Informing the Performance-Based Contract Between First 5 LA and LAUP, Volume 2: Background and Supporting Analyses for the 2012-2013 Study of Child Progress

In February 2004, First 5 LA adopted a 10-year universal preschool master plan to increase the availability of high quality preschool spaces in Los Angeles County and created Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) to implement the plan. A shared objective of First 5 LA and LAUP is to support early learning and development for the four-year-old children that have an opportunity to participate in LAUP programs. To meet this objective, First 5 LA and LAUP have begun to track the progress of children during their year in LAUP programs as an element of the performance-based contract between the two organizations. Beginning in the 2009–2010 program year, Mathematica Policy Research worked with First 5 LA and LAUP to identify the domains of development they sought to track, identify appropriate measures, and set targets for progress across the year. Those targets were applied for the first time in the 2011–2012 program year based on data collected by Mathematica as part of the fifth phase of the Universal Preschool Child Outcomes Study (UPCOS).