Pennsylvania Code › Title 22 - EDUCATION › Part I - State Board of Education › Subpart A - Miscellaneous Provisions › Chapter 4 - ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND ASSESSMENT › CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION › Section 4.20 - Prekindergarten education

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
School districts are not required to offer a
						prekindergarten program, and parents are not required to enroll their children
						in those programs if offered. Prekindergarten programs shall be designed so
						that students complete the program prior to their reaching the school
						district's entry age for kindergarten. The program, when offered, must provide
						a comprehensive program appropriate for the age and varying developmental
						levels of the students; be based on how young children develop and learn;
						include instruction to support each child's development in the areas of
						approaches to learning-creative expression, language and literacy, math, logic
						and science, social-personal development and physical development and
						health-and must be open to children with disabilities.
(1) The Secretary will provide academic
					 standards, appropriate for early learning at the prekindergarten level, as
					 guidance for the use of school districts that offer prekindergarten
					 programs.
(2) Curriculum and
					 instruction in the prekindergarten program must be standards-based.
(3) Prekindergarten programs may be offered
					 to all 3 and 4 year olds or may be targeted to children who are most in need of
					 prekindergarten services who reside in the district. Targeted programs may
					 serve children who are at risk of school failure because of limited English
					 proficiency, community factors, economic disadvantage, but may not exclude or
					 be limited exclusively to children with disabilities. If a program is limited
					 to an attendance area, children with disabilities must live in that attendance
					 area to participate in the program. An attendance area is the geographic area
					 within a school district designated by the school board for the purpose of
					 assigning students to a school.
(4)
					 The Secretary will issue guidance to school districts on developmentally
					 appropriate curriculum, instruction and assessments for
					 prekindergarten.
(5) Each school
					 district that provides prekindergarten shall design an assessment system that
					 includes prekindergarten and uses a variety of assessment strategies, which may
					 include those listed in §
											4.52(b) (relating
					 to local assessment system), as appropriate.
(6) Prekindergarten programs must have a
					 student/teacher ratio of no more than 20 students for one teacher and one
					 teacher aide in a classroom (2 adults in a classroom for every 20 students).
					 Programs of high quality ordinarily have a student/teacher ratio of 17 students
					 for one teacher and one teacher aide in a classroom (2 adults for every 17
					 students). Programs operating under contract with community providers must
					 comply with staffing qualifications as required by § 49.85(e) (relating to
					 limitations).
(7) Beginning in the
					 2009-2010 school year, a teacher aide in a prekindergarten program shall meet
					 one of the following criteria:
(i) Completion
					 of at least 2 years of postsecondary study.
(ii) Possession of an associate's degree or
					 higher.
(iii) Ability to meet a
					 rigorous standard of quality and demonstration through a formal State or local
					 academic assessment of knowledge in and ability to assist in instructing
					 reading, writing and mathematics. A rigorous standard of quality includes a
					 demonstration of competence in basic literacy skills, including the ability to
					 speak and write standard English and instruction of prekindergarten students in
					 the acquisition of the knowledge, skills and abilities described in the early
					 learning standards issued under paragraph (1).