Department of Education

 

GDForum ID: 2255

Description of Proposed Guidance Document Changes

Section 22.1-289.03 of the Code of Virginia directs the Board of Education to establish a unified quality rating and improvement system for all publicly-funded birth-to-five providers in order to improve school readiness outcomes. Further, Chapter 446 of the Virginia Acts of the Assembly 2021 Special Session I requires the following: "11. That, notwithstanding the provisions of the third enactment of this act, the establishment and implementation of the quality rating and improvement system described in § 22.1-289.05 of the Code of Virginia, as created by this act, shall occur as follows: (i) the Board of Education shall establish such quality rating and improvement system no later than July 1, 2021, (ii) publicly-funded providers may participate in the quality rating and improvement system beginning in the 2021–2022 school year and shall participate in the quality rating and improvement system beginning in the 2023–2024 school year, and (iii) the initial quality ratings shall be published in the fall of 2024." In June 2021, the Board of Education fulfilled the expectation for establishing a quality rating and improvement system by approving the Guidelines for Practice Year 1 of Virginia’s Unified Measurement and Improvement System, known as VQB5. These guidelines were updated a second time in June 2022, with the Board of Education approving Guidelines for Year 2 of VQB5. Beginning in fall 2023, all Virginia’s publicly-funded birth-to-five programs, which includes school-based preschool, Head Start/Early Head Start, and child care subsidy participating child care and family day homes, will be required to participate in VQB5, Virginia’s Unified Measurement and Improvement System. This includes approximately 3,600 schools, child care, and family day home programs with 12,000 classrooms. Quality profiles that include rating information from the 2023-2024 participation year will be published via a family-friendly website in fall 2024. The 2023-2024 VQB5 Guidelines largely reflect similar expectations and protocols for program measurement and improvement as compared to prior years. There are slight shifts based on the learnings from the two practice years for VQB5, in which more than 70% of publicly-funded programs have participated, and set forth strategies to continuously improve the quality of early childhood care and education to ensure all of Virginia’s youngest learners have the opportunity to enter school ready.

 

Guidance Document(s) for this Comment Forum

Document ID	Document Title	Document in Effect	Proposed Document
Early Childhood	Guidelines for Practice Year 2 of the Early Childhood Unified Measurement and Improvement System	Document	Proposed Document	Posted with Revised Changes on 12/14/2023

 

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