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Voluntary Pre-K (VPK) Provider Readiness Rates
About VPK
Readiness Rates
The Florida Department of Education
is required by law (Section
1002.69(5), Florida Statutes (F.S.)) to calculate a kindergarten
readiness rate every year for each private or public school VPK Provider of
either the School-Year (540-hour) or Summer (300-hour) program.
The VPK Provider Readiness Rate measures how well a VPK provider prepares
four-year-olds to be ready for kindergarten based upon Florida's VPK
Education Standards. The VPK Standards describe what four-year-old children
should know and be able to do by the end of their VPK experience.
The VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate is
based on the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) scores of
children who attended VPK and who are screened upon entry into public or
private school kindergarten. The FLKRS is made up of a subset of the Early
Childhood Observation System (ECHOS), an observational instrument that is
used to monitor the skills, knowledge, and behaviors a student demonstrates
or needs to develop; and the first two measures of the Dynamic Indicators of
Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), Letter Naming Fluency (LNF) and
Initial Sound Fluency (ISF).
Pinellas County VPK
Readiness Rates
- Pinellas
County providers’ weighted average VPK Readiness Rate for the 2006-2007
program year, as measured within the first 30 days of the 2007-2008 school
year, was 255, a 1.6% improvement above the prior year average of 251, and
exceeded the state average and the rates of other comparably sized
counties, except Duval.
- The Minimum Readiness Rate (MRR)
set by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) was 211, 10 points
above the prior year MRR of 201.
After the VPK Readiness Rate has been
calculated for all providers throughout the state, the State Board of
Education sets the MRR so that no more than 15-percent of all VPK providers
would fall below the minimum rate.
- Since the
total number of providers for whom readiness rates were calculated
increased from 3,772 in 2005-06 to 4,595 in 2006-07, the number of
providers falling below the MRR (the bottom 15%) automatically increased
from 556 in 05-06 to 689 in 06-07. This statewide increase does not
automatically increase the number of providers falling below the MRR for
a county. Individual county performance is based on VPK provider scores
in that county vs. the statewide MRR. Thus, it’s possible for a county
to have no providers falling below the MRR. In 2006-07, ten counties had
no providers falling below the MRR.
- For the
2006-2007 program year, 10.0% of Pinellas County’s 241 providers fell
below the MRR. Although this percentage was above the prior year when 8.2%
of 184 providers fell below the MRR, it was well below the state average
of 15% and lower than other comparably sized counties.
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Use caution when
utilizing the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) VPK Readiness
Rates and the designation Low Performing Providers.
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- Children
enrolled in a pre-K program are not tested at the beginning of the
program and, therefore, it is not possible to test the effectiveness
of a provider’s program at the present time.
- According
to the FLDOE, a “Low Performing Provider is a VPK provider whose
readiness rate is at or below the bottom 15-percent of all providers’
readiness rates.” Thus, even if all providers attained a satisfactory
Readiness Rate, the lowest 15% would still be considered Low
Performing Providers.
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