Vista Family Center’s (MVFC) preschool program.  In lieu of paying tuition, his parents were required to volunteer in the classroom once a week as teaching assistants, allowing them to develop and practice important parenting and life skills.  Mr. Orozco said his parents sometimes made lunch or helped with art projects at the preschool.  “Their involvement helped us communicate better and enjoy a healthy relationship,” he said. 

The center’s preschool program also includes activities such as art, dramatic play, physical exercise, music and storytelling. Activities using puppets, games and songs provide reading readiness skills. Children receive annual speech and vision screenings and special needs children are referred to appropriate agencies.

The center’s Executive Director, Lucia Diaz, started out as a parent volunteer in the preschool.  Ninety-five percent of the students who have been enrolled with the center since preschool and graduated from their college-prep program graduate high school and go on to college.

Mr. Orozco is one of those graduates.  But these days, he’s the one doing the mentoring and counseling as a full-time college-prep advisor at the center.  He and his parents have been involved with the center throughout his formative years as student, tutor and now mentor.  “Coming back, people can see that I’m not that different from anyone else from the street,” he said.