Giving Compass' Take:

· Linda Jacobson at Education Dive discusses the importance of preschool and early childhood education and why it's important for educators to focus on gaining skills gathering data to boost student success. 

· How does early education impact the success of children? How does gathering data help address the learning gaps in students? 

· Learn more about the impacts of leadership development on childhood education.

The Cloverdale Unified School District (CUSD) isn’t like many of the other districts in Sonoma County, California. A freeway runs through the middle of town, it doesn’t have a concentration of wineries and tasting rooms, and in past years, most children entering kindergarten didn’t have much experience in preschool.

That last point, however, might not have caught CUSD Superintendent Jeremy Decker’s attention if not for the county’s Road to Early Achievement and Development for Youth (READY) program, which uses a kindergarten readiness assessment to gather information about children’s home language, preschool participation, social-emotional development and “school-ready knowledge.”

Funded by First 5 Sonoma County — one of 58 county agencies created by a 1998 voter-approved tobacco tax to improve health, well-being and learning outcomes for young children — the READY initiative also focuses on helping teachers use the data from the readiness assessments and strengthening connections between K-12 and early learning providers.

“I’m a secondary guy. I never really understood the importance of kindergarten or preschool,” Decker said in an interview. “My superintendent lens was absolutely about graduation. Through First 5, I learned exactly where our shortcomings were."

While the district offered a small fee-based preschool program, most Cloverdale families that could afford preschool would drive to the more populated community of Healdsburg. Children without such opportunities missed out.

Read the full article about early-childhood leadership skills by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive.