FY14 Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) Policy and Research Committee Monday, April 1,

Review of UPK Policy Objectives for FY13 (1) Further Alignment of UPK with the Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS): Current UPK programs must be at least self-assessed Level 3 in QRIS in order to be eligible for the renewal grant. (2) Increase Access to UPK Funds: Current UPK programs must also demonstrate that they serve “high needs children” to be eligible for the renewal grant. Programs will be required to conduct formative assessments and screenings to identify “high needs children.” (3) Increase the Number of Programs Participating in UPK: Any program that attains at least a self-assessed Level 3 in QRIS and serves “high needs children” will be considered a UPK program and can apply for the open competitive grant. 1

Review of FY 13 UPK Eligibility Requirements #FY 13 Eligibility Requirements Renewal Grant (511-A) Exemption(s) Open Competitive (511-B) Exemption(s) 1EEC Licensed or License-Exempt.√√ 2 Have an income-eligible contract, and/or voucher agreement in place and be willing to accept EEC-subsidized or low-income children. √√ 3Provide access to full-day, full-year services for working families.√√ 4Provide a developmentally appropriate program.√√ 5 Have current accreditation or a non-expired Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or higher for family child care educators (AA, BA, or Master’s degree). ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENT WAIVER for Level 3 Grantees NO ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENT WAIVER 6 Be serving preschool-aged children (age 2 years 9 months to kindergarten eligible in the community in which they live). √√ 7Satisfactorily complete and submit all prior year data assessment reports.√√ 8Participate in the Massachusetts QRIS.√√ 9Be at least a level 3 in QRIS.GRANDFATHERING CLAUSENO GRANDFATHERING CLAUSE 10Demonstrate that they serve “high needs children.”√√ 11Provide screening and/or formative assessment scores for each child in the classroom.√√ 12Provide a competitive compensation package for lead teachers.FUNDING EXEMPTIONNO FUNDING EXEMPTION 13Program match is required of all programs.√√ 14 Demonstrate pre-kindergarten to third grade alignment with the school district in which they are located. √√ 2

FY13 UPK Grant Information Renewal Grant (511-A)Open Competitive (511-B)FY13 UPK Total Date PostedMarch 30, 2012August 30, 2012N/A Money Allocated$5,500,000.00$500,000.00$6,000, Money Awarded$4,714,458.00$983,366.00$5,697, Number of High Needs Children Identified* 1, ,953 Number of Children in UPK Classrooms* 5,8441,4927,336 Number of UPK Programs Number of UPK Classrooms

Proposed FY14 UPK Renewal Grant Eligibility Criteria 1 All programs must be EEC Licensed or License-Exempt. 2 All programs must also have an income-eligible contract, and/or voucher agreement in place and be willing to accept EEC-subsidized or low-income children. 3 All programs must provide access to full-day, full-year services for working families. 4 All programs must provide a developmentally appropriate program. 5 All programs must have current accreditation or a non-expired Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or higher for family child care educators (AA, BA, or Master’s degree). 6 All classrooms for which an applicant is seeking UPK funding must be serving preschool-aged children (age 2 years 9 months to kindergarten eligible in the community in which they live). 7 All programs must satisfactorily complete and submit all prior year data assessment reports. 8 All programs must be self-assessed at a level 3 or above in the Massachusetts QRIS Program Manager. 9 All programs must demonstrate that they serve “high needs children.” 10 All programs must provide screening and/or formative assessment scores for each child in the classroom. 11 All programs must provide a competitive compensation package for lead teachers. 12 Program match is required of all programs. 13 All programs must demonstrate pre-kindergarten to third grade alignment with the school district in which they are located. 4

Proposed FY14 UPK Renewal Grant Eligibility Criteria Criterion 1: “All programs must be EEC Licensed or License-Exempt.” No Changes Proposed. Criterion 2: “All programs must also have an income-eligible contract, and/or voucher agreement in place and be willing to accept EEC-subsidized or low- income children.” No Changes Proposed. Criterion 3: “All programs must provide access to full-day, full-year services for working families.” No Changes Proposed. Criterion 4: “All programs must provide a developmentally appropriate program.” No Changes Proposed. 5

Proposed FY14 UPK Renewal Grant Eligibility Criteria Criterion 5: “All programs must have current accreditation or a non-expired Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or higher for family child care educators (AA, BA, or Master’s degree).” No Changes Proposed. Criterion 6: “All classrooms for which an applicant is seeking UPK funding must be serving preschool-aged children (age 2 years 9 months to kindergarten eligible in the community in which they live).” No Changes Proposed. Criterion 7: “All programs must satisfactorily complete and submit all prior year data assessment reports.” Proposal – add clarifying language: “A program will be considered to satisfactorily complete the data reporting requirements by entering the data for all domains for all the children in the UPK classroom(s) in the formative assessment tools for each reporting period.” 6

Proposed FY14 UPK Renewal Grant Eligibility Criteria Criterion 8: “All programs must be self-assessed at a level 3 or above in the Massachusetts QRIS Program Manager.” Proposal – add clarifying language: “For the purposes of this grant, ‘self- assessed’ at level 3 or above in the Massachusetts QRIS is defined as a program completing an online application with the status of ‘Final - Submitted to EEC’ for level 3 or above in EEC’s QPM.” Proposal - the “grandfathered” UPK programs must demonstrate movement toward Level 3 in QRIS by the end of FY13: the “grandfathered” UPK programs that are not self-assessed level 3 in QRIS, at a minimum, need to open an online application in EEC’s QPM by June 30, 2013 in order to receive the first grant payment. Those programs who fail to open an application for level 3 by June 30, 2013 will not be eligible to receive the first grant payment. Programs will not receive any further grant payments until they complete the online application for level 3. 7

Proposed FY14 UPK Renewal Grant Eligibility Criteria Criterion 9: “All programs must demonstrate that they serve ‘high needs children.’” Proposal – modify the “high needs children” definition from “multiple risk factors” to the following: “High needs children” is defined as children who have two or more risk factors linked to poor school and life outcomes: i.Children and parents with special needs; ii.Children whose home language is not English; iii.Families and children involved with multiple state agencies; iv.English language learners; v.Recent immigrants; vi.Children with parents who are deployed and are not living on a military base; vii.Low-income households; viii.Parents with less than a high school education; ix.Children who are homeless or move more than once a year.” 8

Proposed FY14 UPK Renewal Grant Eligibility Criteria Criterion 10: “All programs must provide screening and/or formative assessment scores for each child in the classroom.” No Changes Proposed. Criterion 11: “All programs must provide a competitive compensation package for lead teachers.” No Changes Proposed. Criterion 12: “Program match is required of all programs.” No Changes Proposed. Criterion 13: “All programs must demonstrate pre-kindergarten to third grade alignment with the school district in which they are located.” No Changes Proposed. 9

FY14 UPK Renewal Grant Challenges Posed Effective Data Reporting with High Needs Children. Parental Consent Form - parents “opting out.” Attrition Rate for UPK Grantees – possibility that a significant number of programs do not attain Level 3 in QRIS by June 30,2013. Funding Availability - the total ask from UPK Grantees could exceed the total amount that was awarded in FY13 ($5,697,824.00). Possible Scenario – all of the UPK Grantees identify 5 high needs students per UPK classroom for FY14 which would total 2,210 students. Funding Formula: $3,009 x 2,210 students = $6,649,

APPENDIX FY 14 UPK Renewal Grant 11

Review of FY13 UPK Funding Formula 12 Funding was limited up to a maximum of five (5) “high needs children” per classroom. For those programs that have less than five (5) “high needs children” in their classrooms, the formula was calculated to fund the specific number of students in their respective programs.

FY13 UPK Grantee Information Total Number of UPK Programs = Program Type Region 1 (Western) Region 2 (Central) Region 3 (Northeast) Region 4 (Metro) Region 5 (Southeast) Region 6 (Metro Boston) Center Based Public Schools System- affiliated FCCs Independent FCCs Private Schools Total

FY13 UPK Grantee Information – QRIS Levels Total Number of UPK Programs = Program Type QRIS Level 4 QRIS Level 3 QRIS Level 2 QRIS Level 1 Notes Center Based program has been granted Level 3 status. 8 out of 41 Level 2 programs have opened draft applications. 4 out of 9 Level 1 programs have opened draft applications. Public Schools out of 2 Level 2 programs have opened a draft application. 2 out of 4 Level 1 programs have opened draft applications. System- affiliated FCCs out of 39 Level 2 programs have opened draft applications. 5 out of 15 Level 1 programs have opened draft applications. Independent FCCs N/A Private Schools N/A Total Total of 110 UPK Programs that have not self-assessed Level 3 in the QRIS Program Manager as of March 6, *This data was retrieved from EEC’s QRIS Program Manager as of March 6, 2013.

Communications about Self-Assessing Level 3 in the QRIS Program Manager DateSourceLanguage/Notes April 13, 2011 FY12 UPK Grant, p. 3. “In addition, the following updates have been made to the FY12 grant … Programs may be required to be level 3 in QRIS by FY13 subject to Board approval.” March 30, 2012 FY13 UPK Grant, p. 6. “… Current UPK programs that do not satisfy level 3 in the Massachusetts QRIS may be grandfathered in for only one year. However, the grandfathered UPK programs will not be eligible to apply for the FY 2014 UPK grant funding if they fail to attain level 3 in the Massachusetts QRIS by the end of the FY 2013 grant period.” December 5, 2012 “For those UPK programs that did not self-assess at level 3 in QRIS when they applied for the FY13 UPK Grant, please start working on your level 3 QRIS applications in the QRIS Program Manager (the sooner, the better) … As stated in the FY13 UPK Grant RFR, programs will not be eligible to apply for the FY14 UPK grant funding if programs fail to self-assess at level 3 in QRIS by the end of the FY13 grant period.” March 7, 2013 “… I want to remind those FY13 UPK programs that did not self-assess at level 3 in the Massachusetts QRIS when they applied for the FY13 UPK Grant to start working on your level 3 QRIS applications in EEC’s online QRIS Program Manager (QPM) … The FY13 UPK Grant states that programs will not be eligible to apply for the FY14 UPK Grant funding if programs fail to self-asses at level 3 in the QPM by the end of the FY13 grant period (June 30, 2013) … Also, I want to inform you that EEC has regional staff members that can offer technical assistance should you have any questions about the QRIS process.” March 11, 2013 Program Quality Specialists Meeting in Worcester Regional Office with EEC’s Regional Program Quality Specialists to review list of UPK Grantees. March 12, 2013 to Present Program Quality Specialists EEC’s Regional Program Quality Specialists have started to contact the UPK programs that have not self-assessed Level 3 in the QRIS Program Manager to offer technical assistance. 15