Texas Administrative Code › Title 19 - EDUCATION › Part 2 - TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY › Chapter 102 - EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS › Subchapter AA - COMMISSIONER'S RULES CONCERNING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAMS › Section 102.1002 - Prekindergarten Early Start Grant Program

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a)
				  Definitions. The following words and terms when used in this section shall have
				  the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Eligible student--A child is eligible for
				  enrollment in a prekindergarten class under this section if the child is at
				  least three years of age and meets eligibility criteria consistent with the
				  Texas Education Code (TEC), §29.153.
(2) Licensed child care--Child care that
				  meets the requirements adopted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective
				  Services under the Human Resources Code, §
											42.002(3).
(3) Nonprofit--An organization that meets the
				  requirements of the United States Code, Title 26, Subtitle A, Chapter 1,
				  Subchapter F, Part I, Section 501(a).
(4) Partner--A non-public school organization
				  collaborating with a public school to provide an educational component to
				  eligible prekindergarten children.
(5) Prekindergarten Early Start Grant
				  Program--A program established in accordance with the TEC, §29.155, to
				  administer grant funds to implement and expand prekindergarten
				  programs.
(6) Prekindergarten
				  site--A public or non-public school classroom where teachers work with three-
				  and four-year-old children in a prekindergarten school readiness
				  program.
(7) Proven school
				  readiness components--The components of proven school readiness are:
(A) a high-quality, developmentally
				  appropriate, and rigorous curriculum, based on the Texas Prekindergarten
				  Guidelines;
(B) continuous
				  monitoring of student progress in the classroom; and
(C) professional development, including
				  mentoring, to promote student achievement.
(8) School district--For the purposes of this
				  section, the definition of a school district includes an open-enrollment
				  charter school.
(9) School
				  readiness certification system (SRCS)--In accordance with the TEC,
				  §29.161, the school readiness certification system is a valid,
				  research-based automated system provided by the State Center for Early
				  Childhood Development through which an early childhood education program
				  submits an application demonstrating the program's record of cognitive, social,
				  and emotional development of young children to be certified as a school ready
				  program.
(10) School readiness
				  integration--In accordance with the TEC, §29.158, school readiness
				  integration refers to cooperative strategies to share resources across public
				  and non-public program delivery organizations in a community or communities
				  that may include, but are not limited to:
(A)
				  sharing certified or highly qualified teachers so that every child in each
				  targeted classroom receives a minimum of three hours daily of high-quality
				  skill development consistent with developing children's social and emotional
				  well-being;
(B) developing a
				  comprehensive instructional framework, based on the Texas Prekindergarten
				  Guidelines, consisting of common performance goals that encompass the unique
				  characteristics of each individual organization responsible for preparing young
				  children for school success;
(C)
				  sharing physical space if one organization lacks capacity while another has
				  available capacity;
(D) conducting
				  joint professional development programs that focus on proven school readiness
				  components, including the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines; and
(E) adopting similar approaches to student
				  progress monitoring to inform classroom instruction.
(11) School readiness integration
				  partnership--A collaboration among public prekindergarten programs and local
				  workforce development boards, Head Start providers, college or university early
				  childhood programs, and/or providers of private for-profit or nonprofit
				  licensed child care services that provides a school readiness component to
				  eligible prekindergarten students.
(12) School ready or school readiness--A term
				  that refers to a child being able to function competently in a school
				  environment in the areas of early language and literacy, mathematics, and
				  social skills as objectively measured by state-approved assessment
				  instruments.
(13) Shared services
				  arrangement (SSA)--An agreement between two or more school districts and/or
				  education service centers (ESCs) that provides services for entities
				  involved.
(14) State Center for
				  Early Childhood Development (SCECD)--The state center for early childhood
				  education research and training for early childhood teachers and caregivers
				  administered by The University of Texas Health Science Center at
				  Houston.
(15) Texas Prekindergarten
				  Guidelines--Guidelines approved by the commissioner of education that offer
				  detailed descriptions of expected behaviors across multiple skill domains that
				  should be observed in four- to five-year-old children by the end of their
				  prekindergarten experience. The guidelines are to prepare prekindergarten
				  children to master the skills and concepts in each subject area specified in
				  §
											74.1
				  of this title (relating to Essential Knowledge and Skills) in the kindergarten
				  Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.
(16) Tier 1 grantee--An applicant not
				  currently eligible to receive funds under Tier 2 eligibility
				  criteria.
(17) Tier 2 grantee--An
				  applicant that participated as a Tier 2 grantee in the Prekindergarten Early
				  Start Grant Program in school years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 that is eligible to
				  receive continuation funding.