Monday Must Know — October 7

Indiana Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning sent this bulletin at 10/07/2024 11:01 AM EDT

Office of Early Childhood & Out-of-School Learning

Attend Listening Sessions with OECOSL Director

Group of people attending an in-person meeting

The Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning (OECOSL) is hosting in-person sessions with child care providers and other early childhood professionals across the State of Indiana to answer questions and listen to concerns.

Local chapters of the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children (INAEYC) are hosting the following sessions:

Fort Wayne | October 16 at 6 p.m. ET
Bloomington | October 30 at 6 p.m. ET
Valparaiso | November 12 at 6 p.m. ET
Indianapolis | November 13 at 6 p.m. ET

Register Now

Support Multilingual Learners in Early Learning

Early learning educators and administrators can now access instructional guidance and resources to support multilingual children and their families. The Indiana Department of Education's (IDOE's) Office of Kindergarten Readiness and the Office of English Learners and Migrant Education have collaborated to provide these best practices.

Register to join us in the Indiana Learning Lab to explore this collection of resources and guidance on October 24 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET.

Email any questions to the Office of Kindergarten Readiness at kreadiness@doe.in.gov.

Register Here

Learn About Expanded Eligibility for Child Care Workers

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and On My Way Pre-K (OMWPK) income eligibility has expanded for employees of regulated child care programs. This update allows more workers to qualify for child care assistance. This change is a result of Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 2, which passed earlier this year.

The income eligibility threshold for child care workers increased from 150% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to 85% of State median income (SMI). For reference, 150% FPL for a family of four is $3,900 per month, while 85% SMI is $6,756 per month. View a full SMI chart online.

Newly eligible child care employees must be referred to the Eligibility Office by their employer or by a registered program administrator/supervisor at the site where they work through a simple process in I-LEAD. Learn more about this process.

This expanded assistance is limited, and not every child care worker who applies will receive it. Be sure to make referrals and encourage employees to apply as soon as possible.

Learn More

Stay Up to Date on Pay by Enrollment

There are several important reminders for providers with active vouchers:  

School-age children can be assigned vouchers for school breaks and/or before-and after-school care. Children who are assigned school break vouchers will only have coverage for full-week breaks (winter, spring, and summer breaks). These do not cover single days out of school such as e-learning days, holidays, in-service days, weather closures, sick days, etc. These days will be the responsibility of the applicant if they need care.

Vouchers should not be assigned for weeks the child is not scheduled to attend. Vouchers should only appear on the program roster for weeks when a child is scheduled to attend. Please notify the eligibility office immediately if these are not set correctly for your program to avoid improper payments.

Providers must report any changes in enrollment to the eligibility office every week. This will allow vouchers to be updated without delays. Please email updates to your eligibility office for processing. Failure to do so will result in an improper payment that must be recouped from a future payment.

Accepting payments for weeks when services were not offered/children were not enrolled is considered an Intentional Program Violation (IPV) and may result in a provider being terminated from the voucher program.

Updates to the Provider Portal Effective Monday, October 7

The portal home page will now have a 5th Tile "My Vouchers" to make accessing them easier.
Future vouchers can now be seen by all providers.
"My Vouchers" will now have options to filter for "Active, Expired, and Future Vouchers", but will default to show "All Vouchers". Funding program will also show as the last column.
Child ID will now be viewable on the absence grid next to the child's name. This will help providers who are struggling with missing child IDs in their Child Care Management System (CCMS). The child ID will also appear on the printed Absences Report.

For more provider support with Pay by Enrollment, call the SPARK Help Desk at 1-800-299-1627. Families can get support by calling Indiana 211 or their local eligibility office. 

Learn About PBE

Join Indiana Educator Job Board Webinar Series

Hiring for your child care program? This new webinar series can help you find the right candidates. Join Dr. Kristin Trostel from Nimble, the Indiana Educator Job Board software operator, to learn how to attract high-quality job seekers to your organization.

Register online and earn training certificates through this series of three webinars:

October 23 at 12 p.m. ET
October 30 at 12 p.m. ET
November 6 at 12 p.m. ET

Register Today

Discover Upcoming Opportunities with INAEYC

The Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children (INAEYC) has several ongoing opportunities, including:

2025 Indiana Early Childhood Conference Call for Proposals — INAEYC invites you to submit a proposal for the 2025 Indiana Early Childhood Conference. Proposals should outline workshops or sessions that offer timely, relevant, and thought-provoking learning opportunities. The submission deadline is October 31. Learn about submission tips here.

Gain Support and Professional Development

Program leaders who want extra support to implement professional development plans with staff, pursue higher education, or take the next step in their careers can contact a Workforce Coordinator to explore career coaching opportunities.

Want to learn about the requirements and application process for the Indiana Trainer and Training Approval System? Join the Indiana Trainer and Training Approval System Orientation on Thursday, October 10 at 11 a.m. ET or October 16 at 1 p.m. ET.

Learn how to implement core knowledge resources into your program. Register for Exploring the CKCs: Indiana's Core Knowledge and Competencies on Wednesday, October 9:
- Attend the morning session at 9:30 a.m. ET
- Attend the afternoon session at 1 p.m. ET

Don't Forget to Register for SPARK Group Coaching

Register for SPARK Group Coaching opportunities and learn more about topics such as Paths to QUALITY™, Infant Toddler, Active Supervision, and more.

Register now at IndianaSpark.com/cohorts for the October 2024 Group Coaching sessions. See below for upcoming registration deadlines:

PTQ Level 2 Advancement for Homes: Monday, October 7
Active Supervision for Facilities: Monday, October 7
NAEYC Accreditation: Tuesday, October 8
PTQ avance al nivel 2 (en español): 8 de octubre
Infant Toddler for Homes: Tuesday, October 8
Español bebés y niños pequeños (en español): 9 de octubre
NAFCC Accreditation: Wednesday, October 9
NECPA Accreditation: Wednesday, October 9
Active Supervision for Homes: Thursday, October 10
Infant Toddler for Facilities: October 17
PTQ Level 2 Advancement for Facilities: October 22

Have questions about SPARK Group Coaching? Contact the SPARK Help Desk at 1-800-299-1627, help@indianaspark.com or use the "Chat with an Expert" feature located in the lower right corner of IndianaSpark.com. Join us and take your program to the next level.

Register for Coaching

Elevate Your Program with Town Square

Provider with child - Town Square branded

Whether you need inspiration for activities, want to connect with other providers, or work on your professional development — Town Square can help.

The following resources are free and available in both English and Spanish:

Wellness: Learn how to support the health and wellbeing of the children in your care through tip sheets, resources, and links
Home Business: Find resources, articles, templates, advice, and links about how to balance your home and small business
Learning: Explore child development topics, current research, resources, and links that support developmentally appropriate practice in your family child care home
Perspectives: Exchange stories about your family child care home and business, contribute to the provider blog, and find resources to support personal growth
Activities: Search through a library of developmentally appropriate activities to support multi-age learning

Visit TownSquareIN.org to help your program flourish.

Visit Town Square

Train with SPARK Learning Lab

Explore valuable upcoming training opportunities through SPARK Learning Lab. See a full list of upcoming face-to-face training, live webinars, and live resources, plus read training descriptions, and find registration instructions at IndianaSpark.com/training.

Review this week's training schedule:

Virtual Training

Wednesday, October 9 from 5 to 6 p.m. ET | Calm: Developing a Resilient Mindset
October 15 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET | Calm the Chaos: Practicing Mindfulness with Children
October 15 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. ET | Child Care Licensing Orientation 2: Child Care Centers
October 16 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET | Learning Forum — The Juggling Act: Schedules, Routines, and Transitions
October 17 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. ET | Town Square: Exploring Trauma-Informed Care in Practice (Trending Thursday)

Register for Trainings

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