Reporting by Cesar Canizales

Children at Voices of Tomorrow, a preschool in Rainier Beach, enjoy play time as part of their day at the school. They ride bikes—with training wheels. They play around a sand pit, climb a toy house, and play with African-style drums. 

Many of them are Somali, and they are enrolled in Seattle’s Preschool Program, a nationally recognized and award-winning, early education program for 3- and 4-year-olds. The program prepares students for their academic journey, starting with kindergarten.

The program was launched in 2015 with almost 280 children in 15 classrooms. Since then, it has expanded to about 2,000 students in about 130 classrooms all across the city. The Department of Education and Early Learning hopes to serve 2,600 children annually by 2026.

The program has seen a steady increase in the number of children who are kindergarten ready in areas such as social-emotional, cognitive, literacy, language, physical, and mathematics.

Dr. Dwane Chappelle, director of the Department of Education and Early Learning, recently toured Voices of Tomorrow. He said the program has provided access to high-quality, early learning services to Seattle families. 

“Our program, Seattle Preschool Program, is nationally recognized and sought after,” Chappelle said. “People around the country come around to see the great work that's happening in our preschool programs, the great work that our educators are doing, so they can go back to their home city and state and try to emulate it.”

Voices of Tomorrow offers dual-language classrooms for kids who speak Somali at home.  Other preschools offer instruction in different languages, including Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and French. One provider also offers American Sign Language.

“We know how important dual language is to our young families and scholars. Research has proven how students do better participating in dual language programs,” Chappelle said.

Faraah Hassan said she speaks in Somali with her kids at home. She wanted to make sure that her children did not lose their identity. The preschool program at voices of tomorrow has accomplished that.

“My daughter comes home every day, counting, saying numbers, saying the alphabet in Somali,” Hassan said. “And it’s also nice because of the way it’s structured: two days in Somali and two days in English. So, they’re getting all those experiences.”

Chappelle is a big believer in the dual-language aspect of the program.

“I can tell you that my four children--I have four, and all of them have been part of our dual language program,” said Chappelle. “And I love it as a person, as a father of four children. But I also know it's been rewarding to all of our families.”

He added that dual language instruction makes a difference.

“You see young children and they're always curious. They're naturally curious. But what you see is them learning about other cultures, other languages,” he said. “You see them having a sense of awareness of themselves.”

Chappelle said the program offers free or low-cost tuition for participating families. 

“We do work with families to meet their need and try to remove any barrier that they see in order to provide access for their children,” he said.

The program is open for enrollment. Parents can contact community-based organizations to learn how to enroll their children. They can also go online to seattle.gov/applyspp to learn more and enroll their children. The website is available in several different languages.