Early Edge Joins January Meeting of LAUSD Board Committee on Children and Families in Early Education
Early Edge California Director of Dual Language Learner (DLL) Programs, Carolyne Crolotte, joined the January meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board Committee on Children and Families in Early Education as an external member of the committee.
At the meeting, members had the opportunity to hear three presentations:
The first presentation, “California’s Early Care and Education Landscape” presented by Elsa Jacobson, Director of State Government Relations, Early Care & Education Consortium, presented an overview of California’s Early Care and Education ecosystem, the opportunities and challenges around the state’s mixed-delivery system, and details around the expansion of Transitional Kindergarten. Carolyne shared the importance of taking a moment to celebrate the major accomplishments of the state and LAUSD in moving towards universal preschool and eventually becoming the largest publicly-funded universal preschool program in the nation, bringing many benefits to children and families in our state and county.
The second presentation, “The State of Young Children in Los Angeles County” presented by Karla Pleitez Howell, Executive Director, First 5 Los Angeles, provided an overview of Early Care and Education in Los Angeles as well as the demographics and needs of Los Angeles children and families. One key statistic shared about children in Los Angeles county was that nearly 3 out of 4 (or 71%) LA county households with children under 5 speak a primary language other than English. Carolyne shared that this is higher than the statistic for the state, which is 59%, and speaks to the importance of supporting children’s home language and providing them the opportunity to become bilingual.
In the final presentation, “Mixed Delivery Universal Preschool Los Angeles” presented by Dr. Micheal Olenick, President & CEO, Child Care Resource Center, Dr. Olenick shared opportunities for collaboration between LAUSD and community-based organizations in Los Angeles. Carolyne encouraged the board members and LAUSD to use the data and findings shared to identify opportunities for LAUSD to partner with home-based providers who share the language and culture of many of Los Angeles county’s diverse children and families.
You can see the materials and watch a recording of the meeting here.
There will be one additional meeting of the committee for the 2023-24 academic year, which will be held on Thursday, April 4, 2024 | 10 am – 1 pm (PT). The focus of this final meeting will be on special programs in early education, including dual language and inclusion programs.
The meeting will be held in-person at the Beaudry Office, LAUSD Headquarters, at 333 S. Beaudry Ave., 24 Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90017.