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 Early Learning Standards (ELS) were last updated/adopted August 2017. The ELS book has undergone 3 printings and has been used as a hub for aligning other parts of the system. The ELS book has been well-received as a resource for public 4k, First Steps 4k, Head Start and Child Care. Other entities have sought copies of the book to be able to align their activities to this resource. We have surveyed leadership periodically about revisions and everyone has been supportive of not changing the standards yet as standards continue to be aligned with public 4K, First Steps, Head Start and child care. During the next Plan period, a review will be conducted. d. Provide the Web link to the Lead Agency's early learning and developmental guidelines. https://www.scchildcare.org/media/55097/SC_ELS-second-edit.pdf Print version. https://www.scchildcare.org/media/57847/South-Carolina-Early-Learning-Standards- 2017_Accessible-Version.pdf ADA Version 6.4.2 Use of early learning and developmental guidelines a. Describe how the Lead Agency uses its early learning and developmental guidelines. The SC Early Learning Standards are utilized within the certified training course requirements for certified trainers. This training type uses a rubric to ensure appropriate adult learning principles and content is included. SC Endeavors registry staff review each certified training course and score the sessions on the effectiveness of the content. One requirement is for certified trainers to include the early learning standards within the content of the training session. In addition, all of the state technical college early childhood departments utilize the early learning standards within their courses. The standards document is required reading material for the state’s ECD 101 course and is then used throughout the course of study within the early childhood department. SC ELS Stakeholders are families; teachers and caregivers; administrators; schools; policy makers and community leaders; professional development providers; technical assistance providers; and higher education faculty. It is a useful resource for planning and development of training topic areas. It presents a continuum to help early childhood educators look across age levels and learning domains to see how children’s development emerges and progresses over time. Goals are applicable for children across the age span, and Developmental Indicators are written for specific age levels. See the Appendix of the ELS for an in-depth discussion of how to use the ELS. 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.