Preschool Development Grants – Expansion Grant

Application for Initial Funding

State of North Carolina

The State of North Carolina is submitting an application for initial funding for the United States 

Department of Education and United States Department of Health and Human Services FY 2014 

Preschool Development Grants – Expansion Grant in the amount of $20,000,000 annually. 

North Carolina’s proposal is an ambitious and achievable plan for increasing the number and 

percentage of eligible four-year-olds served in high-quality pre-kindergarten statewide by 

leveraging the tremendous strengths of the existing state-funded NC Pre-Kindergarten Program’s

quality and collaborative infrastructure, as well as its proven ability to improve educational 

achievement for at-risk children. This proposal is also an ambitious and achievable plan for

enhancing existing slots in the NC Pre-Kindergarten (NC Pre-K) Program statewide through inservice, evidence-based professional development, enhancing teacher compensation and/or

enhancing comprehensive services for programs that have needs in these areas.

Project Objectives and Activities

Expand NC Pre-K slots by an estimated 2,300 statewide by the start of the 2015-16 school 

year and each subsequent year of the grant, leveraging the existing infrastructure, highquality program requirements, and monitoring and evaluation systems of the NC Pre-K

Program.

Improve existing NC Pre-K slots statewide by providing a local option to enhance teacher 

compensation or to enhance comprehensive services for children, including transportation, in 

communities that experience program quality gaps in these areas.

Improve existing NC Pre-K slots statewide by ensuring that all pre-kindergarten teachers in 

public and private settings have access to an enhanced in-service, evidence-based 

professional development delivery system, with an emphasis on mentoring and evaluation, in 

support of the NC Birth-through-Kindergarten teacher licensure standard. 

Provide targeted outreach to ensure enrollment of eligible children from military families, in 

the child welfare system and homeless children, as well as children with disabilities and 

special educational needs. In addition, partner with the East Coast Migrant Head Start
Project to expand NC Pre-K services and promote a high-quality teacher workforce for 

serving four-year-olds from migrant/seasonal families in three targeted counties. 

Evaluate classroom quality and school readiness outcomes for participating children.

Engage the NC Early Childhood Advisory Council in a planning process on NC Pre-K 

funding and sustainability. 

Proposed Project Outcomes

An estimated 2,300 children statewide served each year with federal grant funding who 

achieve greater than expected gains on school readiness outcomes as measured by an 

independent evaluation.

95 percent of NC Pre-K Program lead teachers statewide achieve Birth-through-Kindergarten 

(B-K) Standard Professional I or II licensure by the end of the four-year grant period.

An estimated 90 under-served migrant/seasonal children annually in three targeted counties 

receive an enhanced educational experience through a partnership between the NC Pre-K

Program and the East Coast Migrant Head Start Project. 

Collaborating Agencies 

Division of Child Development and Early Education, NC Department of Health 

and Human Services

Office of Early Learning, NC Department of Public Instruction

Office of the Governor

Smart Start local partnerships 

Local school systems

Early Intervention Branch, Division of Public Health, NC Department of Health and 

Human Services

East Coast Migrant Head Start Project and Telamon Corporation

Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina 

at Chapel Hill

Child Development and Family Relations, East Carolina University

College of Education, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

NC Early Childhood Advisory Council