Arizona receives $8.4 million to prioritize early childhood education programs
April 9
The state of Arizona was selected to receive $8.4 million in federal funding to help strengthen early childhood education programs.
Director of early learning Lori Masseur of Read On Arizona, a statewide early literacy initiative, said it is a state effort to improve and make early childhood care and education accessible.
“We believe early literacy starts long before kindergarten and quite simply if children aren’t reading by third grade, they’re probably four times more than likely not to graduate high school with a diploma,” Masseur said. “We say it takes eight years to build a reader and so we need to be focusing on that birth to five space.”
Only 36% of third-grade students in Arizona are reading proficiently, according to Education Forward Arizona.
Masseur’s group is behind the Arizona Literacy Plan 2030, a state initiative to boost third- grade reading scores up to 72% over the next five years. One of the core elements of the plan is investing in early literacy by providing access to quality early childhood education.
How will the grant help early childhood education programs?
The grant will go toward early childhood education funding and resources and strengthening the early childhood workforce. Currently, there is a shortage of early childhood workers affecting the state and across the nation.
Only 25% of children in Arizona are in quality early childhood programs, Masseur said.
Multiple organizations came together to prioritize early childhood education including Read On Arizona, Arizona Department of Education, the Arizona Department of Economic Security, Arizona Head Start Association, First Things First, and the Governor’s Office.
“I can’t stress enough the collaboration among state agencies, community partners, and regional leaders who really are working together to build a stronger, more connected early childhood system here in Arizona,” Masseur said.
The goal of the partnership is to build a system that works together from birth until children reach kindergarten to provide every child and family the opportunity to access early childhood education. Masseur said early childhood management is decentralized in Arizona and applying for the funding together made the application stand out.
Arizona was one of 23 states to receive a part of the $250 million Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five Systems-Building Grant.
“The goal at the end of the day is, for us, 1 in 4 children having access to high quality early learning is not enough. So how do we treat this gap as an opportunity to move forward and create a system that works on behalf of children and families ?,” Masseur said.
Reporting by “Arizona Horizon” Education Solutions Reporter Roxanne De La Rosa. Her role is made possible through grant funding from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund and Report for America.
