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Early Learning/Voluntary Prekindergarten
Florida welcomes nearly 600 newborns every day and is home to more than one million children younger than age five. Of these, approximately 600,000 attend some type of early learning program. With so many of our children in care, quality early learning options are a high priority. Children deserve every advantage and opportunity available for success in school and in life.
Why Is This Important?
With almost 60 percent of the state's young children in some type of early learning or child care program (a figure that is growing annually), it is very important that Florida's families have accessible, affordable, and quality early learning and child care options.
Voluntary Pre-kindergarten prepares children to perform better in school and throughout life with quality programs that include high literacy standards, accountability, appropriate curricula, manageable class sizes, and qualified instructors.
Florida's Child Care Resource and Referral Network is dedicated to helping families find answers to their child care needs. Families face dilemmas when choosing affordable quality child care for their children. They need consumer information to learn what to look for when choosing child care programs. Parents need information about early learning programs that meet the needs of their family.
The School Readiness program promotes the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development of a child, involves parents as their child's first teacher, prepares children to become ready for school, and offers parents information on child development and other topics of interest. Each school readiness program provides a developmental screening for children and referrals to specific health and educational specialists.
How Is Florida Doing?
Enrollment in Voluntary Pre-kindergarten (VPK) and requests for child care services continue to increase. In the past three years, the percentage of four-year-olds in VPK has increased from 48 percent to 63 percent, while the number of children in school readiness programs remained constant in 2008-09.
Nearly 450,000 requests for child care services and information were received in Fiscal Year 2008-09. Florida maintains a database of over 20,000 early learning and after-school programs. Families are given access to consumer education materials and offered resources for financial assistance and family support services through the Child Care Resource and Referral Network.
Participation in the VPK program has grown from 106,000 in 2005-06 - its first year - to nearly 150,000 in 2008-09. Florida school districts administered a screening test in the fall of 2006 to all kindergarten children in public schools and those 2005-06 VPK graduates who attended kindergarten in private schools. Those completing VPK (children who attended at least 85 percent of either the school-year or summer VPK program) scored consistently higher than children who did not attend VPK.
A statewide survey of parents found that 95 percent were very satisfied (80 percent) or satisfied (15 percent) with the Voluntary Pre-kindergarten program.
• 92 percent of parents felt that VPK helped prepare their child for kindergarten.
• 91 percent of parents felt their children had learned new skills because of VPK.
• 87 percent of parents were able to enroll their child in their first choice of provider.
• 89 percent of parents reported saving money.
• 98 percent would recommend the program to other parents.
Federal Stimulus Funds and School Readiness/Early Learning Programs
The Agency for Workforce Innovation’s (AWI) Office of Early Learning awarded Florida’s 31 early learning coalitions $80 million in federal Recovery funds to provide direct care for children over a two-year period. The agency anticipates the coalitions will spend between 50 to 60 percent of these funds by the end of the 2009-2010 Fiscal Year with the balance spent by June 30, 2011. These funds have already enabled 24,000 children to receive School Readiness education services.
Additionally, $1.9 million in Recovery dollars available through the federal Department of Education funded 15,676 children in the State’s Voluntary Prekindergarten program, also administered by AWI. The Recovery Act includes funding to maintain and enhance early learning services through improved technology, training and curriculum development. The agency is currently using $5 million of this allocation to employ a company to design and develop an Early Learning Information System that will provide critical information to early learning parents, partners, and providers.
Scorecard
What Influences Early Learning/Voluntary Prekindergarten?
Legislation, funding, and parental choice are three major influences on successful early learning and child care programs.
Participation in the School Readiness program depends on several factors. Because the program is income based, the number of eligible families will vary directly with economic conditions. Also, the number of available child care slots will depend on the level of funding, most of which is federal.
There are several factors that might influence variations in enrollment in the VPK program. These factors may include the visibility and awareness of the program, family transportation issues, availability of providers, and program options in each community.
Although child care resources and referral services are free to all families in Florida, there are several factors that might influence how many parents utilize these services. These factors may include advertising, outreach and awareness, and local need.
What Is the State's Role?
Florida's state government plays a significant role in early learning and child care. The Department of Children and Families licenses child care facilities to ensure health and safety and provides training for child care workers. The Agency for Workforce Innovation provides child care resource and referral information that helps families find information about quality child care providers, and offers providers training to increase the quality of their child care programs.
Since 2005, Florida has provided a free, high quality pre-kindergarten program for all four-year-old children to prepare them for kindergarten and build the foundation for their educational success. Florida pays providers $2,677 per child enrolled. Parents have the option of choosing from a variety of settings that best meet their own family's needs.
Program options include:
• School Year Program — 540 hours; class sizes do not exceed 18 students.
• Summer Program — 300 hours; class sizes do not exceed 12 students.
The allocation per child (known as the Base Student Allocation or BSA) is $2,575 for the school year and $2,190 for summer.
The day-to-day management of the program is assigned to the Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI); licensing and credentialing to the Department of Children and Families (DCF); and the creation of standards, curriculum, and accountability to the Department of Education (DOE). All three agencies work closely together to provide leadership and support to the local early learning coalitions, school districts, and public and private providers to ensure the successful implementation of effective VPK programs for Florida's four-year-old children.
Florida's Child Care Resource and Referral Network helps families find answers to their child care needs. This free service helps all parents identify quality child care and early education programs, and locate child care providers and other resources. The network also offers technical assistance to child care providers to improve quality, availability, and affordability of child care programs.
The School Readiness program provides eligible families financial resources to pay for quality child care so that parents can work or prepare for work. The program helps pay for full-day, year-round early learning and child care for children ages birth to five and after-school care for older children. These services help families to become financially self-sufficient and prepare children for success in life by teaching strong learning and communication skills.
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