Early Education & Care
Our Vision: an equitable community of skilled professionals, engaged families, and joyful children.
The Early Education and Care (EEC) Department provides direct services through our California State Preschool Programs at 17 locations, offers coaching to all types of center-based programs through Quality Counts Mendocino and provides professional development opportunities for all professionals working with children 0-5, including Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten.
We believe that high-quality programming for our county’s youngest learners should be inclusive of children with disabilities, culturally and linguistically responsive to families and served by teachers who are intentional and thoughtful with children in a play-based environment where both children and teachers have agency to respond to individual learning needs.
Please see the Early Education and Care Department's Play in Practice statement to learn more about our educational philosophy. This statement was developed with input from Mendocino County early learning and care professionals and inspired by CDE's publication, The Powerful Role of Play in Early Education (2021).
Supports Include:
- California State Preschool Programs
- Universal Pre-K (UPK) - page coming soon
- Quality Counts Mendocino
- Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program - page coming soon
- Local Child Care & Development Planning Council
- Preschool - 3rd Grade
- Early Education and Care Provider Support
P-3 is an acronym that stands for Pre-Kindergarten through 3rd grade. P-3 is a long-term approach that supports children before they start formal school, and through the primary grades of elementary school (K-3). The goal is to improve the quality of children’s learning, and to prevent or close achievement gaps. P-3 includes voluntary universal pre-kindergarten, full-day kindergarten, and alignment of both through the third grade of elementary education.
Universal preschool is an international movement supporting the use of public funding to provide preschool education to all families. This movement is focused on promoting a global, rather than local, preschool program. Universal Pre-Kindergarten is a nationwide, government-funded effort to make pre-kindergarten education for 4-year-old children available at no cost. UPK requirements and offerings vary from state to state.
Universal Transitional Kindergarten will be open to all pupils turning 4 by September 1 in the 2025-26 school year. TK is the first year of a two-year kindergarten program that is designed to be developmentally appropriate for 4 year olds. Senate Bill (SB) 858 establishes the intent that TK curriculum be aligned to the California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations.
Guidelines & Resource Materials
- Early Education and Care Strategic Plan (2024-2027, MCOE)
- The Integrated Nature of Learning (2016, CDE)
- Play in Practice (2024, MCOE)
a statement on play-based learning developed by MCOE’s Early Education and Care staff, in partnership with Mendocino County early education teachers - The Powerful Role of Play in Early Education (P-3) (2021, CDE)
Websites
Assessment Tools
- Desired Results Developmental Profile (2015, CDE)
- Desired Results Parent Survey (website)
- Classroom Assessment Scoring System (website)
- First 5 Mendocino
- Raise and Shine Family Empowerment Center
- North Coast Opportunities: Mendo-Lake Head Start
- North Coast Opportunities: Rural Communities Child Care
- Mendocino College Child Development Department & Child Development Center
- Pinoleville Early Head Start & Head Start
- Round Valley Indian Tribes Head Start
- Private preschools - Caspar Children’s Garden, Glass Beach preschool, Rainbow preschool, and Pollywog preschool
- Early Start - a cooperative project of MCOE’s Special Education Department and the Redwood Coast Regional Center
Local Child Care and Development Planning Council (LPC)
The primary mission of Local Planning Councils throughout the state is to plan for child care and development services by determining the needs of children and families of each county they serve. The Mendocino LPC is a cooperative project between the Mendocino County’s Board of Supervisors and the MCOE Board of Education.
Quality Counts Mendocino
MCOE is the lead agency for Quality Counts Mendocino (QCM), a multi-agency partnership with First 5 Mendocino, North Coast Opportunities and other early education and care community partners. QCM provides quality-improvement support to all participating 0-5 settings and specifically, implementation of the California Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) in California for California State Preschool Programs (CSPP).
Workforce Pathways
Support for center-based early education staff serving children 0-5, providing professional growth advising, stipends for completion of professional development hours, leadership development and unit-bearing coursework, and assistance with Child Development CTC permit applications.
Early Education Teacher Development Grant
Educational reimbursement for California State Preschool Program teachers and Transitional Kindergarten teachers who are working towards degrees and permits required for these positions.
Main Contact
Early Education Specialist
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