PRESCHOOL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS
 

2015 ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT
 

Arizona 

Preschool Development Grants SEPTEMBER 2016 
U.S. Department of Education 

PDG Grant Performance Report Cover Sheet 

Based on ED 524B OMB No. 1894-0003 Exp. 06/30/2017 

Check only one box per Program Office instructions. ✔ Annual Performance Report Final Performance Report 

General Information 

1. PR/Award #: S419A150009 2. Grantee Federal Information Processing Code: 15-A 

3. Project Title: PRESCHOOL DEVELOPMENT GRANT 

4. Grantee Name: Arizona Department of Education 

5. Grantee Address:1535 W. Jefferson St. BIN #15 

City: Phoenix State: Arizona Zip: 85007

6. Project Director Name: Nicol Russell 

Title: Deputy Associate Superintendent 

Phone #: 602.542.8706 Ext.: Fax #: 

Email Address: Nicol.Russell@azed.gov 

Reporting Period Information 

7. Reporting Period: From: 01/01/2015 To: 12/01/2015 

8. Budget Expenditures (To be completed by your Business Office. See instructions.) 

Budget Period Federal Grant Funds Non-Federal Funds (Match/Cost Share) 

a. Previous Budget Period $20,000,000.00 $9,641,294.00 

b. Current Budget Period $20,000,000.00 $8,991,294.00 

c. Entire Project Period 

(For Final Performance Reports only) 

9. Indirect Cost Information (To be completed by your Business Office. See Instructions.) 

a. Are you claiming indirect costs under this grant? Yes No 

b. If yes, do you have an Indirect Cost Rate Agreement approved by the Federal Government? Yes No 

c. If yes, provide the following information: 

Period Covered by the Indirect Cost Rate Agreement: From: 07/01/2015 To: 06/30/2016 

Approving Federal agency: ED Other Specify other: 

Type of Rate: (Final Performance Reports only) Provisional Final Other Specify other: 

d. For Restricted Rate Programs (check one) -- Are you using a restricted indirect cost rate that: 

Is included in your approved Indirect Cost Rate Agreement 

Complies with 34 CFR 76.564(c)(2)? 

10. Performance Measures Status 

a. Are complete data on performance measures for the current budget period included in the 

Project Status Chart? 

b. If no, when will the data be available and submitted to the Department? 

Yes No 

✔

✔

✔

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U.S. Department of Education 

PDG Annual Performance Report 

Executive Summary 

Based on ED 524B OMB No. 1894-0003 Exp. 06/30/2017 

Grantee State: AZ PR/Award #: S419A150009 

You are required to submit an Executive Summary of up to 3000 words with your Annual Performance 

Report. This summary should relate to your approved application and summarize the goals and 

objectives that have been achieved under your grant, what you learned, and any evaluation results. 

Describe any unanticipated outcomes or benefits from your project and any barriers that you may have 

encountered. If there have been any changes to the project from the approved application, those 

should be explained as well. 

Overview of Progress 

In 2015, Arizona made significant progress in its efforts to expand access to high-quality preschool 

and to enhance early learning systems through participation in the Development Grant opportunity. 

We applied for and received $20 million through this grant. In our original grant application we 

provided details on how the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) would partner with its sister 

agency, First Things First (FTF), to improve the quality and scope of early learning in Arizona. In 2015, 

this partnership helped to provide 3,024 slots, a combination of new and improved, for four year old 

children in 27 high-need communities (HNCs) in Arizona. These HNCs are spread across five counties 

and were selected based on four criteria. The data points used to select HNCs were: areas identified 

with high rates of students receiving free and reduced lunch; areas where more than 25% of the 

students served identified as being English language learners (ELLs); areas predicted to be serving 

less than 50% of their capacity based on ADE's K-3 enrollment formula; and lastly, the local education 

agencies (LEAs) in the HNCs must have earned a C or better on the State's A-F school report system. 

In our original application we described how the grant would be used to increase the ability of 

preschool programs in the identified HNCs to access participation in the state's Tiered Quality Rating 

Improvement System (TQRIS), Quality First (QF). In 2015, 41 new early learning providers were able 

to participate in QF, 8 of which were programs that had been on a waiting list for participation. 

Participation in Quality First is essential to the success of the PDG grant because it is the system 

through which elements of high-quality preschool programs will be measured through its robust 

assessment process. Key program structures that are evaluated by QF include: safe, enriching 

environments; positive interactions between children and adults that enhance instructional practices; 

highly qualified early childhood educators; small class sizes; and a comprehensive curriculum that 

incorporates ongoing, developmentally appropriate child assessment. To ensure implementation of 

these high-quality indicators, as well as the indicators of high-quality that go beyond this list, ADE and 

QF have worked collaboratively to provide support to early learning providers in the HNCs in key ways 

that include: on-site coaching, technical assistance, and targeted professional development. 

In October 2015, we were delighted to join other select states in presenting at two “spark sessions” at 

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the annual meeting for Preschool Development Grant grantees. In one session, we told our story 

about the successful inclusion of a variety of partners to help with implementation of high-quality 

preschool programs for eligible children in Arizona. We highlighted our partnerships with the Early 

Childhood Development and Health Board (First Things First), the TQRIS system (Quality First), Head 

Start, private child care, faith-based, and in-home providers. After the presentation we were able to 

answer questions from participants on strategies we employed for developing those successful 

partnerships. This is an example of one of the great successes Arizona had in 2015. 

For the second session, we partnered with the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) to 

demonstrate a mapping tool launched in Arizona by Read On Arizona, called “MapLIT.” Read On 

Arizona is a statewide, public/private partnership of agencies, philanthropic organizations, and 

community stakeholders committed to creating an effective continuum of services to improve language 

and literacy outcomes for Arizona's children from birth through age eight over the next ten years. Read 

On Arizona is committed to helping create an early literacy system that delivers the right program at 

the right time for every child. We were eager to be partnered with MAG for this “spark session” since 

the Deputy Associate Superintendent for Early Childhood at ADE, who is overseeing the 

implementation of PDG, was an active member of the Read On Arizona data integration taskforce that 

help to construct MapLIT and was able to demonstrate the potential uses of MapLIT and similar 

mapping tools, to support PDG efforts. Read On Arizona partners created MapLIT as a “one stop” 

resource to identify key data sets (census, school, health, family engagement) that impact early 

literacy outcomes in communities. Read On Arizona's MapLIT provides communities with graphic 

views of select data for all Arizona public/charter elementary school and preschool site locations. The 

benefit to PDG HNCs is the easy accessibility of data that could be useful in the community decisionmaking process for supporting the high-quality preschool programs in their HNCs. This is another 

example of the tremendous success Arizona had in year one of the PDG grant period. 

One of the key takeaways the Arizona PDG team got from attending the PDG grantee annual meeting 

was the importance of telling our story as we do the work of implementation. As a result, when the 

team returned from the meeting, two things happened --the creation of a PDG portal on our website; 

and the development of a quarterly PDG newsletter. The PDG portal, which can be found at 

www.azed.gov/earlychildhood/preschooldevelopmentgrant, provides an overview of the PDG and its 

participants, houses our original application, and gives access to PDG resources for participating subgrantees as well as any other interested parties. Examples of the resources provided are links to audio 

recordings and written communiques of the state-level community of practice (detailed in this report), 

as well as any publications made available to sub-grantees. 

The purpose of the quarterly PDG newsletter is to keep Arizona's ECE community informed of the 

tremendous work happening in communities all over the state of Arizona to implement the high-quality 

expectations of the Preschool Development Grant. We feel this communication is vital to maintaining 

our partnerships and to encouraging continued support of the PDG. It is also essential to our 

sustainability efforts as we demonstrate how the PDG is a benefit not just to those sub-grantees that 

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are able to participate, but also to the systems-building efforts of Arizona's ECE community. A key 

feature of the newsletter is a focus on the local HNCs and their stories, or the stories of their 

regionally-assigned Early Childhood Program Specialist. These anecdotal accounts are important as 

they are they concrete stories of the direct impact the PDG is having on Arizona's children, families, 

and communities. 

Challenges and Lessons Learned 

A chief lesson learned during year one of this grant period was that while we were ambitious in our 

timeline and our eagerness to begin working to ensure high-quality preschool programming for eligible 

children, many of our partners were not as ready. These partners demonstrated a willingness to work 

with us and a matched desire to ensure Arizona's four-year olds receive high-quality preschool 

programming, but steps needed to be taken to ensure strong foundations were in place upon which to 

build. 

One example of a setback was a delay in the start of work we contracted to do with the information 

technology (IT) unit of the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). Part of the funds designated for 

data linkages --linking preschool data with K-12 data collected in the state longitudinal system-- went 

unspent because of issues with ADE's IT Unit. One of the biggest projects for this year, moving 

archived, historical preschool data from Teaching Strategies GOLD to ADE, was halted while the ADE 

IT unit worked to secure personnel to work on the project. Subsequently, there were three changes in 

Project Managers assigned to this work, and three personnel changes to the role of system architect. 

Additionally, the proposal to spend this amount of money in year one was written on the premise that 

the ADE longitudinal system was ready for a data transfer; it was not and the people to do the work of 

readying the system were not in place. Despite this delay in the start of the work, we continued to 

press on in the work and stayed closely aligned to the IT unit so the transfer of data could happen as 

soon as possible. While our scope of work indicated it would be done by September 2015, the transfer 

of Teaching Strategies GOLD data was completed in November 2015. 

A second example of a setback was in the readiness of early learning providers to provide high-quality 

preschool programs to eligible children. In our original application, we ambitiously wrote that we 

wanted to start providing services to eligible children right away although as a development grantee 

we would not be obligated to. We indicated that in year one of the grant period we would provide 

funding for 2,193 slots in our identified HNCs, at the cost of $10,087,800. When programs in the HNCs 

submitted their proposals, the total number of slots they requested was 2,292. Since our award did not 

support this level of funding, we provided monies to just 2,193 slots. Additionally, when we received 

the grant funding and started to work with the HNCs, it become apparent that some early learning 

programs were not yet ready to start serving children in their HNCs in a capacity that meets the 

definition of high-quality programs. Specifically, some programs were not yet ready to provide full-time 

programming to students. In an effort to build good will in these communities and to help ready these 

programs to meet the definition of high-quality programs in years two, three, and four, we determined 

we would need to submit an amendment request to use some infrastructure-building funds to provide 

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for funding of half-time slots in these few HNCs for year one only. To maintain the integrity of the 

Preschool Development Grant, in our monitoring of these programs that used part day slots to prepare 

themselves to be ready for the use of full day slots, we ensured their understanding that this unique 

opportunity would not be available in years moving forward by having them write a statement of 

acknowledgment on the monitoring protocol. 

We recognized that using funding this way in year one would cause a change in the percentage of 

overall funding spent for infrastructure and quality improvements if the rest of our application was left 

as originally written. Originally, we proposed using $52,839,427 (66% of total funding) on full-time slots 

for children. Based on the approval of our amendment request, that number decreased to $50,261,127 

(62% of total funding). Thus, we made a second request to count the investment in Professional 

Scholarships as funding for providing access to high-quality programs for students. In year one, this 

was $2 million. Additionally, attributed the $1 million for professional development (250,000 per year 

for each year of the grant period) in the same manner. Through this adjustment, the overall funding 

spent on increasing the number and percentage of eligible children served in high-quality preschool 

programs by the end of the grant period would increase to 67%. After reviewing our data we 

determined the transfer of funds from direct services for children to infrastructure and quality 

improvements would not have an impact on the performance measures or our scope of work activities. 

Another lesson learned was that even with the best planning, life happens. During year one, the ADE 

Early Childhood Unit experienced an unexpected period of change and transition. Mid-year there was 

a transition in leadership in ADE's Early Childhood Unit. The former Deputy Associate Superintendent 

(DAS), who led the writing of the original grant application and the start of the work, left state agency 

work to return to her roots as a Head Start person. At the same time, the former Director of Early 

Childhood Special Education, who assisted with the writing of the original grant application and the 

start of the work, had a baby and was on maternity leave. As a result, some of the activities that were 

supposed to be completed in year one did not happen. While work on PDG implementation continued 

to happen at the local and state level, larger activities like a statewide conference for PDG participants 

and others, as well as the work with institutions of higher education, did not occur. In September 2015, 

the former Director of Early Childhood Special Education returned to work as the new DAS and she 

resumed the work of PDG implementation. As a result of this learning experience, we have determined 

that we need to cross-train multiple people on our staff to be able to execute the activities outlined in 

our scope of work so that when the unexpected happens there is little impact to the work of the PDG 

grant. 

Conclusion 

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In conclusion, we accomplished a great deal of work in 2015. We believe the work we did to engage 

partners for the work prior to and during the writing of our application was well worth the effort. By 

consulting with our partners, garnering their support, and incorporating their ideas, we were able to 

lean into these state-level relationships with other agencies to help us start the work of direct services 

to eligible children right away. This effort to make systemic infrastructure improvements is essential to 

our work on sustainability beyond the period of this grant. At the same time, our Early Childhood 

Program Specialists worked diligently to build new relationships at the local level in each HNC. Since 

Arizona is a geographically large state, with a wide expanse between HNCs, we found that having a 

regionally-assigned ECPS already in place made it easier to support the HNCs on a very local level. 

We would highly recommend this approach to other states. 

ED 524B Page 6 of 45 
 

U.S. Department of Education 

PDG Annual Performance Report 

Grant Status Form 

Explanation of Progress (524B Section A) 

Based on ED 524B OMB No. 1894-0003 Exp. 06/30/2017 

Grantee State: AZ PR/Award #: S419A150009 

Section A: Performance Objectives Information and Related Performance Measures Data 

(narrative) 

1. Project Objective 

1(a) GPRA Performance Measure: The number and percentage of Eligible Children served in 

High-Quality Preschool Programs funded by the grant. Describe the State's progress in meeting 

this Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) measure based on enrollment of Eligible 

Children in High-Quality Preschool Programs funded by the grant as of December 1, 2015. 

In our original application, we proposed serving a target number of 2,193 children. However, the actual 

number of slots awarded and eligible children served in high-quality preschool programs funded by 

PDG was 1,942. When we wrote our original application we based our target numbers on data we 

collected for each HNC. While we had an idea of the number of eligible children in each HNC, we did 

not accurately anticipate the number of early learning providers whom would decline participation in 

the PDG program. Thus, while we made all 2,193 slots available, only 1,942 were filled. In response to 

this unexpected occurrence, our PDG team is working on stronger recruitment efforts for Year 2. 

Please describe, as required in Program Requirement (k)(2) in the Notice Inviting Applicants (NIA), 

how the State established policies and procedures that ensure that the percentage of Eligible Children 

with disabilities served by the High-Quality Preschool Programs is not less than either the percentage 

of four-year-old children served statewide through part B, section 619 of IDEA (20 U.S.C. 1400 et 

seq.), or the current national average, whichever is greater. 

Note: The current national percentage of four year-old-children receiving services through part B, section 619 of 

IDEA is 6.4%. Source: 2012 IDEA Part B Child Count (www.ideadata.org). States should include detailed 

information on ALL structural elements. 

To set the expectation for sub-grantees to intentionally plan for including eligible children with 

disabilities in their programs, in the Preschool Development Guidance Manual we distributed to all 

sub-grantees, we outlined the following expectation: “One of the outcomes of the PDG is to increase 

the number of children with specials needs in the least restrictive environments. Therefore, subgrantees will be required to serve no less than 2 children with identified special needs for every 20 

children whom may not have identified with special needs. Exemptions (for example, 1 child instead of 

2) may be applied for small family child care.” 

To support the full inclusion of eligible children with disabilities in the high-quality preschool program, 

we encouraged sub-grantees to do the following: 

• Braid PDG funding with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) preschool funds 

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they may already be using for the student. The braided funding model could allow for an 

extended day for those eligible children with disabilities whose IEP teams decide a full day 

experience would be appropriate. 

• 	 Participate in professional development offered by the ADE-ECE unit on topics like “Coping 

with Challenging Behaviors” to increase the knowledge base and capacity of early learning 

providers to include students that may otherwise have been placed in a more restrictive 

environment. 

• 	 Expand their menu of comprehensive services from the three required areas: least restrictive 

environment, Child Find, and Family Engagement to include options like oral health, food 

security, or parenting kits (to name a few). 

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Describe the State's progress in increasing the number and percentage of Eligible Children served in 

High-Quality Preschool Programs funded by the grant. 

The most influential factors that contributed to our success in creating new and improving existing 

state preschool program slots in 2015 are the investment we made to expand the state-level ECE 

infrastructure in Arizona and the decision to request the ability to authorize use of funds to assist subgrantees ready themselves to be able to service eligible children. The improvements to the ECE 

infrastructure included work to improve data linkages, the cost to enroll sub-grantees in Quality First 

(or to expand their participation), and the conversion of 547 full-time slots to part-time slots. A formal 

amendment request was submitted and permission was granted for Arizona to maintain part day slots 

for year one to help build quality for year two. See attached "Amendment Request." Also, funds were 

used in targeted ways to help programs meet the definition of high-quality in the following ways: startup funds, Professional Scholarships, and professional development. 

For ECE infrastructure-building, in the area of data linkages, $357,464.48 was used to link preschool 

data with K-12 data collected in the state longitudinal data system. One of the biggest projects for this 

year, moving archived, historical preschool data from Teaching Strategies GOLD to ADE's state 

longitudinal data system, AZDash, was accomplished in November 2015. The cost to enroll subgrantees in Quality First was $5.7mil. Enrollment in Quality First in year one was critical as Quality 

First was identified as the tool of measurement Arizona would use to evaluate the implementation of 

each structural element of the definition of high-quality preschool programs by each sub-grantee in the 

HNCs. Additionally, enrollment in Quality First ensured sub-grantees would receive the essential 

supports to successfully improve quality. These supports include access to quality coaches, inclusion 

specialists, mental health consultants, and childcare health consultants. 

Additionally, when we received the grant funding and started to work with the HNCs, it became 

apparent that some early learning programs were not yet ready to start serving children in their HNCs 

in a capacity that meets the definition of high-quality programs. Specifically, some programs were not 

yet ready to provide full-time programming to students. In an effort to build good will in these 

communities and to help ready these programs to meet the definition of high-quality programs in years 

two, three, and four, we determined we would need to submit an amendment request to use some 

infrastructure-building funds to provide for funding of half-time slots in these few HNCs for year one 

only. A formal amendment request was submitted and permission was granted for Arizona to maintain 

part day slots for year one to help build quality for year two. A copy of the approved amendment 

request is attached. A total of 1,094 children were served. 

Intentional efforts were made to use year one funds to help programs meet the definition of highquality preschool programs. One targeted use of funds was the award of start-up funds to 18 subgrantees for a combined total of $638,265.38 These start-up funds were used by sub-grantees to 

purchase supplies to meet the program standards for classroom environments, to pay for state 

licensing fees since all programs were required to be licensed by Arizona's Department of Health 

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Services, or to enable the acquisition of qualified teachers for PDG classrooms. 

A second targeted use of funds was the investment in College Professional Scholarships through FTF. 

In 2015, $2mil was invested in the College Professional Scholarships program. The ADE ECE unit 

worked with FTF to recruit students on a pathway to an ECE or ECSE teaching certificate and to 

access the application for the scholarships through the Arizona Early Childhood Workforce and 

Professional Development Network. Specifically, the ADE ECE unit met with representatives of the 

administrative home for the scholarships, PBS, to outline an outreach plan for the PDG HNCs, delivery 

of information on the scholarships, and the priority order of award of scholarships to meet the PDG 

expectations. We counted this investment in scholarships as an activity to support the delivery of highquality preschool programs to eligible children since research has shown us that quality often 

increases as the education level of the teacher increases. The expectation is that as teachers learn 

more about early childhood development or early childhood special education, the more likely they are 

to implement practices that meet the definition of high-quality. 

A third targeted use of funds was in preparation for a series of professional development events we 

will be hosting in 2016. Since the ADE procurement process for securing venues and presenters, 

including national keynote speakers, is a lengthy process, we began the planning for these large 

professional development sessions in 2015. The necessary funds to pay for these events were 

obligated for a total amount of $150,555.33. The three large professional development events are: the 

Kindergarten Transitions for All Summit in February 2016, the Support for the Young Learner with 

Special Needs Summit in April 2016, and the Early Learning Summer Institute in June 2016. All PDG 

sub-grantees will have the opportunity to participate in these professional development events at no 

additional cost to the sub-grantees since the costs are covered by PDG to help them meet the 

definition of high-quality preschool programs. 

1(b) GPRA Performance Measure: The number and percentage of children served overall in the 

State Preschool Program. Please describe any increases or decreases in this GPRA measure 

based on fall enrollment in the State Preschool Program for the 2015-16 school year. 

In fall 2015, 3,024 children were served overall in the state preschool program. This is 3.3% of all 

eligible children. The most influential factor that contributed to our success was partnering with our 

Early Childhood Development and Health Board, First Things First, to increase the number of 

participants in the state's tiered quality rating improvement system, Quality First (QF). Of the programs 

participating in PDG, 14 sub-grantees were already participating in QF and 41 sub-grantees were 

newly selected to participate in QF, of which 8 sub-grantees were on the waiting list for a number of 

years. In our original application we indicated our plan to invest a significant amount of money in 

Quality First since QF already partners with child care and preschool providers to improve the quality 

of early learning across Arizona. QF funds individualized improvements as identified through a Quality 

Improvement Plan (QIP) that is generated based on assessment from environmental rating scales and 

a tool to measure the quality of classroom interactions. Quality improvements include, but are not 

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limited to, instructional skill, nurturing and responsive learning environments, knowledge and 

implementation of Arizona's continuum of early learning development standards for curriculumbuilding, and the use of assessments to improve learning outcomes. QF is the measurement system 

by which the sub-grantees in HNCs will be measured as they move towards higher levels of quality. 

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1(c) GPRA Performance Measure: The number and percentage of children in the High-Need 

Communities served by the grant that are ready for kindergarten as determined by the State's 

Kindergarten Entry Assessment or, if the State does not yet have a Kindergarten Entry Assessment, 

other valid and reliable means of determining school readiness. 

In the Year 2 APR, grantees will provide disaggregated data on the school readiness of the children served 

by the grant. This may include information collected about the children served by the grant at the end of their 

2015-16 preschool year or in their 2016-17 kindergarten year. States may provide data from a sample of 

children (e.g., a sample being used for any evaluation). 

In the Year 1 APR, grantees must describe their progress towards identifying the measures, methods, 

and data on the school readiness of children served by the Preschool Development Grant. In the 

narrative below provide the following information: 

• 	 The name of the assessment tool(s) and the Essential Domains of School Readiness 

measured; 

• 	 When the assessment tool(s) is/are given (e.g., in preschool and/or kindergarten); 

• 	 Whether the assessment is mandated by the State, and for which children; 

• 	 How long the State has been using the assessment tool(s); 

• 	 Whether the assessment tool(s) is/are implemented throughout the High-Need Community 

and/or Statewide; 

• 	 Whether the State provides or will provide training for local staff administering the assessment. 

If so, describe the requirements including processes to ensure continued reliability in the 

administration of the measure; 

• 	 If school readiness data is reported to the State, describe when and how data are reported. 

Also, please describe, if applicable: 

• 	 The State's definition of "school readiness;" 

• 	 Disaggregated information about children's school readiness on individual domains or 

subsets of the measure; 

• 	 School readiness data for children disaggregated by subgroup (e.g., students who are 

American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian, not Pacific Islander; Native Hawaiian/other 

Pacific Islander; Black or African American; Hispanic/Latino; White, not Hispanic; two or 

more races; with disabilities; English learners; and from any other subgroups the state 

determines appropriate; and 

• 	 How the State will continue to make progress in meeting this GPRA measure. 

Currently, Arizona does not yet have a Kindergarten Entry Assessment. However, based on the 

number of eligible children enrolled in 2015 on Teaching Strategies GOLD --the statewide required 

ongoing progress monitoring tool for preschool, 1,942 are the number of children in HNCs served by 

PDG that are ready for kindergarten. Data is collected on Teaching Strategies GOLD for 38 objectives 

in 10 learning areas: social-emotional, physical, cognitive, literacy, language, mathematics, social 

studies, science and technology, the arts, and English language acquisition. These data points align to 

Arizona's definition of “school readiness.” 

Through an extensive, collaborative process Arizona determined its common definition of school 

readiness is: “Arizona's young children will demonstrate school readiness through the Essential 

Domains of Language and Literacy development, Cognition and General Knowledge (including early 

mathematics and early scientific development), Approaches to Learning (curiosity, initiative, 

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persistence, creativity, problem-solving, and confidence), Physical Well-Being and Motor Development 

and Self-Regulation of attention and emotion. Intentional development of skills and knowledge in 

these domains establishes a critical foundation for children to engage in and benefit from opportunities 

to learn.” 

A key accomplishment of the PDG in 2015 was use of funds to support the integration of preschool 

data gathered through Teaching Strategies GOLD (TSG) into the Arizona Department of Education's 

State Longitudinal Data System, AZDash. To integrate the TSG data with AZDash data, ADE's IT 

personnel worked with TSG personnel to do the work of modifying the data from one side to match the 

other so the two systems could talk to one another. Since the data is updated in real time, this work 

took a concerted effort to ensure the platforms sending and receiving the data matched as the 

migration of data was done. This required a contract with ADE's IT unit, and they in turned hired subcontractors to do the work. In our original application, we said our participation in AZDash will enable 

reporting and analysis by the HNCs that can help identify achievement gaps, pinpoint initiatives that 

best promote positive outcomes, and provide data for longitudinal analysis. Additionally, it will serve as 

a way to ensure procedures, protocols, and practices are streamlined and revised for efficiency and 

comprehensiveness. The ultimate goal is to develop a secure, interoperable data network, identify 

necessary permissions to access, store, and disseminate data and related findings to stakeholders, 

and establish pathways for data sharing and exchange. In 2015, the first phase of this work was done 

with the transfer of archived Teaching Strategies GOLD data and the foundation for live data to be 

transmitted --an impact of approximately 85,000 students' (archived and active) data to AZDash! 

Additionally, in 2015 a significant amount of work was done to continue Arizona's work to develop an 

appropriate tool. Arizona is part of the North Carolina K-3 Formative Assessment Consortium to help 

develop a valid and reliable Kindergarten Developmental Inventory (KDI) --Arizona's label for its 

kindergarten entrance assessment. 

An enhanced part of Arizona's participation in the Consortium is Arizona's partnership with SRI 

International, BUILD, and Child Trends to do three main things: validate, and revise as needed, the 

assessment to establish a reliable, valid instructionally useful assessment tool; help develop and 

implement comprehensive professional development for the assessment; and work to develop a longterm, individualized K-3 assessment implementation plan. 

The timeline Arizona identified for the work of establishing a KDI is as follows: 

• March 2015-November 2015: K-3 Cognitive Labs. The purpose of the labs was to gain insight 

on the usefulness in classrooms of the constructs participants in the North Carolina Consortium 

agreed should be included in a tool. Teachers who participated in the cognitive labs tried out 

the materials in their classrooms with students and provided feedback to the research partners. 

• August 2015-March 2016: Full K-3 Assessment Pilots. The purpose of the pilot is to gain 

insight into implementation, manageability, usability, of the assessment and the quality of the 

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technology and the professional development. K-3 teachers used the complete assessment 

across the school year and professional development activities were launched. On-going 

implementation support will be provided in 2016. Support will include conducting informational 

sessions for administrators and teachers, as well as developing an implementation plan. 

• August 2016-June 2017: Full K-3 Assessment Field Test. The purpose of the field test will be 

to examine the validity and reliability of the assessment, the quality of the supporting materials, 

and the quality of the professional development and technology. 

• Summer 2017: A Request for Proposals will be released to the public to select Arizona's tool. 

• Fall 2017: Implementation of the use of the tool. 

Based on this timeline, we do not anticipate having data from the KDI available in Year 2. This means 

we will continue to use data collected through Teaching Strategies GOLD to determine children's 

readiness for kindergarten. In Year 3, we should have baseline data available to use. 

In an effort to prepare teachers and administrators for the implementation of the KDI, a professional 

development pilot entitled The Kindergarten Project was created in 2013. As a collaborative effort 

between the Arizona Department of Education and Alesi Group, supported by the Virginia G. Piper 

Charitable Foundation, The Kindergarten Project aimed to research and identify evidence-based 

kindergarten practices that support the whole child and increase the likelihood of academic and 

lifelong success. 

In the spring of 2015, The Kindergarten Experience was launched with a Social and Emotional 

Development in Kindergarten conference. The Kindergarten Experience, an extension of The 

Kindergarten Project, is a series of dynamic professional development trainings, workshops and 

opportunities that offer a comprehensive lens for evidence-based practices that support the whole 

child in kindergarten. These identified practices are the foundation for the effective and successful 

implementation of the Kindergarten Developmental Inventory. Information about the Kindergarten 

Experience, like the training schedule as well as a virtual tour of the model kindergarten classroom the 

Alesi Group has designed, can be found at www.thekindergartenexperience.com. 

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For Preschool Development Grants - Development Grants States ONLY: 

1(d) GPRA Performance Measure: The number of States that collect and analyze data on State 

Preschool Program quality, including the structural elements of quality specified in the 

definition of High-Quality Preschool Programs. 

In our original application, we indicated the use of Arizona's early learning document, the Program 

Guidelines for High-quality Early Education: Birth through Kindergarten (PGHQ) would be used to 

identify and outline the elements of high-quality, while Arizona's TQRIS system, Quality First (QF), 

would used to measure where programs are in implementing the essential standards and indicators of 

high-quality preschool programs. The PGHQ delineate quality and provide a set of indicators that 

concretely describe what a program will look like when providing comprehensive experiences that 

nurture the whole child and encourages them to engage with responsive, nurturing adults who 

promote children's optimal development when they are not with their families. These standards meet 

the definition of a “High-Quality Preschool Program,” indicated in the grant application guidelines. Key 

program structures that are evaluated by QF include: safe, enriching environments; positive 

interactions between children and adults that enhance instructional practices; highly qualified early 

childhood educators; small class sizes; and a comprehensive curriculum that incorporates ongoing, 

developmentally appropriate child assessment and is aligned with the PGHQ. 

To ensure each early learning provider in our identified HNCs was properly equipped with knowledge 

of the PGHQ, we made available in-person professional development on the PGHQ, as well as hosted 

and recorded a webinar on the introduction to the PGHQ document. The recorded webinar was then 

made available to all PDG participants. Additionally, since Quality First is the TQRIS system in 

Arizona, there was no heavy lift needed to ensure early learning providers were given ample 

information about the expectations of the program. 

Also, all sub-grantees were required to participate in ADE's Early Childhood Quality Improvement 

Practices (ECQUIP) process to ensure community collaboration on the implementation of high-quality 

preschool programming is taking place. This is also the way that the sub-grantees will link to the local 

education agency (LEA) in their HNCs. Through a program's participation in the ECQUIP process, the 

QF process will be augmented, resulting in the achievement of higher quality. 

The ECQUIP was developed by the Early Childhood Education unit of ADE/ECE as a means to assure 

quality, accountability, and collaboration among schools receiving early childhood funding through 

ADE. There are two parts to the ECQUIP Process: 

1. An annual self-assessment of the early childhood program, and 

2. An ECQUIP validation visit made by ECE/ADE. 

The ADE ECE unit is able to collect data on each of the structural elements of quality through the 

submission of a program's Quality Enhancement Plan, which is a requirement of the ECQUIP process. 

After completing their annual self-assessments, sub-grantees submit their enhancement plans on the 

ED 524B Page 15 of 45 
Arizona Local Education Agency Tracker (ALEAT). The ADE-ECPS is then able to review the 

enhancement plan online, and use as a guidance document for the on-site validation visit. During the 

on-site validation visit, the ADE-ECPS reviews the sub-grantees evidence or documentation for the 

indicators of quality and provides technical assistance as needed. The use of ALEAT to collect data is 

important as it allows for state level analysis of what is happening at the local level. This enables the 

ADE ECE unit to determine what may be areas of strength so as to scale up best practices, as well as 

to determine trending areas of challenges or barriers that may need to be addressed from the state 

level. 

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Section A: Part B - Selection Criteria 

In this section of the APR, States will report on their progress addressing the Preschool Development Grant's 

selection criteria. The State should read the questions carefully and report in the narrative fields directly below the 

questions. Please include any data, data notes or formulas to help the readers understand the State's narrative 

responses. 

1. Ensuring Quality in Preschool Programs (Selection Criteria “C” of the application) 

Describe the State's use of funds received over the grant period for State Preschool Program 

infrastructure and quality improvements, including the State's efforts to implement a system of 

monitoring and support at the State level toward activities such as those described in Section (C)(1)(ak) of the NIA. 

Note: States will report amounts and percentage of funds for State Preschool Program infrastructure 

and High-Quality Preschool Programs in the Competitive Preference Priority 3 Chart. 

The ADE ECE compliance and validation monitoring system includes multiple ways to demonstrate 

compliance and validate quality improvements. The monitoring process is a team approach in 

collaboration with grant partners. A strengths-based, comprehensive ECQUIP process is used to 

evaluate the implementation of the PGHQ and to support sub-grantees through technical assistance 

that addresses specific issues and concerns. The PGHQ, as indicated in our original application, 

delineates each standard area that meets the twelve elements of a high quality preschool program as 

outlined in the notice of intent to apply. Sub-grantees are required to actively participate in the 

ECQUIP process, involves the completion of a rubric for self-assessment and a compliance visit 

conducted by ADE/ECE. 

The ECQUIP was developed by the Early Childhood Education Section of ADE ECE as a means to 

assure quality, accountability, and collaboration among schools receiving early childhood funding 

through ADE. There are two parts to the ECQUIP Process: 

1. An annual self-assessment of the early childhood program, and 

2. An ECQUIP validation visit made by ECE/ADE 

ECQUIP is intended to be used as a self-evaluation and planning process for on-going quality 

improvements at the local level. ECQUIP provides programs with a framework for reflection and 

consideration of quality practices. The guidelines for conducting an ECQUIP process include the 

creation of an implementation plan that documents continued improvement efforts. The design of each 

program's ECQUIP self-assessment is left to the local administration. There are four standards in 

ECQUIP: 

• Standard 1: School and District Leadership 

• Standard 2: Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development 

• Standard 3: Classroom and School Assessments 

• Standard 4: School Culture, Climate, and Communication 

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These four standards, and the indicators of each standard, align to the structural elements of quality 

outlined in the PDG's selection criteria. The following steps represent how a local ECQUIP process 

looks in implementation: 

Step 1 ~ Assemble Team. The first step in the ECQUIP process is to convene an early childhood 

education team. Each early childhood program determines locally who is to participate on the ECQUIP 

team. At the minimum, a team should consider administrative members from the local LEA (Early 

Childhood Special Education, Title I preschool representative, principal, coordinators, etc.), 

instructional members (preschool, kindergarten, first through third grade, Reading First coach and 

librarians), and community partners (Head Start, local childcare provider, district community education, 

tribal partner, home visitors, Part C provider, community representative, parents, and QF participants). 

Together, the team works to design a self-assessment process that meets the needs of the program 

as a whole. 

Step 2 ~ Choose a Standard for Improvement. The ECQUIP team completes a self-assessment using 

the ECQUIP Standards and Rubrics document, provided by the ADE/ECE. Members identify strengths 

and needs for each standard and identify activities for improvement for each standard. Quality 

indicators are included with each standard to assist teams in identifying program needs and areas for 

improvement. The ECQUIP team should also review any QF Improvement Plans and LEA Literacy 

Plans as part of this step. 

Step 3 ~ Choose a Tool. Once the team has determined the standard for self-assessment, ADE/ECE 

strongly recommends the group augment the existing information related to the standard with data 

obtained from tools designed specifically for program and organizational assessment purposes. While 

not required, this can provide invaluable information for the team's quality improvement efforts. 

Step 4 ~ Training. Each member of the ECQUIP team and other related personnel should have the 

opportunity to receive training and information about ECQUIP, the self-assessment process, tools 

chosen, and the QF System. With funding from the grant, regional training on the ECQUIP process will 

be provided in each HNC in year one of the grant. 

Step 5 ~ Implementation of tool. Each team determines the breadth and depth of administration of the 

tools used in order to gather data useful to the team. All participating members should have a working 

knowledge of any local tools utilized, the ECQUIP rubric, the QF Improvement plans, as well as LEA 

Literacy Plans. Additionally, members should know the standards of quality as outlined in the PGHQ 

that meet, at minimum, the twelve elements of high quality preschool programming. 

Step 6 ~ Review area identified for improvement Based on the results of any formal or informal 

assessments, QF assessments and Improvement Plan, and Title I improvement plans or local literacy 

plans, the team makes decisions related to the program's needs and determines future direction of the 

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improvement process. 

Step 7 ~ Determine Strategies for Improvement and Create Enhancement Plan. Using the information 

gathered through the ECQUIP, the team completes a Quality Enhancement Plan and submits it to 

ADE/ECE through the Arizona LEA Tracker (ALEAT) system. The intent of the Quality Enhancement 

Plan is to assist ECQUIP teams with their long range planning for continuous quality improvement. 

The Quality Enhancement plans are monitored annually by the ADE ECPS through a desk review and 

when applicable, an on-site visit. 

Step 8 ~ Reporting. Each LEA reports on the improvements generated through the HNC's ECQUIP 

process each year on their Quality Enhancement Plan via the ALEAT and reviewed annually by staff. 

In 2015, the ADE ECE unit provided professional development to the HNCs on the ECQUIP process 

to ensure all PDG participants understood the process. PDG funds were used to pay for the travel of 

the ADE ECPS to conduct ECQUIP professional development, as well as to conduct on-site technical 

assistance. As a result, all PDG sub-grantees received needed training and were able to assemble 

their ECQUIP teams to start the ECQUIP process. 

2. Expanding High-Quality Preschool Programs in Each High-Need Community (Selection 

Criteria D of application) 

Describe the progress the State has made during the reporting year to implement and sustain 

voluntary high quality preschool programs for eligible children in two or more High-Need Communities 

(Selection Criteria D(4) of the application) that include ALL structural elements listed below that are 

included in the definition of High-Quality Preschool Programs. States should include detailed 

information on ALL structural elements. 

High staff qualifications, including a teacher with a bachelor's degree in early childhood 

education or a bachelor's degree in any field with a State-approved alternative pathway, 

which may include coursework, clinical practice, and evidence of knowledge of content and 

pedagogy relating to early childhood, and teaching assistants with appropriate credentials; 

✔

✔	 High-quality professional development for all staff; 

✔	 A child-to-instructional staff ratio of no more than 10 to 1; 

✔	 A class size of no more than 20 with, at a minimum, one teacher with high staff qualifications; 

✔	 A Full-Day program; 

ED 524B Page 19 of 45 
✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Inclusion of children with disabilities to ensure access to and full participation in all 

opportunities; 

Developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive instruction and evidencebased curricula, and learning environments that are aligned with the State Early Learning and 

Development Standards, for at least the year prior to kindergarten entry; 

Individualized accommodations and supports so that all children can access and participate 

fully in learning activities; 

Instructional staff salaries that are comparable to the salaries of local K-12 instructional staff; 

Program evaluation to ensure continuous improvement; 

On-site or accessible Comprehensive Services for children and community partnerships that 

promote families access to services that support their children's learning and development; 

and 

Evidence-based health and safety standards. 

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Please describe the progress the State has made in establishing High-Quality Preschool Programs 

that include ALL structural elements listed above that are evidence-based and nationally recognized 

as important for ensuring program quality. 

All of the structural elements of high-quality listed were addressed in our informational and orientation 

meetings prior to the grant application process. Each prospective sub-grantee used a worksheet to 

determine how they could participate with or without changes. The elements are also listed in the 

"Preschool Development Grant Guidance Manual". Also each HNC has an Early Childhood Program 

Specialist (ECPS) that works with them to assist them in meeting the requirements of the grant. The 

ADE ECPS works directly with the coordinator or director of the sub-grantee program to ensure that all 

of the elements of quality are being met. The ADE ECPS also works with the HNC ECQUIP/COP 

Team to provide any technical assistance, professional development or resources that are needed to 

accomplish the tasks of the grant. Detailed below is the progress we have made in each area. 

High staff qualifications, including a teacher with a bachelor's degree in early childhood 

education or a bachelor's degree in any field with a State-approved alternative pathway, which 

may include coursework, clinical practice, and evidence of knowledge of content and 

pedagogy relating to early childhood, and teaching assistants with appropriate credentials; 

Administration of this grant funding falls under certain statutory requirements. Specifically, any entity 

receiving the Preschool Development Grant are bound by Arizona Administrative Code R7-2-612 

which requires either a provisional or standard early childhood education certificate for those 

individuals teaching in early childhood education programs. Guidance was provided in our original 

PDG application. Those staff already with an ECE or ECSE certification or endorsement will receive 

weighted points on ADE's rubric for funding allocations. See attachment "High Staff Qualifications and 

Salaries." While not all staff may meet this qualification at the present time, the goal is to improve the 

quality of programming through the attainment of certification by the end of the grant period. In this 

instance, an Education Attainment Plan must be submitted for ADE approval. Once submitted, the 

Education Attainment Plan will be reviewed for approval. In order to obtain approval a Curriculum 

Check Sheet issued by an Institute of Higher Education must be submitted with the plan. This 

Education Attainment Plan must be updated and submitted by programs to ADE/ECE for approval 

annually. An example of the attainment plan was included in our original application. Sub-grantees 

must make and document every effort for recruitment of most highly qualified staff. 

In our original application, we wrote we would invest in College Scholarships for Early Childhood 

Professionals with funding from the PDG, with the expected results of supporting continuing education 

and degree completion to elevate and professionalize the field, and to assist with recruiting and 

retaining a quality early childhood workforce, and supporting and increasing the quality of services 

provided to young children. This process took longer than we anticipated. The agreement we entered 

into with FTF was finalized late in the year, as was the identification of the administrative home for the 

scholarships program. However, intense work was done to ready the roll out of the scholarships 

ED 524B Page 21 of 45 
 

 

 

 

 

opportunity for the spring 2016 semester. The intent of this evidence-informed professional 

development strategy is to provide access to higher education for the early childhood workforce 

working directly with, or on behalf of, young children birth through age five who already have their AA 

and are ready to continue with their BA and ECE Certification. 

High-quality professional development for all staff; 

All programs participating in PDG must have their staff enroll in the "Arizona Early Childhood 

Workforce Registry" (Registry). The Registry is one component of the Arizona Early Childhood Career 

and Professional Development Network, which can be found at www.azearlychildhood.org.Through 

the Registry, staff are able to locate and register for accepted professional development opportunities 

made available by other early childhood professionals, training organizations, pre-service and inservice professional development providers, the Department of Education, institutes of higher 

education, etc. The administrative home of the Registry ensures that the professional development 

opportunities and facilitators meet a certain level of quality. All of the regionally-assigned Early 

Childhood Program Specialists working at ADE are registered facilitators on the Registry and the 

professional development opportunities provided by ADE/ECE are listed on the Registry. Additionally, 

ADE/ECE conducted a survey of the PDG HNCs to get an idea of what professional development may 

be needed within each HNC. Subsequently, each HNC wrote a professional development growth plan 

based on the needs of their staff and the community. 

A child-to-instructional staff ratio of no more than 10 to 1; A class size of no more than 20 with, 

at a minimum, one teacher with high staff qualifications; 

Although Code R9-5-404 of Arizona's Child Care Licensure Regulations establishes a 1:15 teacher to 

student ratio for 4-year old children, the Program Guidelines for High Quality (PGHQ) establishes a 

higher level of quality as a 1:10 teacher-to-child ratio for 4-year old children. The PGHQ also 

recognizes that these ratios may be lowered based on the needs of children with disabilities in order to 

ensure appropriate, meaningful inclusionary practices are being implemented. In addition, the PGHQ 

establishes the group size maximum to be 20 children enrolled per group of 4-year olds. ADE will 

closely monitor ratios and group sizes of programs under this grant as it is truly reflective of what is 

needed to provide high-quality experiences for children (See PGHQ pages 10-11). Subgrantees must 

maintain ratio and class size during funding of PDG hours or risk losing funding. During this report 

period no violations of this child-to-instructional staff ratio was observed or reported. 

A Full-Day program; 

Sub-grantees operating under this funding are required to enroll children for a minimum number of 

hours per day, a minimum number of days per week and for a minimum number of program days per 

year. Program services must be provided for 9 to 10 months and outlined in the sub-grantees 

proposal. The school year should align with the K-3 calendar. In 2015, children were enrolled in either 

a full day or part day of service based on the following definitions and requirements: 

ED 524B Page 22 of 45 
 

 

 

 

 

• A full day of service for children is defined as a minimum of 4 days a week, 6 hours per day for 

a total of at least 24 hours per week. 

• A part day of service for children is defined as less than 24 hours per week, with a minimum of 

3 hours per day, 4 days a week or a total of at least 12 hours per week over at least 4 days. 

(This option will not be available in the 2016-2017 year. Part day services were available to 

some programs in 2015 to build infrastructure and to ready themselves to provide full day 

programming in year two. Next year, all programs understand that they must operate as fullday programs. This does not prevent programs such as Head Start from funding half the day 

with HS funds and the other half of the day with PDG funds to create a full day program.) 

Inclusion of children with disabilities to ensure access to and full participation in all 

opportunities; 

One of the outcomes of the PDG is to increase the number of children with identified specials needs 

receiving their services in their least restrictive environment settings. Therefore, sub-grantees will be 

required to serve no less than 2 children with identified special needs for every 18 children whom may 

not have identified with special needs. Exemptions (for example, 1 child instead of 2) may be applied 

for small family child care. In our original application we indicated we would support sub-grantees with 

meeting this ambitious goal in two specific ways: the support of Quality First Inclusion Specialists and 

technical assistance. 

As participants in our Tiered Quality Rating Improvement System, Quality First, sub-grantees have the 

support of Inclusion Specialists. These are child development and special education specialists who 

provide consultation to facilitate the inclusion of children with special needs by offering assessment 

and technical assistance. Supports include onsite consultation and training to promote early screening 

activities, identify children who need follow-up assessment and make classroom modifications to meet 

the needs of children with special needs. 

Additionally, sub-grantees are receiving technical assistance from an ADE Early Childhood Program 

Specialist assigned to their area. This technical assistance includes assistance needed with making 

modifications to the environment to enable meaningful participation for all students, assistance with 

instructional strategies or modalities to enable meet the learning needs of students, and/or 

professional development on how to make accommodations or adaptations along a continuum to meet 

the needs of children with various types of disabilities and levels of severity. 

Each HNC has identified, on a graphic organizer, the local LRE continuum placement options for their 

local IEP teams. Going through this process has allowed sub-grantees within an HNC to recognize 

the various options for children with special needs and to recognize themselves as one of those 

options. Also, sub-grantees have received technical assistance on the Child Find process from their 

local school districts with the HNCs. 

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Developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive instruction and evidence 

based curricula, and learning environments that are aligned with the State Early Learning and 

Development Standards, for at least the year prior to kindergarten entry; 

As part of the PDG, sub-grantees have received technical assistance on program practices that 

include developmentally appropriate practices, curriculum, and environment. At the initial PDG 

orientation meetings, representatives from each sub-grantee were given copies of the documents 

used by ADE-ECE including: Program Guidelines for High Quality Early Education: Birth through 

Kindergarten (PGHQ), Arizona's Infant and Toddler Developmental Guidelines (I/TDG), Arizona Early 

Learning Standards (AzELS), the Early Childhood Quality Improvement Practices (ECQUIP) and the 

Preschool Development Grant Guidance Manual (PDGGM). The PGHQ outlines what a quality 

program should look like, specifically Guideline 3.0 Program Practices: Curriculum, Environment, and 

Child Assessment, outlines what a program should be doing to provide high quality programming for 

children. The PGHQ addresses the twelve elements of high quality preschool program so receipt of 

the PGHQ indicates receipt of the twelve elements of high quality preschool program. As the grant 

progresses, directors and coordinators will be provided professional development regarding the 

PGHQ, with an emphasis on the twelve elements of high quality preschool programming The 

Introduction to the Program Guidelines professional development module has been recorded as a 

webinar so that those that have not already attended an introduction to the document can easily 

access the module. 

Additionally, each sub-grantee is enrolled in Quality First. As a program in Quality First, each subgrantee has a coach that is also providing technical assistance in preparation for the Early Childhood 

Environmental Rating Scale-Revised and Classroom Assessment Scoring System assessments. 

These tools are used as quality measurement instruments. In addition to a Quality First coach, each 

sub-grantee has access to other professional supports through the TQRIS system such as inclusion 

coaches, mental health consultants, and health consultants. The ADE ECPS are also available to 

offer technical assistance and professional development to the director and staff in each program. 

Individualized accommodations and supports so that all children can access and participate 

fully in learning activities; 

All sub-grantees were required to enroll their students on Teaching Strategies GOLD. This valid and 

reliable instrument is used to conduct on-going progress monitoring to continuously assess children's 

growth and development. The data collected from the tool guides teacher's lesson planning and 

grouping to meet the needs of each child in the classroom. In addition, this aligns with Arizona's use 

of the Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) approach to individualizing instruction and support for 

each student. MTSS requires those adults working with children to analyze various forms of data to 

provide support and intervention for all children as needed. This data may be as reported by parents 

or students, anecdotal, observational, formative, or summative. 

ED 524B Page 24 of 45 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructional staff salaries that are comparable to the salaries of local K-12 instructional staff; 

During each PDG informational and orientation meetings, perspective participants were informed of 

this requirement of the grant. Local school districts were asked to share the salary scale for their 

kindergarten teachers. In addition, it was included in the PDG Guidance Manual: “As Arizona works to 

create a specialized workforce that has a Teaching Certificate through the ADE, it is expected that 

those professionals be paid a wage comparable to the Kindergarten teacher with the same certification 

requirements. Improved expertise and compensatory pay in preschool classrooms will result in 

improved retention rates of highly effective teachers and continuity of care for young children enrolled 

in early care and education programs. Additionally, in ECE classrooms where instructional support 

staff play such a critical role engaging students, it is necessary to improve their educational attainment 

level; thus requiring commensurate levels of pay. It is expected that the preschool instructional aids 

salary mirror that of a K-12 instructional support staff.” When programs filled out their grant 

applications through our Grants Management System, they had to list salaries of staff. The ADE ECPS 

reviewed the grants to make sure that programs were following the compensation requirement. See 

attachment "High Staff Qualifications and Salaries." 

To ensure the salaries of the PDG instructional staff matched that of the K-12 instructional staff, the 

ADE ECPS reviewed the average salaries of the kindergarten teachers in the HNCS (as provided on 

the district websites) and compared them to the salaries of the PDG instructional staff. A chief factor 

that is considered when reviewing the salaries is the level of education of the instructor. Once the PDG 

instructional staff member's education mirrors that of the district's kindergarten teacher, their salaries 

must be comparable. 

Program evaluation to ensure continuous improvement; 

Each sub-grantee is required to enroll in Quality First. Through Quality First. Each sub-grantee that 

had not received a star rating prior to PDG participation will be assessed using ECERS-R and CLASS. 

At this time, all sub-grantees have enrolled in Quality First and are beginning to receive their visits 

from coaches. They will be notified of their expected dates for the ECERS-R and CLASS 

assessments. Please note that a program must receive their ECERS-R assessment and score 

(indicating they have passed and can move on to the next phase) before they continue on to CLASS 

assessment. 

In addition, the ADE ECPS will conduct the ADE Early Childhood Quality Improvement Practices 

(ECQUIP) monitoring. During this reporting period, programs received professional development on 

the ECQUIP process and received a webinar on the PDG-specific indicators for monitoring. The ADEECPS have been working with their programs to prepare them for the monitoring. The monitoring tool 

for the PDG-specific indicators includes all of the requirements for the grant that the sub-grantees are 

responsible for. In this first year, all sub-grantees are being monitored for compliance. Any areas of 

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non-compliance will require an action plan and a follow up. 

On-site or accessible Comprehensive Services for children and community partnerships that 

promote families' access to services that support their children's learning and development; 

In Arizona, a student's placement in her/his least restrictive environment, child find, and family 

engagement are required comprehensive services. The ADE-ECPS work closely with each subgrantee to provide technical assistance in completing the requested tasks. All sub-grantees have 

received professional development on least restrictive environments and child find. The local school 

district in each HNC has assisted programs with these services. All sub-grantees received a "Child 

Find Analysis" template to be used to evaluate their child find system. Sub-grantees are required to 

upload this document to the ADE Arizona Local Education Agency Tracker (ALEAT) system. By 

uploading to the ALEAT system, the ADE-ECPS will be able to review the analysis and provide 

additional technical assistance and professional development as needed. In addition, an inclusion 

specialist may assist in providing services and resources to sub-grantees 

. 

The state level HNC community of practice has developed a tool to assess family engagement (the 

Family Engagement Self-Assessment). It incorporates the elements of family engagement outlined by 

the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), ADE's ECQUIP rubric, and the 

program Guidelines for High Quality. Once a program has assessed their own family engagement 

practices, they have a form to create a "Family Engagement Action Plan". Both the self-assessment 

and action plan will be uploaded to the ALEAT system. Once again, this is a way for the ADE-ECPS 

to access the action plans and self-assessments in order to provide appropriate technical assistance 

and professional development based on their data. 

For other comprehensive services, each HNC is required to look at the needs of their local families 

and communities to determine what they need to provide. They are highly encouraged to be a part of 

the local First Things First Regional Partnerships Councils to obtain additional resources. 

Evidence-based health and safety standards. 

Sub-grantees were required to enroll and participate in the Arizona Department of Health Services 

Empower Program. By enrolling in Empower, the sub-grantees pledged to adopt the ten standards 

that encourage active play, practice sun safety, support healthy eating, promote good oral health 

habits, prevent exposure to second-and third-hand smoke, and provide staff three hours of 

professional development on Empower topics. To demonstrate participation, sub-grantees wrote 

policies for each of the ten standards as a statement of their intent or commitment to each standard. 

The benefits of being an Empower program include; reduced licensing fees, state-issued Empower 

facility designation, an Empower Pack of ready-to-use resources, and an Empower Guidebook. The 

Empower Guidebook provides information on each of the standards and sample policies for centers to 

use or to adapt. A link to the guidebook was included in our original application. The ADE-ECPS 

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provided technical assistance as needed in writing the policies for the Empower standards. 

In addition, each program is required to be licensed and be in good standing with licensing. The 

licensing standards are based on safety. Sub-grantees are required to use the Program Guidelines for 

High Quality, specifically Program Guidelines 2.4 (Daily schedules and routines effectively ensure 

children's health and safety throughout each program day.), 6.1 (The program will assess and meet 

children's general health status and developmental needs.), 6.2 (The parent education portion of the 

program includes a component on children's health, nutrition, and well-being by supporting families 

with information.), 6.3 (A variety of nutritious, appealing and high quality meals and snacks are 

provided each day). 

In 2015, a significant amount of work happened at the local level in each high-need community (HNC). 

In the scope of work, the expectations of the work for the HNCs was delineated and HNCs were held 

accountable for the completion of targeted objectives, projects, and activities. Each HNC developed 

their own local community of practice (COP) and the ADE ECE Unit convened a state level COP. For 

the state level COP, each HNC identified at least one member to represent the HNC at state level 

COP meetings. The intent and purpose of the state level COP was to serve as an opportunity for HNC 

members to regularly network and work collaboratively with one another on issues that may be 

common to the group. Through this group, consistent work on implementing high-quality preschool 

programs for eligible children was able to be accomplished in each of the HNCs. Each component 

below was addressed: 

Early Learning and Development Standards 

In 2015, all sub-grantees in each HNC were able to request professional development on any of the 

documents in Arizona's continuum of early learning documents: Infant Toddler Developmental 

Guidelines, the Arizona Early Learning Standards, and the Program Guidelines for High-Quality 

Education: Birth through Kindergarten. Additionally, sub-grantees could elect to receive professional 

development on any of the other topics offered in the catalogue of professional development offered 

by the ADE ECE unit. 

Program Standards that are consistent with a high-quality preschool program 

In 2015, all sub-grantees in each HNC received professional development on the Program Guidelines 

for High-Quality: Birth through Kindergarten, either face-to-face or through a webinar. The webinar 

was recorded so it could be easily accessed in the future by sub-grantees. 

Programs for children with disabilities and English learners, including workforce development 

for support of those programs 

An important aspect of ensuring smooth transitions for children and families receiving services under 

Part C to services under Part B is the opportunity for professionals in both agencies (AzEIP and ADE), 

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as well as members of other agencies in Arizona's ECE system, to meet annually at an early 

childhood special education (ECSE) conference. While an ECSE summit was not held in 2015, the 

planning for a springtime ECSE summit began. With funding from the grant, this joint summit is being 

organized to bring in national and local presenters to provide high-quality professional development 

that meets the needs of the ECE/ECSE professional community. Topics to be addressed at this 

summit include transitions to and from the various ECE programs, family support and engagement in 

all levels of decision-making on behalf of young children, strategies for early literacy with infants and 

toddlers, infant mental health, school-readiness, as well as many others. All PDG sub-grantees in 

each HNC will have the opportunity to attend this summit at no additional cost to the sub-grantees. 

Methods to determine the availability of high-quality preschool programs, including private and 

faith-based providers and Head Start programs 

In 2015, all sub-grantees in each HNC were required to participate in their local education agency's 

Early Childhood Quality Improvement Practices (ECQUIP) process. The first step of the ECQUIP 

process is for the LEA to assemble a team and that team should include representatives of their 

community partners including private child care providers, faith-based providers, and Head Start 

programs. Through this collaborative process sub-grantees were able to meet with their local partners 

to determine the availability of high-quality preschool programs, or to determine what steps would 

need to be taken to make those programs available to more eligible children. 

Preschool teacher education and inclusion of early childhood education and development in 

teacher certification and/or requirements for licensure 

Administration of this grant funding falls under certain statutory requirements. Specifically, any entity 

receiving the Preschool Development Grant are bound by Arizona Administrative Code R7-2-612 

which requires either a provisional or standard early childhood education certificate for those 

individuals teaching in early childhood education programs. Guidance was provided in our original 

PDG application. While not all staff in every sub-grantee in each HNC may meet the qualification at 

the present time, the goal is to improve the quality of programming through the attainment of 

certification by the end of the grant period. In this instance, an Education Attainment Plan must be 

submitted for ADE approval. Once submitted, the Education Attainment Plan will be reviewed for 

approval. In order to obtain approval a Curriculum Check Sheet issued by an Institute of Higher 

Education must be submitted with the plan. This Education Attainment Plan must be updated and 

submitted by programs to ADE/ECE for approval annually. An example of the attainment plan was 

included in our original application. Sub-grantees must make and document every effort for 

recruitment of most highly qualified staff. At each orientation meeting in 2015, this teacher certification 

requirement was emphasized and technical assistance on the Education Attainment Plan was 

provided as necessary. For 2015 data, see attachment "High Staff Qualifications and Salaries." 

Improvements to teacher and administrator early education training programs and professional 

development 

ED 524B Page 28 of 45 
 

 

In 2015, all sub-grantees in each HNC received professional development on the Child Find process, 

local referral procedures, and federal mandates. Additionally, all teachers and administrators in the 

HNCs had the opportunity to attend any or all of the following large professional development 

sessions. Each program in each HNC were allowed to send 2 attendees at no additional cost to their 

programs. Since the large professional development opportunities were made available to the larger 

ECE community, non-PDG participants were charged a fee to attend. 

• The ADE ECE School Readiness Summit, June 11-13, 2015. 

This 3 day professional development opportunity targeted professionals working within settings 

that support the early part of the educational continuum. Key features of the Summit included 

the recently completed Arizona's School Readiness Framework document and the opportunity 

to engage with other educational professionals around Arizona to establish a common 

definition of school readiness across the state. Also, there was a heavy focus on children's 

Approaches to Learning in regards to the Pre-K through kindergarten experience 

• The ADE ECE Kindergarten Transition Summit, January 21, 2015. 

This one day summit provided an opportunity for Early Childhood Quality Improvement 

Practices (ECQUIP) Teams to: 

- Learn the current research regarding kindergarten transitions. 

- Hear from a local community that has been successful with implementing a 

kindergarten transition process. 

- Design effective strategies and implementation plan with their ECQUIP teams. 

• The ADE ECE Infant Toddler Summit, February 10-11, 2015. 

In August 2013, ADE and its collaborating partners sponsored a one-day Infant Toddler 

Summit to officially release the Arizona Infant Toddler Developmental Guidelines (ITDG). 

In February 2015, we hosted a two-day summit that focused on in-depth modules of the ITDG, 

effective instructional strategies for working with infants & toddlers, including those with special 

needs, and the importance of building strong foundations that lead to school-readiness. 

Use of a statewide longitudinal data system to link preschool and elementary and secondary 

school data 

All sub-grantees in each HNC are required to use Teaching Strategies GOLD (TSG) as their ongoing 

progress monitoring tool. This aligns with the statewide use of TSG for preschool programs serving 

children with special needs. Three times a year the data is transmitted to the ADE ECE unit as a 

compliance indicator. The data collected in TSG is monitored for quality assessment measures using a 

rubric by an ADE ECPS. In 2015, this data was linked to the ADE state longitudinal data system for 

K-12, AZDash, and in years 2 through 4, the data will be in both TSG and AZDash to inform local 

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decision-making, and to support the use of data to make state-level decisions. 

A comprehensive early learning assessment system 

All sub-grantees in each HNC will be required to develop and implement a comprehensive early 

learning assessment system. The ADE ECE unit has created a guidance document and training 

modules for the appropriate use of assessment in early childhood, as well as recommendations for the 

use of data collected through effective assessment practices. 

Building preschool programs' capacity to engage parents in decisions about their children's 

education and development, help families build protective factors, and help parents support 

their children's learning at home 

In late 2015, the ADE ECE unit created a family engagement self-assessment tool to be used by all 

sub-grantees in each HNC to determine their current capacity to engage parents in decisions about 

their children's education and development, help build protective factors, and help parents support 

their children's learning at home. The family engagement self-assessment tool includes indicators from 

the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), as well as indicators from the 

ADE's ECQUIP rubric. The family engagement self-assessment will be distributed in early 2016 and 

will be used to guide the work of improving family engagement practices in years 2 and beyond. 

Building state- and community-level support for high-quality preschool programs through 

systemic linkages to other early learning programs and resources to support families, such as 

child health, mental health, family support, nutrition, child welfare, and adult education and 

training sectors 

In 2015, all sub-grantees in each HNC received technical assistance from an ADE ECPS to enroll in 

the Empower Program and to write their statements of intent or commitment to each of the ten 

standards within the Empower Program. In 2012, the ADE and other key state agencies signed a 

memorandum of understanding, recognizing that the Empower program would serve as our statewide 

established goals for child wellness. Nearly 90% of licensed child care providers in Arizona participate 

in Empower, a department of health services program that partially subsidizes child care licensing fees 

for programs that actively encourage young children to make healthy choices about nutrition and 

physical activity. Arizona was recently recognized as one of only three states utilizing high impact 

obesity prevention regulations in child care. Early learning providers that participate in the Empower 

program pledge to adopt ten standards that encourage active play, practice sun safety, support 

healthy eating, promote good oral health habits, prevent exposure to second-and third-hand smoke, 

and provide staff with three hours of professional development on Empower topics. Sub-grantees were 

required to write a policy for each of the ten standards as a statement of intent or commitment to 

implement these evidence-based health and safety standards. The benefits of being an Empower 

program include reduced licensing fees, a state-issued Empower facility designation, an Empower 

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pack of ready-to-use resources, and an Empower Guidebook which provides information on each of 

the standards and sample policies for centers to use or to adapt. 

Other activities that support the delivery of high-quality preschool programs to eligible children 

In 2015, professional development was provided to all sub-grantees on how to access ADE's Grants 

Management System, GME, since this system is used for all fiscal reporting. This reporting includes 

expenditure reports, reimbursement requests, and completion reports. Additionally, the ADE ECE 

fiscal Program Specialist recorded a webinar on the topic of budgeting for quality. The webinar was 

accessible to all sub-grantees. 

Table 6 - Selection Criteria (D)(4) from NIA 

Describe the number and percent of Eligible Children served and the cost per slot. Please explain if 

Year 1 Target from the application and Year 1 Actual in Table 6 differ, and any approved changes in 

targets for Years 2-4. 

In Table 6, we are reporting that there were 57,329 eligible children in Arizona in 2015. Of those 

eligible children, 1,624 were served in new preschool slots for a percentage of 2.8%, 311 were served 

in improved preschool slots funded with PDG and Head Start for a percentage of 0.5%, and 7 were 

served in improved preschool slots funded with PDG and other funds no Head Start for a percentage 

of 0.01% The combined total of children served in new and improved slots is 1,942 for a percentage of 

3.4%. The allocation per slot we awarded was $4,600. This allocation is to cover the expenses of 

providing a high-quality preschool program: teacher salaries, instructional assistant salaries, supplies, 

etc. 

This actual number of eligible children served is different from the target number we set in our original 

application. 

In the original application, we indicated that in year one of the grant period we would provide funding 

for 2,193 slots in the identified HNCs. However, once we received the grant funding and started to 

work with the HNCs, it became apparent that some early learning programs were not yet ready to start 

serving children in their HNCs in a capacity that meets the definition of high-quality programs. 

Specifically, some programs were not yet ready to provide full-time programming to students. In an 

effort to build good will in these communities and to help ready these programs to meet the definition 

of high-quality programs in years two, three, and four, we submitted an amendment request to use of 

some infrastructure-building funds to provide for funding of half-time slots in these few HNCs for year 

one only. 

We recognized that using funding this way in year one would cause a change in the percentage of 

overall funding spent for infrastructure and quality improvements if the rest of our application was left 

as originally written. Originally, we proposed using $52,839,427 (66% of total funding) on full-time slots 

for children. Based on the approval of our amendment request, that number decreased to $50,261,127 

(62% of total funding). Thus, we made a second request to count the investment in Professional 

Scholarships as funding for providing access to high-quality programs for students. In year one, this 

was $2 million. Additionally, we attributed the $1 million for professional development (250,000 per 

ED 524B Page 31 of 45 
year for each year of the grant period) in the same manner. Through this approved adjustment, we 

expect the overall funding spent on increasing the number and percentage of eligible children served 

in high-quality preschool programs by the end of the grant period to increase up to 67%. After 

reviewing our data we determined the transfer of funds from direct services for children to 

infrastructure and quality improvements would not have an impact on the performance measures or 

our scope of work activities. 

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3. Collaborating with Each Subgrantee and Ensuring Strong Partnerships (Selection Criteria E 

of the application) 

Describe the extent to which the State has collaborated with each Subgrantee to ensure that each 

Subgrantee is effectively implementing High-Quality Preschool Programs (Selection Criteria E 

(1-9) of the application) and how the State ensures strong partnerships between each Subgrantee 

and LEAs or other Early Learning Providers, as appropriate. 

As a requirement for an HNC to be eligible to participate in the PDG program, within each HNC, the 

local school district within the zip code areas had to agree to participate. The rationale we used is 

since these preschool children within the HNC will eventually be in the local school district, an 

agreement from the school district to participate and collaboratively work with the sub-grantees was 

necessary to ensure continuity of the quality children and families could expect when they leave 

preschool and enter K-12. 

Once the HNCs were identified and the sub-grantees within each zip code area were awarded, an 

ADE ECPS was assigned to the HNC. As outlined in the original grant application and the "Preschool 

Development Grant Guidance Manual", the ECPS would assist the sub-grantees within the HNC to 

support quality improvement efforts and facilitate collaborative relationships. The ECPS would work in 

conjunction with the Quality First coaches once they were assigned to each sub-grantee. 

The mechanism used to ensure collaborative partnerships within each HNC is the Early Childhood 

Quality Improvement Practices (ECQUIP). As described in the original grant application, ECQUIP is 

intended to be used as a self-evaluation and planning process for on-going quality improvements. The 

guidelines for conducting ECQUIP include building a team and creating an implementation plan. ADE/ 

ECE has used this system for approximately ten years with updates and revisions as needed each 

year. This tool is also used for monitoring programs. Since the PDG has additional requirements, a 

grant-specific monitoring tool was designed to address those requirements. 

The ADE ECPS were trained on the use of the monitoring tool with sub-grantees in November 2015 

and the HNCs will receive a training in January 2015 on use of the tool. The ADE ECPS have been 

reviewing the tool with their programs and setting up monitoring dates. A desk monitoring occurs 

during the grant process. First, the ADE ECPS reads through and checks the budget and program 

details of the grant. If there are questions, the ADE ECPS either calls the program or returns the grant 

application to the program for explanation or changes. Once the ADE ECPS approves the grant, it 

moves to an ADE ECE director for approval. The director reads the history and reviews the same 

items as the ADE ECPS. The director either approves the grant or disapproves with an explanation for 

changes or explanation that may still be needed. If disapproved, the grant goes back to the subgrantee for changes and they resubmit to start the process over again. One of the items that is 

addressed in this part of the grant is the budget and. specifically, the requirement to "minimize local 

administrative costs". 

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The Preschool Development Grant Guidance Manual outlines the process for providing proper 

justification for administrative costs. There are three options listed: federally approved indirect cost 

rate, submit an indirect cost proposal, and direct charge for up to 5%. This is noted in the grant 

application and reviewed. 

One of the first items for this year's ECQUIP teams that received the PDG was to be sure that all 

participating sub-grantees within the HNC were included on the teams. As we began the work, we 

discovered that there was, in some cases, more work to be completed by the sub-grantees than could 

be handled in the typical ECQUIP meetings. We also realized that there was work at the state level to 

be completed that we really wanted the HNCs to be involved in. Therefore, we created an HNC 

Community of Practice (COP). 

Each local HNC decided if they needed to have a sub-committee to address the requirements of the 

Scope of Work (SOW), or if they could do it within the regular ECQUIP meetings. For those that used 

a sub-committee, they developed local COPs. We then asked each HNC team to elect one person to 

attend (in person or via webinar) a state-level COP meeting. The state-level COP was introduced to 

PDG participants through a professional development presentation entitled, "Leading by Convening." 

At the end of the presentation, the group was asked to fill out a worksheet defining whom they may 

need at the table in order to successfully start a local COP. They completed the worksheet and began 

the state level work. The work of this group is based on the SOW Project 4. The State Level COP has 

created the following tools to be used by each HNC: Family Engagement Self-Assessment, Family 

Engagement Plan, LRE Continuum, and Child Find Analysis. After each meeting, a "communique" is 

sent to all PDG participants to keep them aware of what is happening at the state level. 

Each ECQUIP/COP team meets regularly (they determine the number of meetings). As a team, they 

make decisions for their community. Some of their work at the beginning of the year included: 

identifying criteria for most in need, recruitment strategies and sharing wait lists. In most instances, 

many of the programs already had a plan in use (Head Start or school districts) and the sub-grantees 

brought in the various plans and strategies to discuss as a team. The ECPS was there to facilitate 

these discussions. 

The ECPS explained that at the beginning this was a difficult transition. The ECPSs have typically 

been the leads in these types of discussions. However, we really wanted the HNCs to take on 

leadership roles and make decisions for their community since the sustainability of their efforts will 

depend greatly on the systemic changes they lead and their abilities to articulate their decision-making 

to their communities. First, we had a technical assistance session for our ECPS on facilitating rather 

than leading. Then, the ECPS assisted the HNCs in recognizing their own abilities as a team to 

complete the work that needed to be accomplished. 

When a program was awarded, they agreed to participate in Arizona's TQRIS system, Quality First 

(QF). Through QF, each sub-grantee either continued to work with a coach (if they were in QF prior to 

the grant) or if they were new to QF they were assigned a coach. All sub-grantees had been pulled 

ED 524B Page 34 of 45 
 

 

 

and assigned a QF coach by December 15, 2015. The QF coach for each sub-grantee has a task of 

working with the director to prepare programs for the assessments of quality used by the state: 

ECERS-R, CLASS, and the Quality First Points Scale (a local tool to measure administrative 

indicators). 

4. Alignment Within a Birth Through Third Grade Continuum (Section F of the application) 

Describe progress the State has made for alignment within a birth through third grade continuum in 

activities for birth through age five programs ((F)(1)(a-b) in the NIA) and kindergarten through third 

grade ((F)(2)(a-d) in the NIA). 

Each of the HNC's in Arizona are set up around a school district. The HNC may have the following 

programs receiving PDG funds: school district programs, Head Start, childcare, faith based programs, 

home providers, and charters. This model gives parents a true choice of where they want to see their 

children placed. When we were contacting programs to participate, we looked at lists of programs in 

each HNC area and contacted any program with a 3 Star rating or above. If there was an area with no 

programs that had a least 3 Stars, we looked at programs with 2 Stars. The preschool children that 

are receiving services will eventually be a part of the district so it was imperative that the district be a 

willing participant. The work to be accomplished by the HNC was to be completed through an already 

established system, the ECQUIP (Early Childhood Quality Improvement Practices) and/or the local 

Community of Practice (COP). 

Transitions for Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age Five 

The first step in this process was to re-tool the ECQUIP from being just a district activity to make it a 

community of practice. The ECPS in each HNC helped to bring about this transformation by facilitating 

the meetings. All of the sub-grantees in an HNC are required to participate in the ECQUIP/COP. This 

allows for uniform processes and discussions that would include any program that works with children 

birth to grade 3 within a community. 

The next step was for each ECQUIP/COP to establish a set of processes for enrolling children most in 

need, maintaining a community wait list, and recruitment. This has not been easy. Many of the 

programs saw themselves as vying for children before other programs got them. We have been able 

to show them ways to work with one another by looking at qualifications for each program. For 

example the threshold for income in Head Start and PDG are different. So children that make too 

much for Head Start could be in a PDG program or where there is a large number of three year olds 

needing space, they could go to a Head Start program or a child care program with an age 3 

classroom and leave the 4 year olds to attend a PDG program. Through this process HNC's began to 

realize that they really were working as a community for children rather than as individual agencies. It 

is still very much a work in progress. 

In the middle of this work, we realized as an agency, that we would be creating new tools as the need 

arose. Thus, we asked each local ECQUIP/COP to elect one person to attend a statewide COP. This 

would give the local programs a voice in decisions made at the state level. They also have great ideas 

ED 524B Page 35 of 45 
 

 

 

 

 

and resources that we do not necessarily have or know about. This year the state level COP has met 

4-5 times. The members can participate in person or via a webinar. They have used the Scope of 

Work Project 4 as the guide to their work. This year they have specifically established tools for child 

find and family engagement. The plan in the future is to have longer working days and meet twice a 

year. Communiques from the state level COP goes out to all programs in PDG. This way everyone 

knows what is happening even if they did not personally attend.) 

Since many of our programs are in private childcare facilities, faith-based programs, and home 

providers, we are not limited to just preschoolers that are being affected. As a result of the inclusion of 

a variety of providers, we have increased the options families have when selecting the best place for 

their child. Now when a family in the participating PDG HNCs look for preschool for their four year olds 

they can choose to put their child in a setting that meets the definition of a high-quality preschool 

program and fits their family's needs. 

We have worked with programs to make sure that they are not supplanting. We have made it very 

clear that participation in PDG is to create new or improved slots. It was made explicit that they could 

not use PDG funds to save money or to re-allocate money somewhere else. This was reviewed 

through the grant process and through technical assistance provided by the ADE ECPS. 

Transitions for Programs Serving Children from Kindergarten to Grade 3 

Each district in the state is required to have an ECQUIP (Early Childhood Quality Improvement 

Practices) Team. The team is made up of instructional staff from preschool and grades K -3, parents, 

administrators and community partners. ECQUIP was designed to assure quality, accountability, and 

collaboration among schools receiving early childhood funding through ADE. Through this process 

each district completes a self-assessment yearly and receive an ECQUIP validation visit from ADE/ 

ECE. The activities completed by an ECQUIP team brings the various grade levels together to look at 

how they are working to improve outcomes for children grades preschool through 3rd grade. 

In Arizona, the assessment tool used for preschool is Teaching Strategies GOLD. Teachers use the 

data collected to plan for individual children and lesson planning. Programs can use it to plan for 

teacher professional development and materials needed in the classroom. All teachers and 

administrators are trained on the use of the tool. When ADE/ECE monitors we look at the quality of 

the information included in children's portfolios based on a "Child Observation and Portfolio Rubric". 

Technical assistance is offered where needed. In addition to child assessment to ensure children are 

well-prepared for kindergarten, all sub-grantees participate in Quality First. Through the assessments 

conducted in QF, the quality of the classroom and teacher-child interactions are assessed. 

Professional development and technical assistance is offered to sub-grantees through our ECPS and 

the coaches at Quality First. 

There are currently multiple bills being introduced to the state legislators regarding full-day 

kindergarten. 

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One of the plans that each HNC needs to complete is the Kindergarten Transition Plan. Arizona uses 

a Kindergarten Transition Plan template designed by the ADE ECE unit and is based on the work 

conducted by Pianta and Kraft-Sayre. Several years ago, ADE/ECE hosted our first Kindergarten 

Transition Summit with Jason Downer, a colleague of Pianta's, as the keynote speaker. All of our 

kindergarten transition work is based on the Pianta and Kraft-Sayre book, "Successful Kindergarten 

Transition". 

Each ECPS has worked with their HNCs to provide technical assistance around the Kindergarten 

Transition Plan. During an ECQUIP/COP meeting, they have reviewed transition plans already in 

place with some of the sub-grantees such as school districts and/or Head Starts. After reviewing 

those plans, each HNC is developing a plan for the entire HNC to use. Each sub-grantee will be able 

to add or tweak the HNC plan to meet their local needs. 

The Arizona plan addresses the following connections: child to school, family to school, school to 

school and community to school. Each HNC develops activities around the connections that a child 

needs to be successful in Kindergarten. 

In 2015, ADE-ECE hosted a one day Kindergarten Transition Summit. In February 2016, there will be 

a follow up summit. The participants will be divided into two tracks: returning participants in a track to 

move on to the next level of transition planning and new participants will receive the module from last 

year's session to introduce them to Kindergarten Transitions. In 2015, there were approximately 200 

attendees, including the sub-grantees in the PDG programs. We expect the same in 2016. 

In addition to this work, ADE/ECE is working with Arizona's institutions of higher education (IHEs), 

both universities and community colleges, to increase the quality of teacher preparation for both the 

Early Childhood Education teaching certificate and the Early Childhood Special Education certificate. 

In May 2015, the Deputy Associate Superintendent for Early Childhood, along with a representative 

from ADE's teacher preparation program, hosted a meeting with approximately 40 representatives 

from the various IHEs. The meeting focused on generating ideas for improving the birth through age 5 

practicum experiences and student teaching placement options for students working on a birth 

through age 8 certificate. There is a focus on being connected to the teacher preparation program as 

it is essential to preparing new teachers on the definition of high-quality preschool programs that also 

has implications for K-3 programming. 

ED 524B Page 37 of 45 
 

 

Section A: Part C - Competitive Preference Priorities 

Competitive Preference Priority 1: Contributing Matching Funds (if included in the State's 

approved application. 

Describe the progress the State has made on its credible plan for obtaining and using non-Federal 

matching funds to support the implementation of its ambitious and achievable plan during the grant 

period. For progress not made in this area, please describe the State's strategies to ensure that 

measurable progress will be made by the end of the grant period. Please describe any changes made 

to the data reported in Table 7(a); explain if your Year 1 Target differs from the Year 1 Actual. 

Arizona's plan to improve the quality of the early learning experiences for its preschool aged children 

and the necessity of building strong preschool through grade 3 continuums is much larger than this 

grant. Throughout Arizona at both a state level and local level investments are being made on behalf 

of young children. It is recognized in Arizona that a strong foundation in early childhood, from birth 

through grade 3, is the key for the future of Arizona. Indeed, strong foundations are necessary if we 

expect generational change. 

In a state where 25% of high school students fail to graduate from high school in 4 years, 66% of 

children do not attend any preschool programs and 23% of our 3rd graders do not pass the AIMS 

reading assessment it is essential that Arizona target its available resources to close the learning gap 

and provide strong foundations for vulnerable children in our high needs communities. Arizona does 

not have a universal model of preschool funding, but through the FTF tobacco tax local FTF regional 

partnerships councils (RPCs) may choose to fund preschool scholarships based on the prioritized 

needs of their communities. Overall, FTF RPCs make significant investments in early childhood 

education and health throughout the state. According to the FTF annual report for 2015, eighty million 

dollars was invested in quality childcare and preschool, 34 million dollars was devoted to 

strengthening families, 19.5 million dollars supported strategies targeted toward preventative health. In 

addition, 6.8 million dollars was allocated to workforce development and training efforts and 1.3 million 

dollars was earmarked for systems coordination. This is a significant investment to the children in 

Arizona. 

FTF funds are dependent on tobacco tax revenue which is fluid and an acknowledged declining 

revenue source. Already, some FTF dollars are used to match other federal grants within the state. 

For the purposes of the grant, FTF funding will be providing the match in the form of professional 

development infrastructure. 

Competitive Preference Priority 2: Supporting the Continuum of Early Learning and 

Development (if included in the State's approved application). 

Describe progress made in creating a more seamless progression of supports and interventions from 

birth through third grade, such as high-quality infant and toddler care, home visitation, full-day 

kindergarten, and before and after care services for, at a minimum, a defined cohort of eligible children 

and their families within each high need community served by each Subgrantee. For progress not 

made in these areas, please describe the State's strategies to ensure that measurable progress will be 

made by the end of the grant period. 

Arizona recognizes that continuous and consistent high-quality learning experiences are critical to 

ED 524B Page 38 of 45 
 

 

 

 

children's success. This continuity is possible only when there is a continuum of comprehensive highquality supports and services offered to children and families. High-quality preschool programs are 

only one part of such a comprehensive ECE system. To help create smooth transitions for children 

and families from wherever it is those children may spend their first five years of life to these highquality preschool programs, Arizona's ambitious but achievable plan as outlined in its original grant 

application addresses the creation of a more seamless progression of supports and interventions from 

birth through third grade by supporting three key program areas: home visitation, Early Head Start/ 

Head Start, and early intervention. 

Area 1: Home Visitation. In September 2011, AZDHS was awarded $36 million in grant funding from 

the federal MIECHV program. This initiative has allowed for Arizona to develop a systematic approach 

for planning, funding, and collaborating efforts to provide accessible, high-quality home visiting 

services to children and families in vulnerable communities. Home visitation programs provide 

participating families of infants and toddlers with information and education on parenting, child 

development and health topics while assisting with connections to other resources or programs as 

needed. Home visitors deliver one-on-one coaching and interaction with parents or caregivers in the 

home that tailor to the needs of individual families. 

Implementation of the MIECHV grant is guided by an Interagency Leadership Team (IALT). Its 

members include ADE, the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS), AZDHS, which includes 

including the Bureau of Women and Children's Health (BWCH) and the Division of Behavioral Health 

Services (DBHS), Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), which is the State's 

Medicaid agency, Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP), and FTF, as well as consultants and 

evaluators for the MIECHV Program. The group meets monthly to dialogue about the efforts to build 

the home visiting system in a comprehensive way. The Deputy Associate Superintendent for Early 

Childhood Education is on the IALT, ensuring the interests of PDG are addressed, as well as the work 

of the HNCs being shared so home visitors in these areas are abreast of the work happening in their 

communities. 

With funding from the grant, ADE will be able to support building the capacity of home visitors through 

collaborative professional development that focuses on the Infant Toddler Developmental Guidelines. 

In 2015, the ADE ECE unit provided professional development on the Infant Toddler Developmental 

Guidelines (ITDG) to 327 professionals who work is the following settings: districts, Head Starts, 

private childcare, and in programs exempt from licensing. Combined, those professionals work with 

4,472 children. These professional development sessions included home visitors, to them with an indepth examination of the ITDG, which addresses each developmental domain for infants and toddlers, 

as well as guidance on how to use the ITDG in their work with helping to strengthen and stabilize 

families. 

Area 2: Early Head Start/Head Start. ADE is the administrative home of the Arizona Head Start 

Collaboration Office. In our ambitious but achievable plan, we indicated the HSCO will continue to 

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build a streamlined, organized system of support for HNCs through facilitation of sustained, 

collaborative relationships among Early Head Start and Head Start programs, LEAs, private childcare 

providers, MIECHV home visitors, Part C providers, and other key stakeholders. With funding from the 

grant, ADE was able to support building the capacity of infant and toddler teachers and instructional 

aides through targeted professional development that focused on the ITDG. In 2015, 44 teachers from 

Head Start were trained on the use of at least one domain of the ITDG. This professional development 

provided infant and toddler teachers and instructional aides with in-depth examination of the ITDG, 

which addresses each developmental domain for infants and toddlers, as well as guidance on how to 

implement the ITDG in their classrooms. 

Additionally, in 2015, the ADE ECE unit, in collaboration with the Head Start Collaboration Office, 

provided a joint summit focused on supporting professionals who work with or on behalf of infants and 

toddlers in Arizona. This two-day summit focused on in-depth modules of the ITDG, effective 

instructional strategies for working with infants & toddlers, including those with special needs, and the 

importance of building strong foundations that lead to school-readiness. The summit was open to Early 

Head Start and Head Start teachers and administrators, private child care providers, MIECHV home 

visitors, IDEA Part C providers, and other members of the HNCs who serve a role in Arizona's ECE 

system. 

Area 3: Early Intervention. Arizona recognizes the importance of providing high-quality transition 

experiences to children and their families receiving early intervention services under Part C the IDEA 

as they move to preschool services under Part B, section 619 of the IDEA. The components of a highquality transition plan include extensive family engagement, collaboration between early intervention 

providers and preschool programs, and intentional planning. Currently, there is an Intergovernmental 

Agreement (IGA) between the DES AzEIP and the ADE that helps to clarify the transition requirements 

for children transitioning from Part C to Part B. Arizona's ambitious but achievable plan includes 

providing funding for improving the Part C and Part B partnership in two key ways: targeted, 

collaborative professional development and an annual conference to be held each year of the grant 

funding period. 

An important aspect of ensuring smooth transitions for children and families receiving services under 

Part C to services under Part B is the opportunity for professionals in both agencies (AzEIP and ADE), 

as well as members of other agencies in Arizona's ECE system, to meet annually at an early 

childhood special education (ECSE) conference. While an ECSE summit was not held in 2015, the 

planning for a springtime ECSE summit began. With funding from the grant, this joint summit is being 

organized to bring in national and local presenters to provide high-quality professional development 

that meets the needs of the ECE/ECSE professional community. Topics to be addressed at this 

summit include transitions to and from the various ECE programs, family support and engagement in 

all levels of decision-making on behalf of young children, strategies for early literacy with infants and 

toddlers, infant mental health, school-readiness, as well as many others. 

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Competitive Preference Priority 3: Creating New High Quality State Preschool Slots (if included 

in the State's approved application). 

Describe progress made in using at least 50% of the State's federal grant award to create new State 

Preschool Program slots that will increase the overall number of new slots in State Preschool 

Programs that meet the definition of High-Quality Preschool Programs. For progress not made in this 

area, please describe the State's strategies to ensure that measurable progress will be made by the 

end of the grant period. 

In 2015, Arizona used 60.4% of the funding it received to create new and improved state preschool 

program slots to increase the overall number of new slots in state preschool programs that meet the 

definition of high-quality preschool programs. Our ambitious target was 71.2% and while it was not 

met, we are proud of what we accomplished to provide direct high-quality programming to Arizona's 

four year olds. Since Arizona does not have a state preschool program, we do not have data for 

"improved slots." However, we had 311 slots that were braided with Head Start funding to create high 

quality full day opportunities for students. 

Additionally, inherent in the early childhood system is the principle that families have the right to 

choose how they access a high-quality through a mixed delivery system. This principle allows for 

family choice of public school programs as well as private, for profit, non-profit or faith based options. 

Utilizing a mixed delivery system, where all programs meet at minimum the twelve elements of high 

quality preschool program, we were able to offer an array of choices for families in 2015. PDG 

participating sub-grantees were family providers, Head Start classrooms, district preschool 

classrooms, private child care providers, and even faith-based providers. 

Arizona's plan is to continue increasing the number of new state preschool program slots that meet the 

definition of high-quality preschool programs. Our goal is to increase the total slots in year 2 to 2,608. 

By year three, with the addition of another 434 slots to newly improved high-quality programs, the total 

number of new slots will increase to 3,043. By year four, the addition of 434 slots will bring the total up 

to 3,478 new slots by the end of the 4 year grant. ADE will continually work with the HNCs to identify 

new early learning providers as the current HNCs near capacity and have diminished waiting lists. 

ED 524B Page 41 of 45 
Section B: Budget Information 

Budget and Sustainability (Section G in the application) 

1. Please provide a brief explanation of any discrepancies between the State's approved budget and 

its total expenditures for the reporting year. Explain carry-over funds that have not been expended or 

obligated from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015. 

We have unobligated funds due to the period of the grant being January 1 through December 31; the Arizona 

Department of Education operates on a different fiscal year (July1 through June 30). Thus, while ADE received 

grant funds in January and was able to begin using funds for administrative purposes, the funds to provide 

services to children (a substantially greater percentage of the funds) did not disburse until July 1. 

The categories of the budget that were under unspent or unobligated are: 

• Travel: $18,166 - The Early Childhood Program Specialists did not start traveling to the High Need 

Communities to the work outlined in their Scope of Work until after July1, 2015. 

• Equipment: $7,777.64 - 2 laptops and 2 projectors were purchased for the Early Childhood Program 

Specialists; we are waiting to get a quote for a third projector and wireless remote controls for 

presentations. The remaining funds will be invested in Professional Development for our HNCs. 

• Supplies: $2,158.14 - Office supplies and materials for the kindergarten transition conference were 

purchased, but the consumable materials for the Professional Development that requires it hasn't 

yet begun. Program Specialists are spending much of their time getting HNCs ready for the systems 

building part of their work through building relationships and providing technical assistance grant 

applications, the Early Childhood Quality Improvement Practices (ECQUIP) process, participation in 

the TQRIS (Quality First), monitoring, assessment, providing comprehensive services, etc. 

• Contractual: 

• Professional Development: $99,444.67 is unobligated. We plan to expend all of these funds by 

the end of summer 2016. We have three conferences scheduled for the coming calendar year 

2016; contracts with vendors are pending. The conferences are: Supporting the Young Learner 

with Special Education Needs --April 5th-6th, 2016; and Summer Conference on the Whole 

Child --June 8-10, 2016. For all PDG subgrantees, the costs of these conferences will be paid for 

with these Professional Development funds. 

o Institutions of Higher Ed: $95,000. The work with the Arizona Institutions of Higher Ed 

was put on hold when there was a transition in leadership in ADE's Early Childhood 

Unit. The initial plan was to meet with the institutions and provide intense PD to them 

through the summer and to provide incentives for changes to coursework in the fall. 

However, the two people doing this work were unable to execute this part of the plan. 

The former Deputy Associate Superintendent (DAS), Amy, led the work and was 

supported by the Director of Early Childhood Special Education, Nicol. Amy left state 

agency work and Nicol went on maternity leave at the same time and the work did not 

continue. In September, upon return from maternity leave, Nicol became the new DAS 

and plans to resume work with the IHEs in January. A meeting to determine next steps 

is planned for January 15, 2016. 

o Data Linkages; $$160,935.52: The funds designated for data linkages work this year 

went unspent because of issues with ADE's information technology (IT) Unit. One of the 

biggest projects for this year, moving historical data from Teaching Strategies GOLD, 

was halted while the ADE IT unit worked to secure an FTE to work on the project. 

ED 524B Page 42 of 45 
 

Subsequently, there were three changes in Project Managers, and three changes to the 

system architect. Additionally, the proposal to spend this amount of money in year one 

was written on the premise that the ADE longitudinal system was ready for a data 

transfer; it was not and the people to do the work of readying the system were not in 

place. 

• Indirect Costs: $21,630.59 - The Arizona Department of Education operates on a different fiscal 

year (July1 through June 30). Indirect costs will be fully charged at the end of the Fiscal Year. 

• Funds to be Distributed to the Subgrantee: 

o Startup Funds: $113,361.62 - While we requested and were awarded funds for startup 

programs, what we estimated the costs to be were not expended. While 18 Programs 

were helped to start a PDG classroom, there were some areas in which we anticipated 

putting PDG classrooms that simply were not able to. We hope to help at least one 

additional provider become a startup program in one of the HNCs next year. 

o PDG Slots: $ 1,154,600 - While our grant administrator and leadership in the HNCs worked 

diligently to recruit students and teachers, 251 student slots were unfilled. We had 7 providers 

withdraw the program due to the requirements of the grant, and several providers weren't 

able to fill their slots due to recruitment of staff. 

• Funds set aside for Technical Assistance: $18,799.01 -The funds for technical assistance have 

not been used because much of the work the Early Childhood Program Specialists have been 

doing with the HNCs are related to setting up the local communities of practice and do not yet 

require funds. 

2. Please describe any substantive changes that you anticipate to the State's Preschool Development 

Grant budget in the upcoming fiscal year (January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016). 

Arizona would like to increase the dollar amount we allotted for each slot. Currently, we awarded $4,600 per 

slot per year to programs. We have learned over the course of the first year that this allocation just isn't 

enough, particularly for our in-home family providers. We would like to propose increasing the allocation to 

$5,000 per slot per year. If we invest $1.2 M of the carryover in increasing the PPE we would be able to reach 

our target of 2,608 slots and in years 3 and 4 we would increase by 200 new slots and not 400 slots how we had 

planned in our initial application. The overall impact to our goals is a decrease of 435 slots over the 4 years, 

which equates to 8% decrease in slots and a decrease of 9% to number of children served. 

3. Describe the State's progress on its plan for sustainability at the end of the grant period to ensure 

that the number and percentage of Eligible Children with access to High-Quality Preschool Programs 

in the State will be maintained or expanded, including to additional High-Need Communities. 

To ensure the number and percentage of eligible children with access to high-quality preschool 

programs in the state will be maintained or expanded beyond the end of the PDG grant period, efforts 

around sustainability have been embedded into many of the activities outlined in the scope of work. 

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Sustainability is also a driving force for the building and maintenance of on-going relationships with 

other early childhood education professionals and organizations in our state. Part of the work of the 

Deputy Associate Superintendent for Early Childhood Education, who oversees the PDG at ADE, is to 

provide guidance and information to statewide partners working to make ECE a priority in Arizona. 

Thus, we are ensuring sustainability, statewide coordination with partner on ECE systems-building 

work, and coordination with institutes of higher education. 

Arizona received significant support for the grant application at the time it was written. This 

demonstration of support will help build the early childhood infrastructure in specific, targeted ways as 

well as allow for increased access to high-quality preschool programs in the HNCs. Our goal continues 

to be to take advantage of the grant opportunity now, and with advocacy work through relationships, 

partnerships, and collaborations, build support for future years when Arizona is ready to consider 

additional funding for preschool expansion. 

Due to the generosity of Arizona's philanthropic community, Arizona has been identified as a BUILD 

state. Build Arizona is comprised of both public and private sector leaders who have come together to 

make early childhood a priority. Representatives from government agencies, business, K-12 schools, 

child care, and higher education have come together to strategize specific goals for moving forward an 

early childhood education agenda. Goals are focused on communicating the importance of the early 

childhood investment, improved access to quality early learning experiences across a wide spectrum, 

improved professional development, increased preventative health initiatives with a focus on school 

readiness, and creating sustainable systems that support Arizona's children in early grade success. 

This group is convened to look at the ECE system as a whole with focused attention on issues of 

access and equity. The Deputy Associate Superintendent for Early Childhood Education is a member 

of the Build Arizona committee, ensuring a voice representing the interests of PDG is at the table. 

The Early Childhood Development and Health Board, which is Arizona's State Advisory Committee, 

continues to be the leading advocate for quality early learning systems. The state board is made up of 

9 members chosen to represent the state's diversity. The AZDES, AZDHS and the Superintendent of 

Public Instruction, or their chosen designees, serve as non-voting ex officio members. The appointees 

include men and women, Democrats, Republicans, and an Independent from six counties. Each 

member brings experience in early education, K-12 education, health care, juvenile justice, higher 

education, philanthropy, business and Tribal government. All members have been confirmed by the 

Senate. 

The 28 FTF Regional Councils meet the diverse needs of Arizona communities. Not only do they 

make decisions about which early childhood strategies will be funded but they work within their 

communities to ensure that what children in their community get what they need to arrive at school 

healthy and ready to succeed. FTF Regional Councils actively advocate for both statewide local 

attention to ECE issues. 

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Children's Action Alliance has been a voice for children for over 25 years. Children's Action Alliance 

(CAA) is an independent voice for Arizona children at the state capitol and in the community. CAA 

works to improve children's health, education, and security through information and action. Through 

research, publications, media campaigns, and advocacy, CAA seeks to influence policies and 

decisions affecting the lives of Arizona children and their families on issues related to health, child 

abuse and neglect, early care and education, budget and taxes, juvenile justice, children and 

immigration, and working families. CAA works toward a future in which all children have health 

insurance, no child is raised in poverty and hunger, every child enters school ready to learn and 

succeed, no child endures the ravages of abuse and neglect, every child has a place to call home, and 

struggling teens have the support they need to become responsible adults. CAA is a strong partner in 

helping to increase funding and improving both access and quality of preschool slots. 

Expect More Arizona is a partnership organization that believes all Arizona children deserve a worldclass education, which gives them the opportunity to succeed in life. To ensure a strong economic 

future for Arizona and a higher quality of life for everyone, we have to make education a top priority in 

our state. The partners understand that a world-class education system is one in which every Arizona 

child, regardless of background, income, or zip code, is able to: 

• Access high-quality early learning that prepares him/her for Kindergarten, 

• Read proficiently by the 3rd grade, 

• Graduate from high school ready for college or career, and 

• Attain a college degree and/or certificate or industry credential. 

These organizations are key partners in Arizona being able to sustain the gains made through the 

work of PDG. Arizona has many champions for a sustainable early childhood system that ensures that 

children who may benefit from a preschool experience can find not only affordable and accessible 

slots, but high-quality in the program their family has chosen for them. 

4. Please provide a brief explanation of any discrepancies, if any, between the Subrecipients' 

approved budgets and their total expenditures for the reporting year. Explain carry-over funds that 

have not been expended or obligated from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015. 

$1,267,961.62 was unobligated due to the fact that 251 slots for eligible children went unfilled and 

$113,361.62 of the startup funds were not used. Sub-grantees worked very diligently to fill the slots for eligible 

children but one challenge all of the HNCs faced was the recruitment of highly-qualified staff to put in 

classrooms. In Arizona, there is an overall teacher shortage of greater than 700, with the greatest deficit of 

teachers being in early childhood. This was also a problem for PDG sub-grantees. Without the right personnel, 

it was difficult for sub-grantees to ensure enough instructional staff for the number of students they 

anticipated serving. Additionally, after the award of slots, 7 providers opted out of the program. Details of 

these discrepancies are detailed in Question 1 of this section. 

ED 524B Page 45 of 45