General

Pre-kindergarten Initiative in 2013-14:
Ohio Early Childhood Education

State agency with administrative authority over pre-K:
Office of Early Learning and School Readiness

Availability of program:
273 out of 611 school districts (45%)1

Are districts, counties, or towns in Ohio required to offer this pre-kindergarten initiative?
No, competitive grant program1

Hours of operation per day:
Determined locally, 12.5 hours minimum/ week3

Is there a formal partnership at the state level to provide extended day services through collaboration with other agencies and programs?
No

Enrollment

Fall 2013, Total children:
8,150

Fall 2011, by age:
162 under age 3; 2,199 3-year-olds; 4,772 4-year-olds; 1,017 5-year-olds2

Fall 2011, by type of administering agency:
Public schools, 5,664; Nonpublic schools, 2,4862

Program enrollment, Fall 2013, by operating schedule:
Breakdown not available

Eligibility

Minimum age for eligibility:
3 by September 30

Maximum age for eligibility:
5 by September 30

Kindergarten eligibility age:
5 by September 30

Does state policy allow any exceptions to the age requirement for prekindergarten or kindergarten eligibility?
Yes4

State policy on enrolling children in state pre-K when they are eligible for kindergarten:
Children may not enroll in pre-K if they are age-eligible for kindergarten

Aside from age, how is eligibility determined for individual children for this state prekindergarten initiative?
Eligibility is determined by individual child or family characteristics in addition to age5

What was the state-specified income requirement during the 2013-14 program year?
200% FPL5

To whom, or to what percentage of children, does the income requirement apply?
All children except those with IEPs. Family income is the determining factor for this program. The program is free for families up to 100 percent FPL. Families between 101 and 200 percent FPL may pay a fee based on the districtÕs sliding fee scale. Programs may offer services to children over 200 percent FPL, but those families pay full tuition.

Is there a sliding payment scale based on income?
Yes5

Is child eligibility for this state prekindergarten initiative ever reassessed after a child has been enrolled in the program?
No

Risk Factors

Risk factors besides income that can be used to determine eligibility:
Not applicable

How many of the specified risk factors must be present for eligibility?
NA

How do these risk factors relate to the income cutoff for the state pre-K program?
Meeting the income cutoff can count as one of the risk factors

Class Sizes

Maximum class size:
3-year-olds, 24; 4-year-olds, 28

Staff-child ratio requirement:
3-year-olds, 1 to:12; 4-year-olds, 1 to 146

Teachers

Minimum teacher degree requirement:
AA (public and nonpublic)

Required teacher certification, licensure, and/or endorsement:
Public and nonpublic: PreK-3 (Prek-3); PreK; EC Intervention Specialist PK-3 (PK-3); K-3 or K-8 Certificate plus 4 courses in ECE or CD from accredited college (PK); PreK Associate (PK)8

Education level of teachers during 2011-12 by percent:
AA, 10%; BA, 42%; MA, 47%; Educational specialist, 1%

Education level of teachers during 2011-12 totals:
AA, 101; BA, 411; MA, 464; Educational specialist, 11

Teacher in-service requirement:
20 clock hours per 2 years9

Minimum assistant teacher degree requirement:
HSD or Equivalent (public and nonpublic)

Assistant teacher specialized training requirement:
None

Services

Meal requirement:
Depends on length of program day7

Support services for English Language Learners and families:
State policy does not regulate services for English Language Learners

Support services required for all programs:
Parent involvement activitiesChild health services; Nutrition information; Referral for social services; Transition to K activities; Parent conferences and/or home visits;

Regulations

Screening and referral requirements:
Required: Vision; Hearing; Height/Weight/BMI; Immunizations; Psychological/Behavioral; Full physical exam; Developmental; Dental; Other, hemoglobin and lead; Locally determined: Blood pressure

State’s early learning standards document in 2013-14.
Ohio’s Early Learning and Development Standards; Ohio’s Early Learning Program Standards

For more information about the early learning standards in 2013-14:
http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Early-Learning/Early-Learning-Content-Standards http://earlychildhoodohio.org/sutq.php

Funding

Days per week the state prekindergarten initiative is funded to operate using state funds:
Determined locally, 12.5 hours/week

Annual operating schedule for this state-funded prekindergarten initiative:
Academic year

Actual fiscal year 2014 spending for this state prekindergarten initiative:
$32,602,974

All funding sources:
State, $32,602,974

State funding sources and amounts:
General revenue funds, $32,602,974

Federal funding sources and amounts:
Title I, amount not reported10

Is funding for this state prekindergarten initiative determined by a school funding or state aid formula?
Yes11

Agencies eligible to receive funding directly:
Public schools, Head Start, Private CC, Faith-based centers12

Agencies with which subcontracting is permitted:
Public schools, Head Start, Private CC, Faith-based centers

Is there a required local match for this program?
No

Select a state program to view details.


Ohio Footnotes

  1. Since 2006-2007, grants had been awarded based upon a poverty index. With new funds added in 2013-2014, grants were awarded to high quality programs located within district boundaries thathave high needs including high poverty and low achievement and Ohio expanded its eligible providers to also include nonpublic districts and child-care programs. Ohio has a total of 273 grantees.
  2. Ohio funded 8150 children with a per-child allocation of $4000. Total enrollment exceeded 8150 children, so all enrollment breakdowns are based on 8150 figure. Enrollment breakdowns are estimated figures based on funded enrollment of 8150 children only and not the total enrollment. Although legislation says that children should not be age-eligible for kindergarten (age 5) when in pre-K, there are two locally determined school entrance dates (August 1 or September 30) in Ohio, so 5-year-olds may enroll in kindergarten if they turn five after August 1 but before September 30, depending on the district of residence.
  3. State funding is for a part-day program which specifies 12.5 hours per week. Data on enrollment by schedule are not available.
  4. There are two locally determined school entrance dates for kindergarten in Ohio (August 1 or September 30). Depending on the local district’s entrance date it is possible that 5-year-olds may enroll in the program if not age elible for kindergarten or if they turn 5 after August 1 but before September 30, depending on the district of residence.
  5. Family income is the determining factor for this program. The program is free for families up to 100 percent FPL. Families between 101 and 200 percent FPL may pay a fee based on the district’s sliding fee scale. Programs may offer services to children over 200 percent FPL, but those families pay full tuition.
  6. 101-200% FPL
  7. All programs are required to participate in Ohio’s Step Up To Quality TQRIS and given additional points for meeting 1 to 10 or max 20 ratios and class sizes. Most programs are meeting this requirement and rated 4 or 5 and are receiving points for meeting these ratios.
  8. Programs are required to provide breakfast, lunch, or snack depending on hours of attendance.
  9. Hemoglobin and lead
  10. In all programs, at least 50 percent of teachers must have a BA in ECE.
  11. Programs are now required to participate in Ohio’s Step Up To Quality (TQRIS) and are given extra points for attaining 30 hours of PD every 2 years at the star 4 and 5 levels. Most programs are attaining these levels.
  12. Title I and local sources may be used by programs to fund additional children who are receiving services through ECE but not funded through the state.
  13. Originally the allocation was provided starting with the district with the highest poverty rate, the Ohio Department of Education funded awards of up to two classrooms per district until all dollars were allocated. With the expansion in 2013-14, a competitive process was used to allocate funds to program within boundaries of school districts with highest poverty and lowest achievement on K readiness assessment and third-grade reading assessments.
  14. With expansion of funds in 2013-14, additional eligible providers were added to include chartered nonpublic schools and child care programs.
  15. Participation in a state quality rating system is legislatively required beginning with the 2013-14 school year. So programs are participating now and state reviews with on-sites, desk audits, classroom observations, and documentation review. Both ODE and ODJFS use same system for all programs statewide.
  16. Past evaluations of ECE have used ELLCO. State reviews results of child outcomes and results show that children participating in ECE perform significantly better on K readiness assessment than demographically similar children who did not participate in ECE. Evaluation is being conducted of TQRIS which will inform this work as well.
  17. GGG, ASQ(SE). Programs are required to also use a curriculum-embedded performance measure, but the instrument is determined locally.
  18. Teachers may use the child assessments to inform the creation of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs).
  19. The 2013-2014 school year was last school year that the state wil use this particular assessment as its KRA: Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Literacy. In Fall 2014 there was a transition to an expanded KRA. For 2013-2015 KRAL is required and used in Ohio as the statewide K readiness assessment that measures language and literacy, given within first six weeks of school. Ohio has Race to the Top funding and Race to the Top–Early Learning Challenge grant funding to expand its KRA to address all domains of school readiness. The new assessment began in Fall 2014 with all K students in Ohio. Ohio collaborated with Maryland to develop the new KRA. Ohio is also developing a new pre-K-through-kindergarten formative assessment, covering ages 36 to 72 months. It has been piloted in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years. The formative assessment will begin implementation inthe 2014-2015 school year and be used by participants in Ohio’s ECE program as well as highly rated child care programs.