Department of Education

 

GDForum ID: 2499

Step 1

Description of Proposed Guidance Document Changes

Section 22.1-289.03 of the Code of Virginia directs the Board of Education to establish a unified quality rating and improvement system for all publicly-funded birth-to-five providers in order to improve school readiness outcomes. Further, Chapter 446 of the Virginia Acts of the Assembly 2021 Special Session I requires the following: "11. That, notwithstanding the provisions of the third enactment of this act, the establishment and implementation of the quality rating and improvement system described in § 22.1-289.05 of the Code of Virginia, as created by this act, shall occur as follows: (i) the Board of Education shall establish such quality rating and improvement system no later than July 1, 2021, (ii) publicly-funded providers may participate in the quality rating and improvement system beginning in the 2021–2022 school year and shall participate in the quality rating and improvement system beginning in the 2023–2024 school year, and (iii) the initial quality ratings shall be published in the fall of 2024." The Board fulfilled these timebound requirements by establishing Guidelines for VQB5 Practice Year 1 (approved in June 2021), Guidelines for VQB5 Practice Year 2 (approved in June 2022), and VQB5 Guidelines for 2023-2024 (approved in June 2023). As of the 2023-2024 school year, VQB5 is now fully implemented and includes 3,288 birth-to-five programs, including public school-based preschools, Head Start/Early Head Start programs, and child care centers and family day homes that participate in the child care subsidy or other forms of public subsidy. Each of these programs is required to complete annual site, classroom and educator profiles, report on curriculum use and participate in local and external Classroom Assessment Scoring System (“CLASS”) observations during the year. Quality profiles that include rating information from the 2023-2024 participation year will be published via a family-friendly website in Fall 2024. The 2024-2025 VQB5 Guidelines largely reflect similar expectations and protocols for program measurement and improvement as compared to prior years. There are five shifts based on the learnings from prior years as the state continues to use its data to improve the quality of early childhood care and education to ensure all of Virginia’s youngest learners have the opportunity to enter school ready.

 

Step 2

Guidance Document(s) for this Comment Forum

Document ID	Document Title	Current Document	Proposed Document
Early Childhood	Guidelines for Practice Year 2 of the Early Childhood Unified Measurement and Improvement System	Document	Proposed Document

 

Step 3

Contact Information

 

  Contact Information