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The Governor's Working Group on Early Childhood Initiatives

Governor Kaine established the Working Group on Early Childhood Initiatives to coordinate executive branch efforts on early childhood programs and strengthen public and private programs. The working group, chaired by the Secretary of Education, brings together high-level staff from cabinet offices and state agencies in the areas of Education, Health and Human Resources, Economic Development, Finance and Policy.

Executive Directive establishing the Working Group (pdf, 124kb)
Members of the Working Group (pdf, 15kb)

For information on activities of the Governor’s Working Group, please contact

Kathy Glazer
Executive Director
Governor’s Working Group on Early Childhood Initiatives
804-371-4018
kathy.glazer@governor.virginia.gov.

The Alignment Project

The Alignment Project is comprised of a multi-disciplinary team of public and private partners working together to offer guides to assist adults in their important roles with young children.

Milestones of Child Development (pdf, 9.57MB)

The Milestones are a set of child indicators and strategies for adults designed to support the growth and development of young children from birth to kindergarten entry.

Competencies of Early Childhood Professionals (pdf, 2.59MB)

This document includes standards for competent practice, identifying what early childhood professionals must know, be able to do, and care about to provide quality early care and education.

Virginia’s Star Quality (Quality Rating and Improvement System)
Virginia’s Star Quality program offers a market-based solution to facilitate quality consistency among early childhood programs, support continuous quality improvement in partnership with public and private early education providers, and encourage a continuum of care and education throughout various provider settings, so that all children arrive in kindergarten ready to succeed.

Virginia’s Star Quality Standard for Center-Based Classrooms * (Word, 190k)
Guidance Document (Frequently Asked Questions) (Word, 138k)
Research Basis for Virginia’s Standards (Word, 201k)
Brief Overview of Virginia’s QRIS (Word, 88k)
QRIS Pilot Demonstration (Word, 37k)
Powerpoint Describing QRIS (PowerPoint, 3.11Mb)

The Star Quality Advisory Team will oversee the QRIS Pilot Demonstration and provide guidance and strategic recommendations for Virginia’s Star Quality Initiative.

Members of the Star Quality Advisory Team (Word, 34k)

* A Home-Based Standard for family providers is currently under development.

Home Visiting Discussion Group

For the first time, all state-funded early childhood home visiting programs have come together at the state level to discuss home visiting services in the Commonwealth. The Home Visiting Discussion Group (HVDG) is has pledged:

To examine the role of home visiting in improving the health and well-being of Virginia’s young children.
To review the current publicly funded Virginia home visiting services for pregnant women and families with children ages 0-5 years.
To increase local and state collaborative efforts in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Virginia’s home visiting services.
To recommend changes in home visiting system which will improve birth outcomes and enhance early childhood development.

HVDG’s August Report to the Governor’s Working Group (Word, 241k)
Appendices A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K (pdf, 2.01MB) | Appendix C (pdf, 649k)

To provide feedback or seek additional information regarding the HVDG, please contact Catherine.bodkin@vdh.virginia.gov.

School Readiness Task Force

This task force has convened to focus on developing an effective system for assessing and evaluating the school readiness of Virginia's children. A series of action steps will solidify a structure regarding the school readiness of children that will be invaluable in informing instruction, program, policy, and funding decisions in the Commonwealth. The group’s work will build on the accomplishments of the Evaluation Task Force of the Start Strong Council.

Task Force members represent a diverse group of stakeholders: the Superintendent of Public Instruction and other representatives from the Department of Education; the Board of Education; local city councils, school divisions and early childhood development offices; the PALS office and Virginia’s universities and community colleges; the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation; and the Council on Virginia’s Future.

The task force proposed 4 recommendations to promote statewide data collection efforts to better inform educational policies and classroom practices. The first recommendation was to develop a standard definition of school readiness to be used for consistent evaluation of pre-k programs, as well as for the overall preparation of Virginia’s children to succeed in school. After reviewing other states’ definitions and additional reports on school readiness, including the ready framework proposed by the National Governor’s Association’s Task Force on School Readiness, key themes emerged:

Children are not responsible for their own school readiness; ready children are supported by their families, communities, and schools.
The definition should be user-friendly, so that experienced early childhood professionals and practitioners, in addition to parents, community leaders, and policymakers, can understand it and use it to inform practice. Language should be accessible to all, and real, tangible examples should be given.
The definition should focus on all areas of a child’s development: physical health, personal and social development, approaches to learning, language and literacy, communication, general knowledge and cognitive development, etc. The definition should be phrased to emphasize that these skills are emerging and not fully developed.

The final definition contains 2 sections; the first explains what school readiness is in terms of ready children, families, schools, and communities, and the second provides concrete examples of what each of these terms “looks like” in practice. Since its development, the Governor’s Working Group on Early Childhood Initiatives has approved the definition, and the Board of Education officially adopted the definition at its April 24, 2008 meeting.

NEW! Virginia's Definition of School Readiness (Word, 94k)
Final report of the Evaluation Task Force (Word, 168k)
Recommendations of the School Readiness Task Force for 2007-2008 (Word, 59k)
Members of the School Readiness Task Force (Word, 37k)

Virginia’s Plan for Smart Beginnings

The purpose of this public-private strategic plan for early childhood initiatives in Virginia is to build and sustain a system to support parents and families as they prepare their children to arrive at kindergarten healthy and ready to succeed. Co-led by the Governor’s Working Group on Early Childhood Initiatives and the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, the plan focuses on five over-arching goals in these areas: Governance and Finance, Family Support and Education, Early Care and Education, Health, and Public Engagement.

Virginia's Plan for Smart Beginnings (Word, 328k)
Powerpoint outlining the plan and process (PowerPoint, 8MB)
Organizations and agencies that have endorsed the plan (Word, 52k)

Please visit www.smartbeginnings.org for more detailed information on the work of the Plan Goal Groups.

Professional Development Task Force

A strong early childhood workforce is essential in providing high quality learning environments for Virginia’s young children. This task force will develop a coordinated system to ensure a continuum of high quality professional development opportunities for early childhood professionals in the Commonwealth. The task force will focus on objectives including examining and strengthening the higher education infrastructure to meet the growing demand for training and degree attainment; refining and developing relevant licensure and certification; coordinating and improving various training opportunities; and enhancing strategies to recruit, retain, and support professionals in their development. The task force intends to create a foundation that can be utilized by not only early childhood educators, but by all early childhood professionals, including home visitors, early intervention specialists, and family support workers.

To understand the context for a coordinated professional development system as related to child outcomes, please view this graphic, developed for the Task Force’s work. (Word 45k)

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