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School Readiness Grant Initiative Act

What is the School Readiness Grant Initiative Act?

The School Readiness Initiative Act establishes the following grants:

1. Becoming Quality grants to support preschool programs seeking to improve quality;
2. Expanded Student Access grants to fund seats in high quality preschool programs for students who are:
   1. Economically disadvantaged; 
   2. Whose parent of legal guardian reports that the student has experienced at least one risk factor;
   3. An English learner; or
   4. Has ever been in foster care.
3. Results-Based Contract grant (Pay for Success transaction, created in 2014). This grant is not open for applications

Becoming High-Quality Grant: This grant program aims to increase high-quality early education capacity in the state and collect student outcome data. Programs who are not meeting all of the elements of high-quality (defined in Utah Code §35-15-202) should apply for this grant.

Expanded Student Access Grant: Programs who meet all of the elements of high-quality (defined in Utah Code §35-15-202) and have an overall average score on the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS-3) of a 3.67, a 4 in interactions and a 4 in language and literacy should apply for this grant. If your program does not have a recent ECERS-3 observation, please reach out to schoolreadiness@utah.gov.

School Readiness Initiative Grant Descriptions and Infographic: Use this School Readiness Infographic link to learn more about the grants and to identify which grant is the best fit for your program.

Be sure to use the following links to learn more about required tools connected to the School Readiness grant: Elements of High-Quality, Utah Core State Standards for Early Learning for Ages 3 to 5, the Pre-Kindergarten Entry and Exit Assessment (PEEP) and the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale, Third Edition (ECERS-3) observation tool.

What are the eligibility requirements for both grants?

• Becoming High Quality Grant 
• Expanded Student Access Grant 

Kindergarten Readiness Resources

Whether a child is in preschool, child care or spending time with parents or caregivers at home, the transition to kindergarten can be a stressful time for parents, educators and children. The transition is most successful when preparation is an integral part of the entire pre-kindergarten year and can make a difference in the academic achievement, social and emotional competence, and rapidly developing skills of children.

Below are some helpful resources for both families and programs:

• Kindergarten, Here We Come! | KÍNDER, ¡Allí Vamos! - A quick guide for families to support their child’s development and learning prior to entering kindergarten.
• Kindergarten Transition Toolkit - A step-by-step guide for early childhood administrators and educators for facilitating a smooth and successful transition from preschool to kindergarten. 

What is coaching and how do I find a coach?

Coaching is an individualized approach to professional learning “where educators work towards specific teaching goals with support and feedback from a designated colleague or expert.” Mentoring is usually “a peer-to-peer relationship between a more-experienced and less-experienced educator.” Supervising is “between an educator and the person who has direct managerial responsibility over them” (O’Keefe, 2014, p. 4).

For both the Becoming High-Quality grant and the Expanded Student access grant, programs are required to have a coach when entering into a contract for this initiative. For more information about coaching or if you are in need of a coach, please contact the lead Mentor School Readiness Coach, Paul Mueller, at pmueller@tccutah.org

Want to delve deeper into Utah State Legislature Code for this initiative?

Review the School Readiness Initiative Utah State Legislature Code here.

School Readiness Team: The School Readiness team collaborates closely to run the BHQ and ESA grants and grant solicitation phase. We are from three entities, Department of Workforce Services, Office of Child Care, Utah State Board of Education, and The Children’s Center.  

For questions on the School Readiness Initiative, please contact schoolreadiness@utah.gov.

Release of Grant Application (RFGA): Once the Becoming High-Quality and Expanded Student Access grants have been released, you will find the applications using this DWS, Office of Child Care link.

For a list of current grantees, click here.