• 411 FS – The Florida Statute that created and governs School Readiness (1999).

• 1002 FS – The Florida Statute that created and governs VPK (2005).

• A-ELC – Association of Early Learning Coalitions: The professional association of the Executive Directors of Florida’s 31 Early Learning Coalitions.

• APPLE – Accredited Professional Preschool Learning Environment: A national accreditation program that would result in a provider obtaining Gold Seal status. In the state of Florida, programs must be a member of the Florida Association for Child Care Management (FACCM) in order to receive this as a member benefit.

• AWI – Agency for Workforce Innovation: The state Agency that oversees both the 31 Early Learning Coalitions and the 24 Regional Workforce Boards; the Director is Monesia Brown.

• AWI-OEL – Agency for Workforce Innovation – Office of Early Learning: The state Office in AWI that oversees the 31 Early Learning Coalitions; the position of Director of OEL is currently open.

• BG – Billing Group: The category of assistance received by a family that qualifies for School readiness services (e.g., a working poor [earning less than 150% of the Federal Poverty Level – FPL] family’s assistance is drawn from the “BG8” Billing Group).

• CCDF - Child Care and Development Fund: Federal funding (from the Department of Health and Human Services – DHHS) that assists low-income families, families receiving temporary public assistance, and those transitioning from public assistance in obtaining child care so they can work or attend training/education – the largest source of funding for School Readiness.

• CCEP – Child Care Executive Partnership: A program that permits the funding of assistance for School Readiness for families earning between 150% and 200% of the FPL; it requires a 50% match of funding from local businesses.

• CCR&R – Child Care Resource and Referral: A service provided by Early Learning Coalitions to all families in their service area, offering them advice and referrals for all services benefitting children, including child care, early education, health care, social services, etc.

• CDA – Child Development Associate: A national credential awarded in the United States to those who have completed a list of requirements, including 120 hours of training, set forth by the Council for Professional Recognition, and who have successfully passed the verification visit to work with Infants/Toddlers or Preschoolers (see FCCPC).

• DCF – Department of Children and Families: Florida’s most important agency providing assistance to at risk families, children and elderly; DCF is also responsible for licensing early learning centers and homes in most counties.
o PI – Protective Investigations: The DCF office that investigates suspicions of child abuse and neglect in both homes and institutions; the PI office may refer at risk children for School Readiness services.

• DHHS – Department of Health and Human Services: The federal agency, in which is located the Child Care Bureau, which issues CCDF funding for School Readiness.

• DOE – The Department of Education: The Florida department that oversees K-12 public schools, Community Colleges and Colleges/Universities. It has a limited role in overseeing VPK.

• DOE-OEL – The Department of Education – Office of Early Learning: The office that oversees the VPK Children’s Standards, the VPK Readiness Rate and the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screen (FLKRS).

• DOH – Department of Health: Among other things, the Health Department oversees child immunization and the Child Care Food Program.

• EFS – Enhanced Field System: the state-mandated data base used for all SR and VPK data entry; it is scheduled to be replaced by ELIS, the web-based Early Learning Information System.

• ELAC – Early Learning Advisory Council: The legislatively created panel of the chairs of the 31 Early Learning Coalitions that meets quarterly to discuss statewide early learning issues and make policy recommendations.

• ELC-FG – The Early Learning Coalition of Florida’s Gateway.

• FACCM – Florida Association for Child Care Management: The Florida state association for private, for-profit child care providers.

• FCCPC – Florida Child Care Professional Credential (formerly the CDAE or CDA Equivalency): A Florida DCF approved training program that consists of a minimum of 120 hours of early childhood instruction, 480 contact hours with children ages birth through eight (8) and at least two (2) methods of formal assessment that offers two (2) areas of certification; "Birth Through Five (formerly the department approved CDA Equivalency training programs)" and "School-Age (formerly the Florida School-Age Certification)."

• FDCH/FCCH – Family Day Care Home/Family Child Care Home: Can be Licensed (inspected) or Registered (not inspected); can serve up to 10 children.

• FDLRS – Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System: Provides diagnostic and instructional support services to exceptional student education programs and families of students with disabilities; we work with FDLRS to help providers and parents obtain services for children birth to age five.

• FLKRS – The Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screen: A battery of three assessments (ECHOS – Early Childhood Observation System; and the first two measures of the DIBELS – Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, specifically, Letter Naming Fluency and Initial Sound Fluency) given to all children entering kindergarten to determine their readiness for kindergarten level work.

• FPL – Federal Poverty Level – The amount, determined each year by the federal government that a family must earn to be considered to be living in poverty; a family may earn up to 150% of the FPL to qualify for School Readiness assistance.

• FPSR – Florida Partnership for School Readiness – The body that governed the Early Learning Coalitions (then called School Readiness Coalitions) before the VPK program was created and oversight was passed to AWI-OEL (1999 to 2005).

• Gold Seal – A DCF program granting exceptional status to accredited child care homes and centers and permitting them to receive up to 20% in additional School Readiness reimbursements.

• GR – General Revenue: State, as opposed to federal or local, appropriations used to support programs, e.g., VPK is funded almost entirely by GR; School Readiness is funded mostly by federal funds (TANF and CCDF).

• IACET – International Association for Continuing Education and Training: Organization that oversees ELC-FG’s awarding of Continuing Education Units (CEU’s – needed to renew a CDA, for example) to those who attend our trainings and conferences.

• LFCCH – Large Family Child Care Home: Must be Licensed (inspected); can serve up to 12 children.

• NAEYC – National Association for the Education of Young Children: The largest national early childhood education association; it offers one of the accreditations that would result in a provider obtaining Gold Seal status.

• OCA – Other Cost Accumulators: The coded budget categories into which the Coalition’s costs are allocated, e.g., 97BBA = School Readiness Administrative Costs.

• OPPAGA – Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability: Office of the Florida Legislature that does research and policy analysis at the request of legislators. Their reports may result in legislated changes to state programs.

• PBS – Positive Behavior Support: A program for working with early learning providers to help them create a positive learning environment that will reduce discipline problems. PBS was created by Dr. Lise Fox of the University of South Florida and is being implemented in some pilot sites in the Gateway region.

• PSF – Partnership for Strong Families: The DCF contractor in the Gateway region that is responsible for foster care, adoptions and the supervision of children whose parents or guardians may have been neglectful or abusive.
o PS – Protective Services: The program operated by PSF that supervises the care of children whose parents are suspected of abuse and/or neglect. Children under PS supervision can be referred for School Readiness services.

• SR – School Readiness: The Florida program that provides subsidized early education and care to at risk children.

• SV4C – Suwannee Valley Community Coordinated Child Care: The Head Start grantee for Columbia, Hamilton, Lafayette and Suwannee Counties.

• TANF – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Part of the WAGES program that provides Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), child care assistance and other support services to families to help them become self-sufficient.

• TAPP/DOP - Teenage Parent Program/Dropout Prevention Program: Programs to assist teenage parents to finish school by helping them with their child care costs.

• TCA – Temporary Cash Assistance: Provides temporary cash benefits for needy pregnant women and families with minor children.

• TCC – Transitional Child Care: Transitional child care benefits are available to assist former WAGES participants who no longer receive Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) to transition from dependence on public assistance to an employed, self-sufficient lifestyle. To be eligible for TCC, a person must be employed.

• VPK – Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program: 540 school-year or 300 summer free hours of prekindergarten education offered to all Florida four year olds.

• WAGES – Work and Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency: State program designed to help families transition to employment and self-sufficiency, including TANF, TCA and TCC.