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• 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.
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