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Description
Executive Director of Early Childhood at Boston Public Schools, Dr. Jason Sachs, covers the program’s strategic plan and notes how the program has helped create parity in the early learning space.
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A
But
let
me
give
you
a
little
context
so
about
15
years
ago
the
mayor
of
boston
said
we
want
to
do
universal
preschool.
My
first
question
was:
do
you
want
to
do
it
in
community-based
programs?
You
want
to
do
the
public
schools.
He
said
we
can't
do
it
in
community-based
programs.
They
don't
get
paid
enough
for
it.
A
Schools
so
know
that
this
is
really
a
city
initiative
that
is
mostly
funded
by
the
city
that
the
dollars
are
funded
in
the
public
schools
and
what
we
do
is,
as
we
expand
the
community-based
program
which
we
are
sort
of
calling
upk,
but
it
just
means
in
community
base
and
the
public
school
system
is
driving
this
and
the
dollars
are
mostly
city
dollars.
Okay,
so
here
are
the
points
that
I
think
you
all
should
take
away.
A
Based
on
what
I
heard
today,
you
can't
pay
people
less
than
target,
it's
it's
a
really
hard
job
and
you
should
pay
public
school
wages.
So
our
starting
teachers
in
the
community-based
programs
earn
the
same
salary
as
the
boston
public
school
teacher.
They
do
not
they're
not
in
the
union
scale,
so
it
stops
there.
We
do
allow
for
increase,
but
we
require
that
they
have
a
bachelor's
degree
in
the
community
based
program
and
that
they
get
the
same
starting
salary.
A
That
of
course
meant
that
the
director
was
getting
paid
less
than
the
teachers,
so
we
allowed
for
money
for
directors
and
assistant
teachers.
In
fact,
we
encouraged
it
and
there's
says
it's:
it's
a
direct
requirement
and
we
track
that
their
salaries
are
included
and
then
has
lifted
salaries
of
other
staff.
So
just
so
you
know
that
that's
a
requirement.
A
A
I
think,
frankly,
we
just
need
a
teaching
and
educational
certification
system
and
it's
probably
sadly
going
to
be
state
bound,
though
that
would
be
nice
if
there
was
a
national
one
again,
because
you
need
that
in
order
to
get
paid
and
since
we're
talking
about
paying
people,
we
just
need
to
help
people
get
there,
but
we
need
definitely
to
pay
them.
You
need
michelle
and
others
have
talked
about
professional
learning
systems,
so
we
have
coaches,
our
coaches
are
long-term
teachers
or
directors
of
programs,
and
they
support
robust
professional
learning.
A
It's
not
just
one
and
done.
We
do
three
to
five
days
in
the
beginning,
but
then
we
do
monthly
or
bi-weekly
coaching,
depending
on
where
the
program
is.
We
build
a
lot
of
professional
learning
communities
and
we
support
principals
that
are
interested
and
directors
and
so
really
kind
of
building
that
ongoing
professional
learning.
And
none
of
that
we
now
focus
on
our
curriculum,
and
so
we
have
a
course
on
our
curriculum
that
you
can
get.
A
That
course,
and
all
of
this
stuff
sounds
good,
but
when
you
start
doing
in
a
practice,
you're
only
going
to
be
roughly
50
successful
in
the
beginning.
Obviously
there
are
people
who
have
done
it
better
than
this,
but
just
giving
you
a
sense
of
scale.
The
other
thing
is
in
community-based
programs.
So
if
you
take
the
exchange
shift
into
public
schools,
we
actually
have
something
called
common
planning
time
in
which
kids
go
to
a
science,
specialist
or
they'll
go
outside
and
do
physical
activity
or
they'll
do
they'll.
A
Do
some
pe
or
something
so,
teachers
actually
have
a
common
planning
time
that
they
get
on
a
regular
basis
in
community-based
programs.
You
have
map
time
and
that's
about
it,
so
developing
structures
to
really
think
about
how
teachers
work
together,
how
they
plan,
how
they
look
at
student
work,
how
they
do
differentiation.
That's
a
structural
thing
that
does
not
exist
in
community-based
programs,
but
exists
in
the
public
schools.
So
again,
not
only
do
you
have
you
have
to
have
coaching
and
sports,
you
have
to
have
time
for
planning.
A
You
should
have
a
standard
alliance,
strong
curriculum,
that's
anti-racist,
equitable
and
standard.
Well,
I
said
standards
already,
but
you
know
we
we
have.
We
have
shifted,
you
know
when
we
first
started.
We
were
like
early
childhood
principles
reggio
you
know,
really
strong
observation
and
documentation.
A
So
we're
really
trying
to
combine
a
curriculum
that
really
teaches
kids,
how
to
read
and
write
and
communicate,
but
also
gets
them
to
ask
all
the
big,
important
questions
and
does
so
in
a
loving
joyous
way,
and
so
in
some
of
my
slides
later
on,
you
can
go
down
on
your
own,
but
you'll
see
kind
of
the
pieces
of
our
curriculum,
all
right.
So
other
things
you
need
to
have
whoops,
I'm
gonna
go
back,
so
I
was
just
trying
to
move
my
little
bars
in
the
way.
A
So
I'm
just
trying
to
move
the
bar.
Without.
Can
I
get
it
okay?
So
the
other
thing
is:
you
need
to
have
some
other
structures
and
community-based
programs
that
make
it
work.
So
you
need
comprehensive
services.
Beverly
just
talked
about
sort
of
the
relationship
building
and
the
and
the
traumatic
experiences
and
brain
development,
and
so
you
really
need
to
have
comprehensive
services.
Special
ed
services,
family
engagement
strategies,
community
building
strategies,
supports
for
directors.
A
The
other
thing
is
community
based
programs.
Don't
have
consistent
budgets
budgets
like
the
public
schools,
so
you
know
really
trying
to
build
stability
in
the
program
and
and
some
of
those
things
will
reduce
a
lot
of
the
turnover
that
daphne
is
talking
about,
because
even
when
you
pay
people,
there's
still
a
lot
of
budget
instability
in
community-based
programs,
and
so
that's
a
piece
of
what
you
have
to
think
through
the
other
thing
is
we
require
nauic
accreditation
for
programs.
A
We
do
have
a
qris
program
but
nayc
with
the
way
we've
done
it
with
coaching.
The
three-year
supports
really
helps
to
build
stability
into
the
program
and
make
them
think
systematically
intentionally
and
meaningfully
about
what
a
strong
early
childhood
program
means,
and
so
that's
been
another
structure
that
we
put
in
place.
Then
a
lot
of
the
data
I'm
about
to
show.
A
You
really
is
about
the
public
schools,
but
even
if
you
do
really
strong
early
childhood
practice
and
you
do
it
high
quality
and
you
pay
people
you'll
get
a
nice
gain,
but
you'll
lose
it
in
the
public
schools.
You've
heard
it
talked
about,
it
fade
out,
fade
out
effect.
It's
really
around
alignment
and
it's
really
about
fixing
the
public
schools,
so
I
think
this
work
cannot
be
done
alone.
Just
oh,
let's
fix
community-based
programs
or
oh,
let's,
let's
do
it
in
the
public
schools.
A
I
think
we
really
need
to
think
of
an
aligned
system,
and
so,
oh
well,
that
moved
a
lot
faster
and
I
wanted
to
hang
on,
and
so
it's
not
just
a
curriculum
which
I'll
walk
you
through,
but
it's
enrollment
policies.
We
are
leveraging
now
behavioral
and
special
educational
sports
from
the
public
schools.
We
actually
have
full-time
equivalents
that
are
in
the
public
schools
that
are
now
working
in
community-based
programs,
and
so
that's
been
a
great
connection
through
this.
A
As
I
mentioned,
the
program
is
city
funded,
but
it
sits
in
the
budget
of
the
public
schools.
So
in
your
every
time
we
think
of
like
a
new
thing
like.
Oh,
you
want
to
add
special
ed
ftes.
We
do
that
first
through
the
city,
with
a
trust
and
then
in
year
two
it
becomes
part
of
the
boston
public,
school's
ongoing
budget.
So
that's
sort
of
the
way
out
of
this.
Now,
I'm
just
gonna
quickly.
Click
you
through
a
couple
pieces
of
data.
A
Okay,
so
and
this,
this
just
is
a
way
of
showing
you
how,
when
you
come
up
with
an
idea,
then
how
do
you
operationalize
it
and
then
how
does
it
become
projects?
And
then
literally,
how
does
the
budget
connect
to
it
both
in
personnel?
So
it's
just
showing
you
kind
of
the
process
of
how
we
measure
ourselves
all
the
time.
These.
These
are
just
examples
of
what's
in
our
curriculum,
pre-k
all
the
way
to
second-
and
this
is
just
all
the
different
pieces
of
our
curriculum.
A
But
again,
I'm
not
going
to
walk
you
through
that.
The
last
thing
I
want
to
kind
of
leave
you
with
is
a
fidelity
study
that
michelle
actually
helped.
Michelle
came
with
our
staff
and
we
defined
the
components
of
our
curriculum
and
how
to
measure
them,
because
it's
one
thing
to
say:
hey
use
our
curriculum,
it's
another
thing
to
say,
use
it
with
fidelity
and
use
it
with
quality,
and
then
what
we
did
is-
and
I
don't
know
if
you
know
about
boston
but
boston-
is
an
autonomous
school
district.
A
We
can't
just
come
in
and
tell
people
they
have
to
do
anything,
and
so
each
school
school
will
decide
whether
or
not
they're,
using
our
curriculum
in
each
community
in
the
community-based
programs,
they
all
share
curriculum.
But
even
if
everybody
is
using
our
curriculum,
you
can
see
that
there's
variation
in
quality
of
fidelity
and
in
continuation
of
that
fidelity.
A
So
what
you
see
here
basically,
is
only
about
a
third
of
our
schools,
which
is
the
second
bar
high
high
about
a
third
of
our
schools,
have
high
quality
fidelity
instruction
from
pre-k
and
k
alarms?
That
means
two-thirds
of
our
schools.
Are
three-quarters
roughly
yeah?
It's
a
little
less!
It's
like
more,
like
one.
Two-Thirds
are
not
high
fidelity
all
the
way
through.
A
And
then
the
next
slide
shows
you
that,
sadly,
this
is
related
with
income
of
students.
So
if
you're
poor
you're
like
less
likely
to
have
an
alliance,
the
curricular
experience
and
then
if
you
are
latinx,
you
are
the
least
likely
to
have
an
alliance
curriculum
experience,
and
this
is
public
school
data,
and
this
is
with
all
of
the
investments
we
make.
So
I
think
I
will
stop
there,
and
so
I
stop
sharing
and
leave
time
for
discussion
with
all
of
us,
but
it's
just
to
say
that
roll
up
your
sleeves.
A
B
B
So
please
go
ahead
with
that
with
some
of
our
time.
I'm
sure
I
can
come
up
with
a
question
for
jason.
That
was
fascinating.
Can
you
talk
about
by
the
efforts
you've
made
to
to
pay
teachers
more
and
get
paired
to
k-12?
Are
your
retention
rates
different
from
what
we
saw
daphna
described
and
are
you
seeing
some
of.
A
It's
not
a
question
of
seven,
but
in
community-based
settings
there
are
structures
that
need
to
be
put
in
place
and
supports,
and
so
yes
turnover
has
definitely
gone
down,
but
we've
had
programs
where
the
you
know
the
teachers
leave,
even
though
we're
paying
them,
but
the
director
space,
so
we've
done
work
with
the
directors
and
again
it
is
stability
of
budgets,
and
you
know,
is
a
is
a
piece
of
this
that
has
to
be
supported.
So
we
have
all
sorts
of
differentiated
strategies
depending
on
the
type
of
program.
C
Oh
yeah,
I
wanted
to
just
add
a
word
about
that.
I
completed
a
study
recently
of
you
universal
pre-kindergarten
sites
in
new
york
city
and
we
looked
at
nine
different
sites
across
three
different
districts
in
new
york
city
that
were
socioeconomically
different
and
we
looked
at
both
public
school
settings
as
well
as
the
community
community-based
centers,
and
what
we
actually
found
was
that
the
there
was
way
less.
There
was
way
more
turnover
in
the
community-based
centers.
B
A
I
think
it
was
just
that
we,
you
know,
we
basically
say
if
you
get
into
the
public
schools
k
through
your
your
child
is
set
for
the
next
eight
years
right
because
they're
going
to
stay
all
the
way
to
sixth
grade
or
in
some
of
our
schools.
We
actually
go
to
eighth
grade.
If
you
go
to
a
community
based
program,
you're
not
guaranteed
a
space
in
that
school.
A
A
We
have
a
family
stakeholder
group,
there's
there's
a
lot
more
grown,
trust
and
respect
that
that
has
taken
years
to
build
and
that
doesn't
come
overnight
and
it
certainly
doesn't
come
from
a
mayor
deciding
that
he
wants
to
do
public
school
preschool,
but
he
wasn't
wrong
because
he
was
able
to
really
move
the
dial
on
student
outcomes.
And
it's
just
how
do
you?
How
do
we
effectively
produce
strong
outcomes?
A
If
that's
the
goal
of
of
of
early
childhood,
then
and
build
community-based
programs
at
the
same
time
and
go
only
as
fast
as
you
can
do
it?
Well,
so
the
public
schools
were
able
to
open
up
2
800
spaces
relatively
fast
and
community-based
programs.
We've
been
incremental
in
designing
this
and
we
don't.
We
have
about
six
or
seven
hundred
kids
served.
We
could
do
more.
A
Programs
are
not
applying
in
part
because
they
cannot
produce
teachers
with
bachelor's
degree,
nor
do
they
feel
like
they
can
pay
that
much
and
then
there
is
resistance
in
the
head
start
community,
because
they're
already
doing
their
own
thing
and
they
already
have
resources,
and
so
there
is
that
that
challenge
there
are
some
head
start
programs
that
are
doing
it.
But
overall,
I
think
thinking
through
head
start
and
the
public's
closes
is
something
that
has
to
be
thought
through
more
carefully.