Silver Strand State Preschool

• SSSP is currently offers one 3 ½ hour session to students who meet family income requirements.  See Management Bulletin 18-03 from the Early Learning and Care Division for 2018-2019 for Income Requirements and below for the Income Ceiling table.

• SSSP staffing include lead teacher Eileen Rodriguez.  Eileen was selected as CUSD’s Classified Employee of the Year 2019. Eileen was the first preschool teacher to teach preschool in CUSD.  There are two additional preschool assistants at SSSP who possess Child Development permits and/or early childhood educational units.

• This school year the session has maintained full enrollment and serves 24 students with an interest list of families wanting to enroll. 

• The California Department of Education (CDE) Early Learning and Care Division holds a contract with CUSD.  The number of students receiving funding was reduced in 2017-2018. The State Preschool is staffed and licensed to serve 24 students however since Fall 2017 the program only receives funding for 17 students.  In 2017-2018 and 2017-2018, additional funding was and has been secured to compensate for the un-funded students. 

• This school year Ms. Alonso applied for California State Preschool Expansion funds for 2019-2020 to serve all 24 students and potentially more. If CDE grants the amount of student slots requested, services can be offered to families attending Silver Strand and potentially Crown Preschool.  CUSD currently pays Crown, the Fee Base program for all students receiving with an IEP for developmental needs beyond Speech and Language.  The extension will compensate for students with IEP’s at Crown if funding is received.

• First Five funding is also available to SSSP through CUSD’s participation in the San Diego County of Education’s Quality Preschool Initiative (QPI). The partnership with QPI is intended for quality improvement of the program through professional development for the staff and parents of SSSP, teacher coaching, materials and supplies for the classroom, and any extracurricular activities that promote enhancement for the staff, children and or classroom.  QPI requires:

•  early identification and intervention of developmental delays or social emotional concerns,

• parent and caregiver education to promote positive parenting practices,

• promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors for young children and their families that reduce childhood obesity.  

• By participating in QPI, CUSD was able to offer University of San Diego (UCSD) Eye Mobile services this school year to SSSP students.  This service was paid for using QPI funding at the cost of $20 per student. The service screens children for hearing and vision. Any children not passing their vision screening are provided with a second exam where the Eye Mobile bus comes to the school site and does a secondary screening.  Children are provided with age-appropriate glasses of their choice at no cost if they are deemed needing a pair. The Eye Mobile even provides a replacement set of glasses to the family if they are lost or break.  The Eye Mobile was able to provide one student with glasses this year!

2018-19 Staff and Parent professional development at SSSP:

1. August 17, 2018 QPI “Teaching Pyramid: Module 1 Promoting Children’s Success: Building Relationships and Creating Supportive Environments” All staff training
2.  October 24, 2018 YMCA “Farm to Preschool” All staff training
3. October 28, 2018 YMCA “Physical Activity” All staff training
4. December 4, 2018 YMCA Growing Healthy Together Parent-Child classroom engagement activity
5. February 22-23, 2019 SDCOE’s Annual Early Years Conference - All staff participation 
6. March 16, 2019 YMCA “Disaster Awareness” All staff training
7. April 11, 18, 25 & May 2, 2019 Healthy Developmental Services Parent Education, Support, and Empowerment Series of 4 parenting classes

• QPI participating staff are required to attend 6 plus hours of self-selected professional development offered through SDCOE at no cost!

Crown Preschool 

• Crown is licensed for 72 children with a potential enrollment of up to 96 students.  There are 4 preschool sessions offered in the two classrooms.  Two of the sessions are general education classes, the other two sessions include students with varying disabilities and IEP’s. In the two inclusion classrooms, the program tries to maintain a lower student enrollment of 20-22 children per classroom. This year there are 88 students enrolled at Crown.  Last year, Crown had 64 students enrolled.

• A third classroom is licensed for Extended Child Care for those families in need of care. Extended Care opens at 6:30 a.m. and closes at 6:00 p.m.  Currently, 60 children are enrolled in the extended day program.

• The preschool teachers at Crown Preschool hold certificated teacher credentials; teaching credentials are not a requirement for preschool instruction. Crown staffing also includes 5 preschool assistants and 4 IA BHC to assist students with disabilities.  

Crown Preschool has the following tuition rates: 

1.  5-day option is $595 per month
2.  3-day option is $385 per month (option only applicable to 3-year-olds)
3.  2-day option is $270 per month (option only applicable to 3-year-olds)

• Crown Preschool hosts a summer enrichment program that runs simultaneously with CUSD’s Extended School Year.  

• In November, Crown held its first Book Fair Drive with Usborne books. Usborne offered Crown Preschool a 50% match on the profits from the book sales, which helped the school receive FREE books for all the classrooms.  It was a great opportunity to provide our youngest learners with some wonderful reading material!

• UPDATE ON FALL 2019-2020 Crown prolonged the option of offering full day preschool sessions as this time.  Enrollment for this Fall thus far is at 63 students.

2018-19 Staff professional development at Crown:

1. August 17, 2018 QPI “Teaching Pyramid: Module 1 Promoting Children’s Success: Building Relationships and Creating Supportive Environments” All staff training
2.  February 22-23, 2019 SDCOE’s Annual Early Years Conference – Teacher training only

The preschool classrooms use the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP 2015), a formative assessment instrument developed by the CDE to measure the growth and development of our preschool students twice per year.  One assessment is completed within the first 60 days the child attends the program and again after 6 months. At both SSSP and Crown, the data from 2017-2018 showed a growing need and indication for Social Emotional Development and Self-Regulation among the preschoolers.

The Preschool department provided training at the start of the school year on August 17, 2018 on CSEFEL’S Teaching Pyramid.  The Teaching Pyramid aligns with the Sanford Harmony’s program on social and emotional development.  All preschool staff from both SSSP and Crown begin the training and Module 1 implementation for 2018-2019.

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) is a national center focused on strengthening the capacity of child care programs to improve   the social and emotional outcomes of young children. The Center has developed and disseminated evidence-based, information to help early childhood educators meet the growing number of children with challenging behaviors and mental health challenges in child care programs.

The Teaching Pyramid is a systematic framework developed by CSEFEL that incorporates Early Childhood Positive Behavior Support (EC-PBS) through:

• promoting social-emotional development
• providing support for children's appropriate behavior
• preventing challenging behavior
• addressing problematic behavior

Recommendations for the preschool program’s financial sustainability:

• Maintain full enrollment at SSSP and Crown Preschool

• Request expansion funding from CDE to serve more than 17 students at SSSP. The application request to CDE asked for an additional 31 spaces so the program could offer a second preschool session (the site maintains an interest list every year of families needing preschool but not getting services due to the limited amount of enrollment spots.)

• Requested expansion funding from CDE to serve 24 income and age qualifying preschool students at Crown Preschool to support CUSD’s general fund. Currently the district pays for 24 spaces that are held for students of qualifying needs.