1Center or American Progress | Not the Ceiling, but the Floor
Not the Ceiling, but the Floor
Innovative Harlem Early Childhood Education EffortComplicated by Varying Government Regulations
Kristina Costa June 1, 2012
Tis case study was produced in conjunction with the Center or American Progress’s accom- panying report on these issues, “Increasing the Eectiveness and Efciency o Existing Public Investments in Early Childhood Education.”
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Tis report establishes a set o policies andadministrative changes on the ederal level that will begin to address disparities in require-ments or publicly-supported pre-K, Head Start, and subsidized child care programs.
A cool early November sun lers hrough he windows o Georey Canada’s op-ooroce. An ambulance siren wails as i rushes by he Harlem Children’s Zone
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head-quarers a he corner o Madison Avenue and 125h Sree—Harlem’s busling “MainSree.” In conras o he chaos ouside his windows, Canada is he picure o calm. A all, rangy man wih a graying goaee, he is he visionary presiden and CEO o heChildren’s Zone, an innovaive, holisic, 97-block eor ha aims no only o educaehousands o children in Harlem bu o also break he cycle o inergeneraional povery. As i says on is websie, he Children’s Zone is working o “reweave he social abric o Harlem, which has been orn apar by crime, drugs and decades o povery.”
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In reweaving Harlem’s social abric, he Children’s Zone sars a he very beginning wih parening and early childhood programs and hen coninues by oering an array o services ha ollow children sraigh hrough college. “As every paren knows, you can’ jus work inensively wih your 4-year-old and hen do nohing or ha child or he reso heir lie and expec ha kid o be ne,” says Canada. “So he ac ha some peopleare sill rying o say, ‘Jus do a high-qualiy 4-year-old program and kids who hen enerino lousy schools should be jus ne,’—ha jus doesn’ make any sense a all.”Te Children’s Zone’s successes are presaged on he ac ha early childhood inerven-ion is incredibly imporan—bu so, oo, is providing suppors or parens and orchildren as hey age.“Ta’s why we say, early childhood educaion is no he ceiling, i’s he oor o whapoor children need,” coninues Canada.
2Center or American Progress | Not the Ceiling, but the Floor
Since he 1990s, Canada, who holds a maser’s in educaion rom Harvard, has workedirelessly o prove poor children can achieve, hrive, and succeed. A 2004
New Yorkimes Magazine
aricle noed ha he Children’s Zone, which suppors children romcradle o college, “combines educaional, social and medical services. … i meshes hoseservices ino an inerlocking web, and hen i drops ha web over an enire neighbor-hood. … he objecive is o creae a saey ne woven so ighly ha children in heneighborhood jus can’ slip hrough.”
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Te approach has been successul. One hundred percen o sudens enrolled in heChildren’s Zone’s pre-kindergaren programs in scal year 2011 esed as kindergar-en-ready by he end o he program. In 2008, 100 percen o hird-graders a one o he Harlem Children’s Zone’s Promise Academy charer schools scored a or abovegrade level on he saewide mah es, as did 97 percen o hird-graders a he secondPromise Academy locaion.
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Bu in heir early childhood educaion programs—he Harlem Gems—he HarlemChildren’s Zone grapples wih a problem ha is amiliar o hose who seek o educae pre-schoolers naionwide: he cos and complexiy o complying wih dieren ses o require-mens and guidelines or programs receiving money rom sae preschool unds (in New York, hese are called Universal Pre-K unds) and hose nanced wih he U.S. Deparmeno Healh and Human Services’ Head Sar dollars.
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Te wo unding sreams have dier-en requiremens on he ederal and sae levels or a wide range o basic uncions, includ-ing suden evaluaions, program nancing, and proessional developmen.Te Children’s Zone operaes he Gems program in our locaions—hree o hose siesreceive public unding rom Universal Pre-K and he ourh, which is a Head Sar program,receives a blend o public unding rom Head Sar and Universal Pre-K. All o he Gemssies are augmened by privae donaions. Te Children’s Zone’s unique public-privae nan-cial srucure enables hem o keep many adminisraive burdens in he back oces a head-quarers and ou o heir classrooms. Bu even he exibiliy ha comes wih privae andphilanhropic dollars isn’ always enough o work around some major bureaucraic hurdles.ake or insance he Children’s Zone’s eor o concurrenly se up a new Head Sar pro-gram and consruc a new building o house heir adminisraive oces and one o heircharer schools. In he spring o 2001, hey began rening a hree-classroom soreron on Wes 117h Sree or he new Head Sar program. A ew monhs laer hey held a ground- breaking ceremony on a recenly purchased parcel o land ha would evenually be he sieo a glisening new $43 million headquarers and charer school complex.Over he nex hree years, six sories o glass and concree were designed and buil inManhatan, and he doors o he new building opened in December 2004. Bu jus aew blocks souh, he new Head Sar remained mired in red ape. Te Head Sar space would no open or anoher several monhs unil he sar o he 2005-06 school year.
3Center or American Progress | Not the Ceiling, but the Floor
“Tere was wrangling over licensing, over square ooage, over archiecs’ designs,” saysShana Brodnax, senior manager a he Zone, recalling he challenges o opening heHead Sar Gems. I ook our years or he Head Sar o launch. “I was quie an ordeal jus o be able o do wha he communiy needed.”Clearly pleased wih he resul o all heir hard work, Canada noneheless hins o a bio rusraion. “Tere’s no dierence beween a 4-year-old who needs help in Head Sarand one who needs help in oher sysems.” Coninuing, he says, “i coss us an awul loo money o provide wo dieren ses o audi maerials” or separae Head Sar andUniversal Pre-K programs. Canada poins ou ha’s money and ime ha could be speneducaing children.
The back office meets the bureaucracy
Te many laurels heaped on he Harlem Children’s Zone can obscure he magniude o he diculies hey and heir sudens ace. Naionwide 80 percen o Arican Americanand Hispanic public school sudens score below grade level on sandardized ess o mah and English. In Harlem 31 percen o amilies live on less han $15,000 per year.
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And each year abou 18.4 percen o 4-year-olds enering Children’s Zone preschoolprograms score as “delayed” or “very delayed” on he Bracken Basic Concep Scale, arigorous, naionally normed learning assessmen. Ta proporion is slighly higher hanhe 15.9 percen expeced based on he ool’s norms; sill some o heir preschoolersscore much lower han one migh anicipae.
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“Occasionally, some kids don’ even regiser on he Bracken. Ta’s he degree o chal-lenge we’re acing,” says Kae Shoemaker, he Children’s Zone’s energeic direcor o policy and special projecs. o address hese problems, he Children’s Zone uses every ool in he book. All sudens a heir Promise Academy charer schools, which willevenually enroll children rom kindergaren hrough 12h grade, atend school or morehours o he day and more days o he year han heir radiional public school peers.Even he pre-kindergaren Harlem Gems sudens have a school day ha runs rom 8a.m. o 5:45 p.m., Monday o Friday, Sepember hrough Augus. For each class o 20Gems, here are a leas ve aduls working as eachers and eacher assisans.Shana Brodnax is he Children’s Zone rewall beween governmen bureaucracy andhe organizaion’s early childhood programs. She poins ou ha i is her job o “makesure ha he programs don’ eel he pressure and srain” o he various ederal and saereporing requiremens. “Wha I reuse o do is see i [bureaucraic red ape] impac hekids. Bu rankly, I have ha luxury.”Like all o Canada’s depuies, Brodnax is erven in her commimen. “My job is o savehese kids. No in heory, bu in ac. Any ime I have o spend arguing abou minuiae isin direc violaion o wha I’m supposed o be doing.”
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Not the Ceiling, but the Floor
Kristina Costa explores why conflicting government rules and expectations are hampering the efforts of an innovative early childhood program in Harlem.
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