The Planning Process [CPPT, Section 1]

Whether you are creating a master plan for preschool, or revamping an existing plan, the effort can be monumental. Throughout the state, early education services exist in diverse and decentralized delivery systems. This factor alone creates a tremendous amount of work. The data you need on supply, demand, workforce, and costs is in several places. Decentralization means there will be many stakeholders who have a vested interest in any effort to modify preschool policy or services. Financing neither comes from a single source nor is adequate, so a broad base of support must be developed to achieve the goal of serving more children. Anyone engaged in planning preschool must leverage multiple interests, skills, and resources – from needs assessment to social networking, from budgeting to focus groups – to get the job done.

When a plan is completed, your stakeholder community should feel that the plan is responsive to local needs. They should be primed and anxious to deliver on its promise. In the following section you will find a discussion of multiple approaches to the planning process, and specific tools and templates that will help you gather data at meetings, externally poll public opinion, promote interactivity along with group decision-making, generate priorities in multiple areas, and produce a document that reflects the potential of your community.

This document is part of the California Preschool Planning Toolkit.