Grant-Funded Program Quality Assessment Guidance for Classrooms Serving Four-Year-Old Children

MDE: Office of Early Childhood Education - Grant-Funded Program Quality Assessment Guidance for Classrooms Serving Four-Year-Old Children | July 2025 Title 7 Education K–12 Part - 268 Grant-Funded Program Quality Assessment Guidance for Classrooms Serving Four-Year-Old Children Grant-Funded Program Quality Assessment Guidance for Classrooms Serving Four-Year-Old Children | 2025 Acknowledgements Lance Evans, Ed.D. State Superintendent of Education Wendy Clemons Chief Academic Officer Jill Dent, Ph.D. Executive Director, Office of Early Childhood Education Grant-Funded Program Quality Assessment Guidance for Classrooms Serving Four-Year-Old Children | 2025 Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Rate of Readiness 2. State, Blended, and Grant Funded Pre-K Program Monitoring 3. Rate of Readiness Scores 4. Rate of Readiness Determination 5. State Blended, and Grant Funded Pre-Kindergarten Program Rate of Readiness Grant-Funded Program Quality Assessment Guidance for Classrooms Serving Four-Year-Old Children | 2025 Introduction Schools providing services to pre-kindergarten aged children receive an annual evaluation to ensure the effectiveness of services on improving children’s learning and well-being. Evaluation occurs for the Early Learning Collaboratives, State Invested Pre-K, Blended Pre-K, and Grant Funded Pre-K programs. 1. Rate of Readiness The rate of readiness is a score assigned to each site through completion of specific evaluation tools that assess how children grow academically and developmentally throughout a school year and how the classroom environment and teaching practices support children’s learning. A site score is comprised of the sum of subscores from the following tools: • The Whole Child Developmental Kindergarten Readiness Assessment/Screener • Literacy Kindergarten Readiness Assessment • Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) • Monitoring Instrument Each four-year-old child in a pre-kindergarten classroom completes the Whole Child Developmental Kindergarten Readiness Assessment/Screener in the fall and spring semesters. All individual scores will be averaged together into one subscore, if a school/site has more than one classroom. Each four-year-old child in a pre-kindergarten classroom completes the Literacy Kindergarten Readiness Assessment in the fall and spring semesters. Scores will be combined to yield an average of students attaining the target score. A CLASS observation is completed in each applicable classroom by MDE Certified CLASS Observers. The scores will be averaged together into one CLASS subscore for schools/sites with more than one classroom. Monitoring is a process where evidence is provided to ensure compliance with the Mississippi Early Learning Guidelines for Classrooms Serving Three- and Four-Year-Old Children, and/or best practices in early childhood. Grant-Funded Program Quality Assessment Guidance for Classrooms Serving Four-Year-Old Children | 2025 2. State, Blended, and Grant Funded Pre-K Program Monitoring All sites will receive a monitoring visit at least once during the school year between November and May. Representatives from the MDE will utilize the Monitoring Instrument. Tiered levels of technical support will be provided based on the percentage of compliance. 3. Rate of Readiness Scores The school/site score will be measured through the Whole Child Developmental Kindergarten Readiness Assessment/Screener, the Literacy Kindergarten Readiness Assessment scores, a CLASS rating, and a monitoring score. Each site will receive a score based on a 100-point scale. The Whole Child Developmental Kindergarten Readiness Assessment/Screener scores will receive up to 45 points, the Literacy Kindergarten Readiness Assessment will receive up to 5 points, the CLASS rating will receive up to 25 points, and monitoring will receive up to 25 points. For schools/sites with more than one classroom, all CLASS scores will be averaged. Individual classroom scores will not be issued for CLASS observations. School/site score breakdown by assessment tool Category Description Score A. Whole Child Developmental Kindergarten Readiness Assessment/ Screener Percentage of students at or above benchmark at end- of-year assessment 0%–30% = 0 points 31%–50% =5 points 51%–70% = 10 points 71%–80% = 20 points 81%–90% = 30 points 91%–100%= 45 points B. Literacy Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Percentage of students at or above benchmark at end- of-year assessment 0%–30% = 0 points 31%–50% =1 point 51%–70% = 2 points 71%–80% = 3 points 81%–90% = 4 points 91%–100%= 5 points C. CLASS Ranges • Low = 1–2 • Mid = 3–5 • High = 6–7 Meet an average of 5 and a minimum of 2.8 in the Instructional Support domain 1.00-2.99 = 0 points 3.00-3.99 = 7 points 4.00-4.99 = 15 points 5.00-7.00 & ≤2.8 IS = 15 points 5.00-7.00 & ≥2.8 IS = 25 points Grant-Funded Program Quality Assessment Guidance for Classrooms Serving Four-Year-Old Children | 2025 Category Description Score D. Monitoring Meets compliance standards based on the Monitoring Tool 0-80%= 5 points 81-84%= 10 points 85-89%=15 points 90-98%= 20 points 99-100%=25 points Site Score = (A+B+C+D) 4. Rate of Readiness Determination The rate of readiness is assigned based on the site score achieved. The point breakdown for the rate of readiness is as follows: • Successful: site score of 70+ points • Probation: site score of 69 points and below (The first year in this category initiates a one-year probationary period. After the first probationary year, the partner site has to score 70 + points to avoid actionable revisions.) The site will enter into a Tier III technical assistance plan that will outline needed improvements. Effective for the 2025-2026 academic year, if programs are placed on probation, they will be held harmless for this one academic year (2025 – 2026). Programs will receive extra support to implement best practices in the classroom. • Post-probation: site score of 69 points and below and has been on probation for one year or more; grant funded program will make MDE recommended changes based on established procedures. 5. State, Blended, and Grant Funded Pre-Kindergarten Program Rate of Readiness It is expected that each site within a program would achieve a successful score. If a site does not meet the criteria for a successful score, the site will move into a probationary period. During the probationary year, the program will develop a plan for improvement and receive technical assistance to support growth. If the probationary year is complete and the site still does not achieve a successful score, then the program shall make MDE-recommended changes based on established procedures. Source code: Section 37-21-51 (Adopt)