1. Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) Update and Alignment with QRIS
October 2010

2. Current Approach to UPK
Build on strengths of existing mixed system
Private center-based programs
Head Start
Public and private school preschools
System-affiliated and independent family child care
Address challenges in quality first, given research supporting the relationship of high-quality early learning environments to school success and later life outcomes
Define measurable quality standard for participating programs
Support programs in reaching UPK quality standard in future years
FY07 to FY09, Assessment Planning grants: Agencies awarded funds to implement assessment systems in selected programs
Designed as one-time one-year start up funds
Funds spent on training and professional development, tools and materials, technology, and staff compensation
Approximately 100 agencies representing 400 programs benefitted from the Assessment Planning grant
FY10, Assessment Grant for statewide trainings
Associated Early Care and Education provided training, technical assistance, and assessment and screening tools and materials to programs  in the mixed delivery system statewide
Approximately 900 educators statewide benefitted from trainings (introductory, intermediate and advanced) on EEC’s three approved assessment systems

3. UPK Funding Background
FY07: $4.6 million
Pilot implementation grants for Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK)
FY08: $7.1 million
Budget provided increase of $2.5M
FY09: $10.9 million (post 9c)
Budget initially provided an increase of $5M for UPK; reduced by $1.25M in mid-year budget reductions
FY10: $8.0 million
Budget reduced funding by $2.9M
All grant awards were reduced by 37% from FY09
FY11: $7.5 million
Budget reduced funding by $500K
All grant awards were reduced by 5.23% to compensate for the cut in funding
Grants are awarded for specific classrooms in a programs and have been renewed yearly to date (with additional new grants being awarded in FY08 and FY09). A portion of each years funds were allocated to evaluation and planning activities, as well as in FY07, FY08 and FY09 funding for Assessment Planning grants to help programs move towards UPK eligibility).
Funding is determined by the number of children and portion of subsidized children in each classroom, and operating hours and full or part-time/year status.
Total classroom enrollment x $500 + total subsidized enrollment x $1500 = total grant award [total is then prorated based on full or part-time/year status]

4. UPK Grant Program Eligibility
Criteria
FY07
FY08, FY09, & FY10
EEC Licensed or License-Exempt 
Use one of four EEC-selected assessment tools for at least one year*
Use Early Childhood Program Standards For Three and Four Year Olds and Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences
Have teacher/provider with BA in each UPK classroom/setting Or
Used as selection priority
Have National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation or New England Association of Schools and Colleges or for family child care, National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) accreditation or a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or higher
 **
Serve or willing to serve children receiving financial assistance
Provide access to full-day full-year services
*The four EEC-selected assessment tools include: Work Sampling, High Scope Child Observation Record (COR), Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum, and Ages and Stages.
**NEASC included in FY08 accreditation options; CDA or “higher” included as FY09 and FY10 accreditation alternatives for family child care.

5. UPK Grantee Overview
*At FY10 renewal, 14 programs/providers were unable to renew funding due to reasons such as closing care, transferring classrooms to other UPK site and lapse in accreditation; during FY10 two additional program lost funding.
FY10 grants are currently being renewed into FY11, and this chart will be updated to reflect changes in numbers upon completion of renewal.

6. Objectives of Current Grant Funding
UPK Pilot Classroom Quality Grant funds must be used to:
increase staff compensation;
lower staff/child ratios and/or decrease class/group size;
enhance the program’s ability to interpret and use assessment data to improve program quality;
purchase hardware, software, or training to fully implement the electronic
component of the curriculum and/or assessment tool currently in use;
enhance developmentally appropriate practice and instructional support;
provide new staff professional development opportunities and/or support staff
attainment of credentials or degrees;
incorporate additional comprehensive services into the program to meet the
diverse learning needs of children and their social-emotional, behavioral,
and/or physical health needs;
support ongoing accreditation or reaccreditation activities;
enhance current or provide new family engagement opportunities;
enhance current or provide new transitional supports to children moving
to/from other programs or to kindergarten; and/or
provide or facilitate access to full-day, full-year services for working families.

7. UPK Grant Expenditure Categories
Staff compensation
Comprehensive services for children
Assessment supports and online licenses
Assessment Trainings
Professional Development
Full day full year services
Curricula and enrichment activities
Educational materials and technological supports (limited to 15% of budget)
Accreditation support
Transition to kindergarten supports
Family support
Administrative costs (limited to 8% of total budget)

8. Breakdown of Current Grantees
EEC is in the process of renewing UPK grants into FY11.
Current grants (FY10) are awarded to 277 UPK programs, with 464 classrooms/homes, across all settings (originally funded in FY07, FY08 or FY09) including:
138 center-based programs;
Approximately 45% are Head Start
114 system-affiliated family child care providers;
6 independent family child care providers;
18 public school programs; and
1 private school program.
6,400 children in UPK classrooms; ~80% of whom receive EEC subsidies, Head Start, private scholarship, or are free/reduced lunch qualifying in public schools
185 out of the 277 UPK programs are fully funded (all preschool classrooms in the program are designated as UPK)
92 programs (33%) have preschool classrooms at their UPK site that are yet UPK funded
250 total classrooms in current sites are not UPK funded

9. Board Feedback During FY11 Planning
The further development of UPK, including refinement to the structure, purpose, funding mechanism and alignment with QRIS is a priority of the Board and should be discussed in detail during FY11, with FY12 as a transition year for the program.
Support for renewing current UPK grants level-funded in FY11.
Opportunity for Board to provide direction on the development of UPK and
Opportunity for EEC to prepare UPK grantees for possible changes to the program.
It is important to acknowledge the value of moving UPK statewide and away from the Pilot model.
Consider alignment with QRIS given its system-level structure to support program quality.
To move towards creating universal access for preschool children, it is important to tie funding to the child and not the parent.
Support EEC seeking a CCDF federal waiver

10. New in FY11
Below is a summary of the major additions to the UPK grant for FY11, as approved by the EEC Board:
Begin alignment of UPK with QRIS and the development of an early childhood data system, which requires:
Participation in QRIS (anticipated January 2011);
Programs shall use a portion of UPK funding to support progress on QRIS;
An agreement to allow EEC staff to conduct on-site ECERS/FCCERS reviews;
An agreement to provide staff information, including compensation and education level, through EEC’s registry or other designated mechanism; and
An agreement to provide child level data, with parent consent, allowing children to be assigned a State Assigned Student Identification (SASID) number.
Recognition that FY2011 is a planning year for the purpose of restructuring UPK in FY2012 and beyond.

11. Where We Are Now
EEC is in the process of renewing FY10 UPK grants into FY11.
In FY11 the UPK line item received a cut of $500,000 – funded at $7.5M in FY11 as opposed to $8.0M in FY10
All UPK grant eligibility amounts have been reduced by 5.23% from FY10
As of current (renewal process not yet complete) ~27 FY10 UPK programs will not be renewing their grant into FY10 due to:
Program closing,
Program no longer interested in receiving grant, and/or
Program no longer meeting UPK eligibility criteria (i.e. NAEYC accreditation revoked or not renewed).
EEC’s Board is in the process of refining UPK for FY12 and beyond.
Board has agreed that they are committed to aligning quality initiatives and QRIS will define and measure program quality
Board will be discussing UPK alignment at its November meeting, and then in December within the context of an “access” discussion
How to increase high quality programming for preschoolers beyond the currently designated pilot group of UPK grantees
Using waitlist, access, and continuity of care data on preschool children to help inform policy related to universal preschool

12. How UPK Compares to QRIS
UPK is based on six basic eligibility criteria:
Licensed or license-exempt,
Provides access to full-day full-year services,
Serve or willing to serve children receiving financial assistance,
NAEYC accredited for center-based and public school programs, and NAFCC accredited or a CDA or higher for family child care,
Uses the Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences,
Uses one of the EEC approved assessment systems.
UPK funds allow programs to maintain and enhance quality criteria as they choose, without defined measurable criteria to assess and improve quality.
QRIS offers a comprehensive way to assess, improve and communicate quality to the field.
Quality criteria is organized into standards and exceeds the scope of UPK eligibility criteria. A few examples are:
Curriculum and Learning: Assessment subcategory requires programs implement developmental screening within 45 days of children’s program entry, whereas only formative assessment is explicitly required by UPK, and
Workforce standards require that directors are not only trained in the Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences, but also child development and Strengthening Families protective factors.
QRIS requires measurement of quality through environmental ratings by an outside evaluator (ECERS, FCCERS, etc.)

13. Current Supports to Enhance Program Quality Based on UPK Expectations
EEC has been working to support program quality with UPK expectations as a guide. As the QRIS continues to develop, it will coordinate supports into a comprehensive source for programs.
Assessment Grant
In FY10, EEC funded Associated Early Care and Education to train and purchase materials for programs implementing formative child assessment and screening into their program.
Trainings addressed varying levels of use – introductory, intermediate and advanced.
Kindergarten Entry Enrichment Program (KEEP)
The KEEP program provides additional funds (through a daily add-on rate of $17.22 per child) to programs for enrolling preschool children into 5 to 12 weeks a high quality program to prepare them for kindergarten. Program components include:
engagement of families,
support for dual language learners and children with special needs,
implementation of formative assessment and developmental screening, as well as
engagement of the public school system/early education and care providers for the purpose of supporting smooth transitions for preschool children entering kindergarten.
Preschool Child Care and Education (PSCCE) Quality Add-on Initiative
Based on the same components as KEEP, the PSCCE Quality Add-on Initiative provides the daily add-on rate from October, 2010 to August, 2011 and is available to preschool children ages 2.9 to kindergarten eligible.

14. Summary of Feedback from the October Advisory Meetings
Supportive of using QRIS to define the quality standard (agreement that it does not make sense to have two separate systems to define quality)
Raised concern over what funding level is necessary to fund the existing group of UPK grantees while expanding the group of providers that are considered “UPK”
Many programs use UPK funds for staff compensation – if their UPK funds are reduced or cut, what will the impact be?
How much funding is necessary to move to scale?
Considered funding UPK as a grant versus an add-on
Some providers felt that there would be no impact in changing the funding mechanism (likely providers with many children who receive financial assistance)
Other providers may experience significant cuts in UPK funding if it is tied to children receiving financial assistance (likely those providers serving only a few children receiving financial assistance)
If requiring UPK programs to be a certain level on QRIS, it was suggested to allow a transition year (for instance, alert programs that in 2 years they must achieve a level 3 rating on QRIS)
Consider a strategy for moving UPK scale that will utilize the political support around Universal Pre-Kindergarten as we move to align it with QRIS