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 Wyoming Early Learning Standards were most recently updated in January 2022. The updates included consolidating the state’s early learning guidelines and early learning foundations into the Early Learning Standards and were revised to include updated research and science related to early childhood development. Additionally, the Wyoming Early Learning Standards were aligned with the State’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan (developed via the Preschool Development Planning Grant) and Coherent Path to Quality Guidelines. d. Provide the Web link to the Lead Agency's early learning and developmental guidelines. https://wyqualitycounts.org/free-resources/early-learning-foundations/ 6.4.2 Use of early learning and developmental guidelines a. Describe how the Lead Agency uses its early learning and developmental guidelines. In 2013, efforts to train on the Early Learning Guidelines and Early Learning Foundations began. In 2014, it became evident that Wyoming needed more than one (1) trainer across the State and the Early Learning Foundations and Guidelines Train the Trainer class began. Additionally, a college credit class was designed and implemented across the state (via electronic means). The Department in consultation with the Wyoming Early Childhood State Advisory Council and STARS, determined the Early Learning Guidelines and Foundations should be a required pre-service training for all licensed providers and staff. Consequently, the Department collaborated with the University of Wyoming and STARS to develop an introduction to the Early Learning Guidelines and Foundations for providers and staff. In 2022, utilizing the PDG structure and funding, the Wyoming Early Learning Guidelines and Foundations were updated and transitioned to the Wyoming Early Learning Standards and integrated language and content from Wyoming’s Coherent Path to Quality. A curriculum guide and an assessment and documentation guide will be disseminated. In addition, the pre-service requirement was incorporated into the Rules for Certification of Family Child Care Home (FCCH), Family Child Care Center (FCCC), or Child Care Center(CCC). Finally, the Department is working with the University of Wyoming and STARS to offer technical assistance, equip early care and education professionals to support and integrate the Wyoming Early Learning Standards in their early learning environments and to encourage early learning professionals to share the Wyoming Early Learning Standards with families through outreach and events. 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: All above components checked. 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.