Links for Parents and Teachers
This Web site is one product of the Florida Department of Education’s Bright Beginnings initiative that provides teachers and parents with resources to help children in the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) succeed in reading and mathematics.
The purpose of Child Find is to discover whether a child has special learning needs, to identify what those needs are, and to provide the programs and services which will best address them.
The Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards for Four-Year-Olds (2011) describe skills that 4-year-old children should know and be able to do by the end of their prekindergarten year and are designed to guide prekindergarten administrators and teachers in designing and implementing appropriate early learning environments.
All programs operated by the Department of Early Childhood Education use Conscious Discipline as a proven, comprehensive approach to building self-regulation and social/emotional skills in both adults and children. Conscious Discipline empowers teachers and parents with “the self-awareness, brain information, developmental knowledge and useable skills necessary to create safe, connected, problem-solving” classrooms and homes. Many free resources are available on the Conscious Discipline website.
The Children’s Services Council (CSC) is an independent special district established by Palm Beach County voters to dedicate a source of funding so more children are born healthy, remain free from abuse and neglect, are ready for kindergarten, and have access to quality after-school and summer programming.
The goal of Help Me Grow (HMG) is to promote healthy development for every child in the state of Florida. The HMG website is designed to address the need for early identification of developmental or behavioral concerns, and then to link children and their families to community-based developmental and behavioral services and supports. A comprehensive list of family resources can be found on the Resources page at https://www.helpmegrowfl.org/resources/family-resources/ and a list of Developmental Milestones can be found on the Families page at https://www.helpmegrowfl.org/families/your-childs-development/.
The VPK program prepares early learners for success in Kindergarten and beyond through a free 540-hour (3 hours per day) school year and a 300-hour (8 hours per day for 40 days) state-funded summer program. Children must turn four years of age by September 1 of the year prior to entering Kindergarten to participate. Parents may choose to enroll their child in a public or private provider program and may choose to participate during the school year or summer, but not both. Entry requires parents to obtain a VPK Certificate (voucher) from the Office of Early Learning prior to enrollment. To apply for VPK or School Readiness services through our local Palm Beach County Early Learning Coalition, click this link: https://familyservices.floridaearlylearning.com/Account/Login. You may contact the Early Learning Coalition at (561) 514-3300 or obtain information through the website at www.elcpalmbeach.org.
Each Toolkit folder is created based upon what stakeholders have shared as areas they would like more information on. The direction of each topic is the result of a workgroup that includes stakeholders from across the state, as well as national experts. The information in each folder includes information and footage from real VPK classrooms across the state. New information and resources will be added to folders as it becomes available.
This publication is a compilation of laws that relate to and affect early learning programs in Florida. It includes statutes and rules that impact the School Readiness Program, Voluntary Prekindergarten Program, early learning coalitions and standards for child care facilities.
CLASS™ is an observational instrument developed at the University of Virginia to assess classroom quality of all teaching team members working together in PK-12 classrooms. The Strong Minds Network uses the CLASS™ tool results to inform professional development and onsite classroom coaching and technical assistance supports. The scores are also used to determine the level at which a provider enters the Strong Minds Network. Head Start mandates the use of CLASS™ and the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning produced a brief that can be accessed by clicking the following link: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/teaching/docs/class-brief.pdf