| Voluntary Prekindergarden - Continued |
What enrollment options
do parents have?
The program affords parents of 4-year aids a choice
among different program options including a 540-instructional-hour
school-year program delivered by a public school or
private provider and a 300 instructional-hour summer
program delivered by a public school or private provider |
How is VPK different
from daycare and other forms of child care?
VPK requires the use of a curriculum that addresses
early literacy at a crucial time period in a child's
educational development. The hours within the program
will be strictly teacher directed and curriculum driven,
focusing on the age-appropriate progress of pre-K
students in the development of emergent literacy skills,
including oral communication, knowledge of print and
letters, phonemic and phonological awareness, and
vocabulary and comprehension development. Each course
must also provide resources containing strategies
to assist students with disabilities and other special
needs. |
What are the developmental
benefits of VPK?
VPK addresses and prevents reading difficulties in
young children. The program is designed to teach children:
phonological knowledge and skills and increase their
verbal abilities and vocabulary. These two factors
alone will help prevent reading difficulties in later
years and ensure the success of a child's educational
experience. |
Who are the providers?
To participate in the program, a provider must register
with the early learning coalition and must be a: |
- Licensed child care facility;
- Licensed family day care home;
- Public School exempt from licensure; or
- Faith-based child care provider exempt from licensure.
|
| In addition, to be eligible, a private prekindergarten
provider must: |
- Be licensed and demonstrate that each of the requirements
of the pre-K program (e.g., pre-Kindergarten instructor
and director credentials, background screenings,
minimum and maximum class sizes, and developmentally
appropriate curriculum) are met.
|
Unlicensed family day care home
and informal child care providers are not eligible
to participate in the program. |
| What quality assurance measures are in place? |
Appropriate adult supervision for students
at all times. One adult for every 10 children, with
classes no greater than 18 for safety and effective
classroom instruction. |
- Instructors must be fingerprinted and screened.
- High quality teachers. At minimum, instructors
are required to hold a CDA or equivalent credential.
In addition, instructors are required to complete
an emergent literacy training course.
- Quality instruction for every 4-year-old child
that chooses to participate.
- A strong emphasis on early literacy - in the curriculum
approved and the Kindergarten screenings used.
- Parental choice for children to attend a public,
private, or faith-based program.
- Goals for highly educated teachers and a strong
career path for instructors to pursue those goals.
- Accredited or Gold Seal quality programs.
- High standards with flexibility for continual
improvement.
- Accountability with clear standards and expectations
for providers and process for improvement.
|
At the very front
and center. None of this means much unless parents
are at the heart of their children's success. State-financed
pre-K programs supplement the educational opportunities
parents and families provide to their preschoolers.
That's no replacement for learning in the home.
Pre-K provides additional educational opportunities
in a group learning environment. No state requires
children to attend preschool. In Georgia and Oklahoma,
which offer fully available, free prekindergarten
programs in nearly all communities, attendance is
completely voluntary. That will be true in Florida,
too. So, too, would be the opportunity for parents
to volunteer in the classroom and participate in
parent-teacher conferences. |
Prekindergarten gives families more
options for educating their preschoolers, but cannot
substitute for the important roles that parents and
families play in children's lives. |
Parents promote their
children's health and physical well-being by providing
them with nutritious food, enough sleep, safe places
to play, regular medical care and opportunities
to exercise and develop physical coordination. They
help their children develop socially and emotionally,
most especially by serving as role models for their
children, showing respect to others, and building
up their child's sense of personal effectiveness
with encouragement. Parents also teach children
such important social skills as sharing and getting
along with others. |
Parents help their
children develop their language skills and help
them understand the world by talking with them,
asking and answering questions, discussing everyday
activities while eating lunch or cleaning up toys,
and listening to their children. Parents build their
children's language and literacy skills by reading
with them regularly, giving children a love for
reading and books. High quality is essential for
effective preschool education. Research demonstrates
that high-quality early education programs produce
more advanced language, math skills, and social
skills. Only high-quality programs have been shown
to produce large gains for children and to payoff
for taxpayers. Studies indicate key components of
a quality program include: |
- Well trained teachers.
- Positive interactions between teachers and children.
- Good communication - teachers and children listening
to one another and teachers encouraging children
to use reasoning and problem solving.
- Daily opportunities for language and reasoning,
science, math, block play, dramatic play, art and
music.
- Active parent involvement.
- Low child-staff ratios and small group sizes.
- Supervision and evaluation of staff, with opportunities
for professional growth.
- Well-equipped facilities suited to the needs of
preschool-age children.
- Sufficient toys. books and materials
|
Good preschool
programs teach children the skills they need to
learn to read, do math, make progress in science
and other areas as well as begin to understand the
world and how it works. There, children become more
familiar with books, words and ways to use language,
numbers and problem-solving strategies. Preschool
programs also add to the social skills children
need to get the most out of school - for instance,
being able to pay attention in class and how to
interact with peers. Preschool programs also offer
an early opportunity to identify and begin addressing
special needs. |
While preschool
can increase the chances children will be prepared
when they enter kindergarten, it alone cannot ensure
that children have all they need to succeed in school.
Children also need experiences outside class that
expose them to language and learning. Good schools
prepared to foster their learning once they begin
kindergarten also are important. And parents who
love, nurture, and teach their children are the
most important of all. |
