Department of Education

 

GDForum ID: 2946

Step 1

Description of Proposed Guidance Document Changes

Section §22.1-289.05 of the Code of Virginia directs the Board of Education to establish a unified quality rating and improvement system for all publicly funded early childhood providers in order to improve school readiness in the Commonwealth. “A. The Board shall establish a statewide unified public-private system for early childhood care and education in the Commonwealth to ensure that every child has the opportunity to enter kindergarten healthy and ready to learn. Such system shall be administered by the Board, the Superintendent, and the Department and shall be formed, implemented, and sustained through a structure that engages and leverages both state-level authority and regional-level public-private partnership assets.” “B. It is the intent of the General Assembly that the system established pursuant to subsection A shall (i) provide families with coordinated access for referral to early childhood education programs, (ii) provide families with easy-to-understand information about the quality of publicly funded early childhood care and education programs, (iii) establish expectations for the continuous improvement of early childhood care and education programs, and (iv) establish shared expectations for early childhood care and education programs among the Department of Education, the Department of Social Services, local school divisions, and state and regional stakeholders.” The Virginia Quality Birth to Five (VQB5) Guidelines were established in June 2021 and have been submitted to the Board of Education for review and approval annually. The review of the 2026-2027 VQB5 Guidelines mark the sixth time the Board has reviewed such guidelines. As in prior years, the 2026-2027 VQB5 Guidelines include the protocols and expectations for participation in VQB5, as well as the requirements for determining annual quality rating results so that families have clear and comparable information about publicly-funded early childhood options. These guidelines reflect the learnings and data gathered from previous years and continue to set forth the strategies in which all programs will be supported to continuously improve the quality of care and education for Virginia’s youngest learners to ensure all can enter school ready.

 

Step 2

Guidance Document(s) for this Comment Forum

Document ID	Document Title	Current Document	Proposed Document	Revised Proposed
Early Childhood	Guidelines for Practice Year 2 of the Early Childhood Unified Measurement and Improvement System	Document	Proposed Document

 

Step 3

Contact Information

 

  Contact Information