6.4 Early Learning and Developmental Guidelines

Lead Agencies must develop, maintain, or implement early learning and developmental guidelines appropriate for children from birth to kindergarten entry. Early learning and developmental guidelines should describe what children should know and be able to do at different ages and cover the essential domains of early childhood development, which at a minimum includes cognition, including language arts and mathematics; social, emotional, and physical development; and approaches toward learning. 6.4.1 Early learning and developmental guidelines a. Check the boxes below to certify the Lead Agency’s early learning and developmental guidelines are: i. [x] Research-based. ii. [x] Developmentally appropriate. iii. [x] Culturally and linguistically appropriate. iv. [x] Aligned with kindergarten entry. v. [x] Appropriate for all children from birth to kindergarten entry. vi. [x] Implemented in consultation with the educational agency and the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care or similar coordinating body. vii. If any components above are not checked, describe: b. Check the boxes below to certify that the required domains are included in the Lead Agency’s early learning and developmental guidelines. i. [x] Cognition, including language arts and mathematics. ii. [x] Social development. iii. [x] Emotional development. iv. [x] Physical development. v. [x] Approaches toward learning. vi. [ ] Other optional domains. Describe any optional domains: vii. If any components above are not checked, describe: c. When were the Lead Agency’s early learning and developmental guidelines most recently updated and for what reason? The most recent printing in 2013 includes updates made to the KY Early Childhood Standards. These updates were made to ensure alignment with the Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) vision. In addition, these updates included alignment with the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework. d. Provide the Web link to the Lead Agency's early learning and developmental guidelines. https://kyecac.ky.gov/Documents/kentucky-ec-standards.pdf https://kyecac.ky.gov/professionals/Early-Childhood-Standards/Getting- Started/Pages/Start-Here.aspx Family Guides: https://kyecac.ky.gov/families/Family- Guides/Documents/NCFL%E2%80%93KYGOECD%20Early%20Childhood%20Parent%20Gui des-Web.pdf 6.4.2 Use of early learning and developmental guidelines a. Describe how the Lead Agency uses its early learning and developmental guidelines. Kentucky’s Early Childhood Standards are research-based indicators used to develop and expand the unified five-star quality rating and improvement system serving all early care and education programs ￿ including childcare centers, Heads Start and public preschool ￿ that receive public funding. Kentucky’s credentialed trainers provide Kentucky Early Learning Guidelines (ELG) training to child care providers across the state. Child care providers training records are tracked in ECE-TRS (Early Care and Education Training Records Information System) which provides training data for analysis to evaluate training progress in relation to change in the providers Kentucky All STARS TQRIS level. Kentucky All STARS uses the Environmental Rating Scales to assess programs for the QRIS system. Developmentally appropriate practice is a critical component of the ERS, and therefore is critical for providers and staff to implement in their program. b. Check the boxes below to certify that CCDF funds are not used to develop or implement an assessment for children that: i. [x] Will be the primary or sole basis to determine a child care provider ineligible to participate in the CCDF. ii. [x] Will be used as the primary or sole basis to provide a reward or sanction for an individual provider. iii. [x] Will be used as the primary or sole method for assessing program effectiveness. iv. [x] Will be used to deny children eligibility to participate in CCDF. v. If any components above are not checked, describe: 7 Quality Improvement Activities The quality of child care directly affects children’s safety and healthy development while in care settings, and high-quality child care can be foundational across the lifespan. Lead Agencies may use CCDF for quality improvement activities for all children in care, not just those receiving child care subsidies. OCC will collect the most detailed Lead Agency information about quality improvement activities in annual reports instead of this Plan. Lead Agencies must report on CCDF child care quality improvement investments in three ways: 1. In this Plan, Lead Agencies will describe the types of activities supported by quality investments over the 3-year period. 2. An annual expenditure report (the ACF-696). Lead Agencies will provide data on how much CCDF funding is spent on quality activities. This report will be used to determine compliance with the required quality and infant and toddler spending requirements. 3. An annual Quality Progress Report (the ACF-218). Lead Agencies will provide a description of activities funded by quality expenditures, the measures used to evaluate its progress in improving the quality of child care programs and services within the State/Territory, and progress or barriers encountered on those measures. In this section of the Plan, Lead Agencies will describe their quality activities needs assessment and identify the types of quality improvement activities where CCDF investments are being made using quality set-aside funds.