Nevada Ready! State Pre K

Vision

Providing high quality early childhood education for all Nevada's children.

Mission

We promote social emotional and academic development by building capacity for equitable high quality pre-k services for Nevada's children and families.

Funding History

The 2001 Nevada Legislative session allocated $3.5 million per year for Fiscal Years (FYs) 2002 and 2003. This initial allocation was for the establishment of a comprehensive early childhood education program across Nevada. Within this legislation, the Nevada State Legislature (Legislature) authorized the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) to offer competitive grants to school districts and community-based organizations to initiate or expand pre-Kindergarten education programs. The 2003 Legislature continued their support of the successful early childhood education programs by allocating $2,595,583 for pre-Kindergarten education programs through a competitive grant process and $301,000 towards the statewide Classroom on Wheels (COW) program. State-funded Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) Education programs, including COW, for FYs 2004 and 2005 received a total of $2,896,583 per year. During FYs 2006 and 2007, Pre-K programs were funded at $3,032,172 and $3,152,479, respectively. During FYs 2008 and 2009, Pre-K programs were funded at $3,251,671 and $3,338,875, respectively. Fiscal Years 2010-15 were flat funded at $3,338,875. For the first 15 years, Nevada State PreK was half day and met 7 out of 10 benchmarks of quality as determined by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). In 2015, Nevada received the federal Preschool Development Grant (PDG) to expand the state pre-K program by increasing program quality requirements including providing full day services. This new and improved program became known as Nevada Ready! State Pre-K (NR!PK).

In 2019, the 80th legislative session awarded $19M to sustain seats established through the PDG . This also resulted in passage of SB84 which outlines program requirements for Nevada Ready! State Pre-K and enters these requirements into statute. This program follows the quality standards established through the Preschool Development Grant.

NRS 387 Statute

Nevada Ready! State Pre-K Required Program Elements

Recipients of Nevada Ready! State Pre-K (NR!PK) funds are required to implement programs in accordance with the Required Program Elements as outlined in NRS 387.652-658:

Recipients

Item	Description
Teacher Qualifications	Each Early Childhood Education (ECE)/Pre-K teacher responsible for providing direct instruction to early childhood students must fulfill the licensure requirements for teaching the pre-K population, including an Early Childhood teacher's license (requiring a Bachelor's in education) or an ECE endorsement on a teacher's license and must be paid a salary comparable to K-12 instructional staff. District: - Bachelors' degree in ECE/ECSE OR - Bachelor's degree in another field and working toward permanent license in a state approved ARL Early Childhood or Early Childhood Developmentally Delayed program (see link on page 1) OR -Bachelor's degree in another field with 35 or more ECE college credits OR -Bachelor's degree in another field and enrolled in TEACH Early Childhood OR -NDE and TEACH Early Childhood approved special exception Provider/Center: -5.2 on Nevada Registry Career ladder or higher
Eligibility	Children enrolled in the program must be 4 years old by August 1 and families determined to be income eligible below 200% of poverty level
Intensity	All programs must provide a minimum of 5 hours per day or 25 hours per week of pre-K class time and follow the attendance policy of the local school board.
Curriculum	Programs must utilize the Nevada Pre-K Content Standards, revised and adopted by the Nevada State Board of Education. Programs must implement developmentally appropriate, research-based curriculum that is aligned to NV Prekindergarten Standards.
Class Size/Ratio	Class sizes and child/staff ratios must not exceed the following: Classrooms will have no more than 20 children with 2 adults. The referenced 2 adults will be 1) An appropriately certified and licensed teacher, and 2) An appropriately certified teaching assistant.
Evaluation	Programs must participate in the annual and longitudinal statewide program evaluation system. This includes using outcome indicators as identified by NDE and reporting required data to the Nevada Department of Education. Program quality will also be assessed by a reliable assessor using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Third Edition (ECERS-3). Programs must comply with health and safety standards.
Family Engagement	Family Engagement must be evaluated in conjunction with the Pre-K program. Longitudinal data to determine effectiveness of family engagement will be used for program improvement and development of individual family engagement plans.
Comprehensive Services	Programs must demonstrate coordination with community resources/agencies in meeting the needs of participating children and families.
Inclusion	The percentage of eligible children with disabilities served is not less than either the percentage of four-year-old children served statewide through part B, section 619 of IDEA, or the current national average, whichever is greater, and is no more than 49% per classroom. Individualized accommodations and supports ensure access and participation for all children.
Equitable Access	Each child applicant will have equal access to the same extent as other children, (e.g. homeless, foster, military, tribal) even for those lacking initial enrollment documents.