Of Interest to All
Important Opportunity - Virginia Early Childhood Family Survey
COVID-19 has created new challenges for Virginia's families. UVA, VDOE, and VECF want to learn about Virginia families’ experiences with the care and/or education for their young children (birth through kindergarten) this year. Please help us with this important effort by passing on the Virginia's Families with Young Children: Fall 2020 Survey to families, and help get the word by sharing this flyer.
More information about the family survey:
- All Virginia families of young children, birth through kindergarten, can take the survey.
- The survey will take about 10-15 minutes and is voluntary.
- The survey is available online in English or Spanish.
- It will be open through January 25th.
Questions regarding the Family Survey may be addressed to UVA team’s research specialist, Grace Kegley by email at kgk4pu@virginia.edu or by telephone at (434-297-6882).
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Grant Opportunity - PDG Community Networks– Application for Cohort 3 - Letter of Intent to be Released
VDOE is pleased to announce the release of information related to the Cohort 3 application process for the Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five (PDG B-5). PDG B-5 is a multi-year federal grant awarded to the VDOE that is accelerating Virginia’s development of an equitable early childhood system that delivers stable, affordable, and quality early care and education to prepare more children for kindergarten. PDG B-5 serves to strengthen and unify publicly funded birth-to-five programs, including Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI), Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE), Head Start, child care centers and family day homes. This effort is supported by a partnership between the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF), and the University of Virginia (UVA).
The work of the PDG B-5 grant is led by a set of local community pilots. PDG B-5 Community Pilots are provided with funding and support (technical assistance) to achieve the grant’s goals and work collaboratively across all publicly-funded birth-to-five programs within their region.
The 2021-2022 PDG B-5 Cohort 3 Community Pilot application process will open February 1, 2021. The process will begin with a Letter of Intent, which will be due on March 15. All interested school divisions and community agencies are encouraged to learn more by visiting the VECF Opportunities Ahead Webpage, Information Session Webinar Recording and webinar slides.
Early Learning and Development Standards Final Presentation to the Board of Education, January 28
The final review of Virginia’s Early Learning and Development Standards, Birth to Five Learning Guidelines is scheduled for the Board of Education business meeting on January 28. This public meeting will be livestreamed on the VDOE YouTube Channel.
Note: Full implementation of the new learning guidelines is expected for the 2021-2022 school year. Information on training and support is forthcoming and will be announced in subsequent Readiness Connections newsletter releases. The final standards document is available for review on the VDOE website.
Recruiting New Cups and Conversations Facilitators
The Office of Early Childhood is looking for volunteers to lead or co-facilitate a conversation on how your ECCE program continues to navigate serving children and families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Cups and Conversations, a time for colleagues from across the state to informally share such stories, occurs on the first Wednesday of each month at 3:30 p.m. Thank you to Lori Ayers, Stacie Babecka and Jennifer Hurt from Bristol Virginia Public Schools for leading this month’s discussion on virtual learning and navigating instruction and interactions in physically distanced classrooms. The next call will take place on February 3, 2021. Registration is required to participate.
Please complete the Cups and Conversations Planning Form, or directly contact Tamilah Richardson by email at Tamilah.Richardson@doe.virginia.gov if you are interested in facilitating a future conversation or have topic recommendations. A list of past Cups and Conversations topics and archived recordings and materials can be found on #GoOpenVA.
Resources from the January 6 Conversation:
Early Childhood Education (ECE) Resource Hub
Interested in learning how to better strengthen children's social emotional learning? Visit the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Resource Hub. Developed by researchers at the University of Virginia, the ECE Resource Hub provides teachers with free resources to support students’ social and emotional needs. Organized around a topic of the month, these collections of resources from high-quality sources relate to the following areas:
COVID-19 Adaptations | Trauma Informed Practices | Equity and Inclusion | Family Connections | Books and Activities
Sign up for the monthly ECE Resource Hub newsletter to learn how to better foster children’s social-emotional skills and access helpful resources on equity, COVID-19 adaptations, and effective classroom strategies. This month’s focus is supporting children’s sense of self and fostering empathy.
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Observation Guidance For Use in Virtual PreK Classrooms due to COVID-19
The VDOE has developed Guidance for Observing Virtual PreK Instruction in alignment with CLASS®. This guidance will allow program leaders and professional development providers to collect information and provide teacher feedback while instruction is temporarily being conducted virtually. This guidance should not be used to provide scores for teachers, and may only take the place of local CLASS observations while instruction is being conducted fully-virtually.
Child Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Mondays: Ask the Experts
COVID-19 has created economic and nutrition hardships for many families and many child care programs. Do you or your staff have a CACFP or nutrition question? Get answers at CACFP Mondays at 1: Ask the Experts.
WHAT: 30-minute virtual discussions hosted by Virginia Department of Health experts. After a 5-minute CACFP overview, 25 minutes of Q&A. There are no dumb questions about nutrition for children in child care!
WHEN: Every Monday, 1:00 – 1:30 pm, beginning January 25, 2021. Stay and listen for 30 minutes or ask your question and go!
WHO: Anyone interested in CACFP for child care is welcome - child care advocates and support professionals; child care directors, owners, and teachers; or CACFP Sponsor Organization staff. CACFP is a federal child nutrition program that provides reimbursements for qualifying child care programs for serving healthy meals and snacks to children. Training, support, and more helps ensure children receive good nutrition while in child care.
HOW: Register to participate (or just listen in!)
For VPI
VPI Enrollment Waiver Data Collection Tool - Due January 15
For school divisions participating in the VPI Enrollment Waiver Data Collection process please submit the Excel form to EarlyChildhood@doe.virginia.gov, signed by the division superintendent, by January 15, 2021. A reminder was sent to participating divisions early this week along with the Excel form.
2020-2022 Amended Biennial Budget as Introduced by Governor Northam - VPI Projected Slots for 2021-2022
Superintendent's Memo 325-20 posted on December 16, 2020 includes proposed changes to early childhood appropriation language including VPI. Attachment A to the Superintendent’s Memo provides a brief summary of proposed changes. The Office of Early Childhood will offer future webinars to provide details about the proposed changes for 2021-2022. The memo also provides a downloadable Excel file to assist school divisions in calculating projected state payments and required local matches for many different state-funded programs. The file includes a tab for VPI that provides the projected number of state-funded VPI slots allocated to each school division for the 2021-2022 school year.
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Information Coming Soon to VPI Coordinators
Once the federal Department of Health and Human Services publishes the 2021 Poverty Guidelines, the Office of Early Childhood will update the Guidelines for Using Family Income Criteria in Determining Student Eligibility for VPI & Best Practices for Implementing a Local Eligibility Practices documents for the 2021-2022 school year. It is anticipated that this will be completed by the end of January. Guidelines for the 2020-2021 school year can be found on the VPI website. A revised 2021-2022 document will be sent to VPI Coordinators, and will be posted to the VPI Website.
Planning for 2021-2022 VPI Implementation - Webinar Series to be Announced Soon
Governor Northam’s proposed 2020-2022 Amended Biennial Budget includes the restoration and ongoing support of expanded preschool programming. Similar to last year, the VDOE will be hosting a set of webinars focused on proposed changes to VPI for 2021-2022 and how best to utilize current and proposed enhancements to VPI (e.g., Pilot for 3s, Community Provider Add-on, Local Criteria Waiver, Redistribution of Unfilled Slots). Dates and details will be announced soon. It’s not too early to start planning for increasing your community’s access to quality preschool in 2021-2022
VPI Monitoring
Monitoring of all VPI programs is actively taking place at this time. Virtual monitoring conferences are taking place in January. Conferences are to include individuals responsible for oversight of VPI, Early Childhood Special Education and Title I PreK.
For ECSE
VDOE Training and Technical Assistance Centers (TTAC) Contacts
There are five VDOE Training and Technical Assistance Centers (TTAC) across the Commonwealth of Virginia that serve professionals in their local areas. Each have Early Childhood Special Education Specialists dedicated to providing support specifically related to preschool students with disabilities. The TTAC ECSE Contact list provides the contacts for each TTAC. Find out who your specialists are!
Tips for Conducting Speech Assessments Via Telepractice
The American Speech Language Hearing Association’s LEADER LIVE published a tutorial on assessment via telepractice. This article titled Tips for Conducting Speech Assessments Via Telepractice, discusses many issues related to assessment in the age of COVID, including the use of normative data, equipment, how to display tests, what can be used online, and how to conduct oral motor exams. Additionally, Considerations for Speech, Language, and Cognitive Assessment via Telepractice provides guidance to ensure telepractice assessments are equivalent to those completed in-person.
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For Head Start
Providing Food and Nutrition Services during COVID-19
Food Insecurity for children and families has increased exponentially due to the recent economic decline caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As the pandemic continues, concerns regarding the aspects of health and nutrition for our most vulnerable families have come to light. The Office of Head Start (OHS) would like to continue to ensure programs are aware of the current flexibilities available in meeting the nutritional needs of the children and families we serve.
Experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National on Health, Behavioral Health and Safety in collaboration with OHS are providing a webinar to address Providing Food and Nutrition Services during COVID-19. This webinar will discuss barriers for families, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) policy flexibilities, Women and Children (WIC), and the utilization of CARES ACT or other stimulus funding for nutritional services. Share this opportunity with other state partners and key stakeholders in early childhood education and register today!
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EC in the Spotlight
Highlight on PDG B-5 Communities
Virginia’s federal Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) is focused on accelerating the development of an equitable early childhood system that delivers stable, affordable and quality early care and education for the state’s families and children, particularly those who are most vulnerable and will benefit the most.
PDG B-5 Communities are continuing to lead the way in building a unified and collaborative birth-five system. This month, PDG communities are focused on:
- Conducting data assurance checks in Link B5 to certify that information entered in program profiles is accurate.
- Using the results from local CLASS observations conducted in the fall to provide teachers with individualized professional development and resources.
- Building local CLASS Observer capacity by supporting current observers with recertification and providing opportunities for new observers to complete certification training.
- Reflecting on effective strategies for their communities to increase family engagement and address racial equity at the local level.
- Assisting with the distribution of the family survey, which will help inform local and state improvement efforts.
For more information about Virginia’s PDG B-5 grant and to view a list of the current PDG B-5 communities, visit the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation website.
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