West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 126 - Education › Title 126 - LEGISLATIVE RULE BOARD OF EDUCATION › Series 126-028 - West Virginia's Universal Access to a Quality Early Education System (Policy 2525) › Section 126-28-21 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
21.1. Active media.
				Materials that the child can control while participating in an activity such as
				taking pictures with cameras, making audio or video recordings or working with
				technology.
21.2. Adequate
				supervision. The observation, oversight, and guidance of the individual child
				or groups of children by the staff member taking responsibility for the ongoing
				activity of each child so that the staff member is close enough to intervene,
				if necessary, to protect the child from harm. Adequate supervision requires the
				staff member's physical presence with the children, knowledge of the child's
				program of activities, individual needs, habits, interests and special
				problems, if any, and the acceptance of accountability for the child's or
				groups of children's care.
21.3.
				Approved funding sources. Any funds used directly to support WV Pre-K
				classrooms for eligible children including West Virginia State Aid Funding
				Formula, Head Start funds, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Child Care
				Development Funds, funds under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), funds
				provided by the School Building Authority of West Virginia, funds under the
				Public
				Law 108-446, Individuals with Disabilities
				Education Improvement Act of 2004, and any other private or public
				funds.
21.4. Approved
WV
				Pre-K participating programs.
Public school preschool, preschool
				special education, and any community provider that contracts with the county
				board of education including, but not limited to, child care, private
				preschool, Head Start, and community-based programs that meet or exceed all of
				the requirements of this policy and are a part of a county's verified Universal
				Pre-K program data. Children participating in approved WV Pre-K participating
				programs can be counted in the school aid funding formula and the participating
				programs are eligible to receive funds through contractual agreements with or
				direct administration by the county school system.
21.5. Collaborative contract. The legally
				binding agreement made between the county board of education and approved early
				childhood community program to delineate roles, responsibilities, and resources
				of each partner to meet or exceed program requirements for implementation of WV
				Universal Pre-K and community partner regulations.
21.6. Collaborative setting. A classroom of
				WV Pre-K children operated jointly by a community program and county board of
				education or by a community program with resource support from the state
				through the county board of education.
21.7. Continuous Quality Improvement Process.
				The ongoing program assessment process implemented by county teams utilizing
				classroom observations and aggregated child outcome data to make informed
				decisions for program improvement.
21.8. Contracted community program. Any
				provider of early childhood services that meets all of the requirements of this
				policy and has acollaborative contract with the county school system to operate
				a WV Pre-K classroom.
21.9. Core
				knowledge and core competencies for early care and education professionals. The
				sets of skills and knowledge that represent common standards of satisfactory
				practice in the early childhood field as defined in WV STARS Core Knowledge and
				Core Competencies for Early Care and Education Professionals.
21.10.
Developmentally
appropriate. Early childhood programming, curricula, and activities that
				address the stages of each child's cognitive, physical, social/emotional, and
				cultural development and utilizes a balanced approach of both child-initiated
				and teacher-directed instruction. Children should be actively engaged in
				hands-on, interactive activities for learning for a substantial portion of the
				day.
21.11. Direct supervision. The
				physical presence of a qualified staff member is in the same room, area, or
				vehicle with the child or group of children, visually monitoring the
				interactions of the children.
21.12. HealthCheck. The
				screening/surveillance protocol recommended for the licensed health care
				providers to be used for all children entering WV Pre-K. HealthCheck meets the
				requirements for vision, hearing, developmental, including speech and language,
				and oral health. The HealthCheck screening form is the preferred documentation
				method of licensed health care providers to record screenings.
21.13. Passive media. Materials the child
				cannot control while participating in an activity such as watching television,
				DVDs, or device streamed content.
21.14. School readiness goals. Programmatic
				goals based on data collection and analysis over time as part of the continuous
				quality improvement process to support the growth and development of
				children.
21.15. Staff to-child
				ratio. A relationship which describes the number of children qualified staff
				members or substitutes are permitted to supervise.
21.16. Staff member. Any paid personnel,
				including substitutes.
21.17.
				Universal access. Every eligible child in the county has access to a high
				quality WV Pre-K classroom that meets or exceeds all the requirements of this
				policy.
21.18. Universal
				application. An enrollment form that must be used for all classrooms identified
				as part of the county's WV Pre-K system to determine placement and enrollment
				of eligible children.
21.19.
				Universal precautions. Procedures to be followed for infection control in all
				situations to prevent the transmission of blood-borne germs that may be spread
				through blood or body fluids that might contain blood.
21.20. Usable space. The actual indoor
				classroom areas that are utilized for children's activities. Usable space
				includes all areas of the classroom that children may access. Usable space
				excludes areas that children do not access such as staff areas, staff-only
				furniture, storage spaces, or adjacent offices.
21.21. Verified universal pre-k program data.
				County pre-k information that illustrates the program structure, including
				classroom location, collaborative partners, operation information, and
				available support services, such as meals and transportation. Each county Pre-K
				Coordinator is required to complete WV Pre-K program data verification by
				October 15 annually.
21.22. West
				Virginia Universal Pre-K Instructional Day. The duration of time that pre-k
				children are present at school. This includes all required elements of the
				daily schedule.
21.23. West
				Virginia Early Learning Reporting System: Pre-K, or ELRS:
				Pre-K
,
. The section of the Early Learning Reporting System
				(ELRS) web-based platform utilized for housing and reporting WV Universal Pre-K
				program and formative assessment data. The ELRS: Pre-K is a located within a
				secured site that requires registration and account login by all
				users.