In
2002, Florida voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution to provide a high quality
prekindergarten learning opportunity for every four-year-old. This program
is referred to as Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education
Program. The legislation passed to implement this program required the
development of performance standards. Florida’s revised VPK
standards address the following areas of child development:
The Language and Communication Standard was
revised and Emergent Literacy was added to achieve the VPK goal
of addressing the needs of the total child and to provide clarity
and focus in preparing young children to be ready for kindergarten.
VPK is seen as one more year to reach the state’s goal of
having all of children reading on grade level by the end of third
grade.
Training in the Standards will be offered
through the Department of Education and the VPK Regional Facilitators.
For additional information, please visit the Office of Early Learning’s
website:
http://www.fldoe.org/earlylearning
|