General

Pre-kindergarten Initiative in 2013-14:
Oklahoma Early Childhood Four-Year-Old Program

State agency with administrative authority over pre-K:
Office of Instruction-Early Childhood

Availability of program:
512 out of 520 school districts (98%)

Are districts, counties, or towns in Alabama required to offer this pre-kindergarten initiative?
No, optional

Hours of operation per day:
School day, 6 hours/day; Part day, 2.5 hours/day4

Is there a formal partnership at the state level to provide extended day services through collaboration with other agencies and programs?
No4

Enrollment

Fall 2013, Total children:
40,823

Fall 2011, by age:
40,823 4-year-olds1

Fall 2011, by type of administering agency:
Public schools, 40,8233

Program enrollment, Fall 2013, by operating schedule:
School day, 31,916; Part day, 8,907

Eligibility

Minimum age for eligibility:
4 years, months by September 1

Maximum age for eligibility:
5 years by September 1

Kindergarten eligibility age:
5 years, months by September 1

Does state policy allow any exceptions to the age requirement for prekindergarten or kindergarten eligibility?
Yes5

State policy on enrolling children in state pre-K when they are eligible for kindergarten:
State policy does not regulate the enrollment of kindergarten age-eligible children in pre-K5

Aside from age, how is eligibility determined for individual children for this state prekindergarten initiative?
All age-eligible children in districts offering the program, or in the entire state, may enroll

What was the state-specified income requirement during the 2013-14 program year?
No income requirement

To whom, or to what percentage of children, does the income requirement apply?

Is there a sliding payment scale based on income?
No

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?
No income requirement

Class Sizes

Maximum class size:
4-year-olds, 20

Staff-child ratio requirement:
4-year-olds, 1 to 10

Teachers

Minimum teacher degree requirement:
BA (public)10

Required teacher certification, licensure, and/or endorsement:
Public: EC Certification (Birth-3rd grade)10

Education level of teachers during 2011-12 by percent:
BA, 81.87%; MA, 18.08%; Other, 05%

Education level of teachers during 2011-12 totals:
BA, 1549; MA, 342; Other, 1

Teacher in-service requirement:
None11

Minimum assistant teacher degree requirement:
HSD or Equivalent (public and nonpublic)12

Assistant teacher specialized training requirement:
None12

Services

Meal requirement:
Lunch;6

Support services for English Language Learners and families:
Bilingual non-English classes are permitted in pre-K; Monolingual non-English classes are permitted in pre-K; Professional development or coaching is provided for teachers; Programs are required to screen and assess all children; A home language survey is sent home at the beginning of the school year; Information must be presented to parents in their primary language; A systematic, written plan must be in place on how to work with English Language Learners; Translators or bilingual staff are available if children do not speak English8

Support services required for all programs:
Parent involvement activities; Child health services; Nutrition information; Referral for social services; Transition to K activities; Parent conferences and/or home visits7

Regulations

Screening and referral requirements:
Required: Vision; Hearing; Immunizations; Locally determined: Full physical exam; Height/Weight/BMI; Blood pressure; Psychological/Behavioral; Developmental; Dental7

State’s early learning standards document in 2013-14.
Oklahoma Academic Standards

For more information about the early learning standards in 2013-14:
http://ok.gov/sde/sites/ok.gov.sde/files/C3%20Pass%20prek.pdf9

Funding

Days per week the state prekindergarten initiative is funded to operate using state funds:
5 days per week4

Annual operating schedule for this state-funded prekindergarten initiative:
Academic year4

Actual fiscal year 2014 spending for this state prekindergarten initiative:
$313,184,872

All funding sources:
State, $149,587,677; Federal, $36,443026; Required local, $126,937,923; Non-required local, $216,24613

State funding sources and amounts:
State appropriation, $142,985,269; Other state sources, $6,602,40813

Federal funding sources and amounts:
Multiple federal sources, $36,443,02613

Is funding for this state prekindergarten initiative determined by a school funding or state aid formula?
Yes13

Agencies eligible to receive funding directly:
Public schools

Agencies with which subcontracting is permitted:
Public schools, Head Start, Private CC, Faith-based centers; Other, 14. Corporate spaces, community-based organizations such as YMCA, assisted living, university child development centers, and tribal Head Start

Is there a required local match for this program?
No

Select a state program to view details.


Oklahoma Footnotes

  1. Oklahoma has a pilot early childhood program for at-risk children from birth through age 3 that served 2,241 children in center-based programs, and 317 children in home visiting programs= 2,558 total children served in 2013-14 school year.
  2. State funding is not available for the 1,932 typically developing 3-year-olds in the prekindergarten program unless they have an IEP. State funding may have been available for 1,535 of these children.
  3. Even in collaboration programs, all students are considered public school enrollees and are matched with a site elementary school. They receive the same services as onsite public school students.
  4. Programs have the option of operating a part-day or a school-day program or a combination of both within each district. Most school districts operate 5 days per week. Programs must be offered at least 175 days per year or 1,080 hours per school year. Districts can choose to offer a longer day but will not receive additional state funding through the state aid formula. Collaboration with other agencies and programs to provide extended-day services occurs but is not mandated at the state level.
  5. Children who are age 5 may attend the prekindergarten program, and 4-year-olds or 6-year-olds may attend kindergarten. However, the funding that a district receives relates to the child’s age. Promotion and retention are local district decisions.
  6. At least one meal is provided through the federal Child Nutrition Program. The federal government does not provide snacks for 4-year-olds in public schools during regular class time, so snacks are determined locally.
  7. If a Pre-K program is in collaboration with Head Start, they must meet Head Start requirements.
  8. All students who are identified as ELL based on their Placement Test scores should be annually assessed using the State’s ELP assessment: ACCESS for ELLs, until they meet the score exit criteria.
  9. If a school district is in collaboration with Head Start, they must meet Head Start guidelines also.
  10. Oklahoma will be revising standards over the next 2 years for PreK-12 for ELA and Math.
  11. The state also has an IT3 certificate for individuals teaching infants, toddlers, and 3-year-olds. Teachers with this certification cannot teach in a classroom of 4-year-olds. Additionally, a paraprofessional may become certified in Early Childhood to teach in a pre-K classroom if he/she: has a bachelor’s degree, has one year experience as a teaching assistant in a public school in the area for which a teaching license is pursued, passes the Oklahoma General Education Test (OGET), passes a subject area test in early childhood, and passes the Oklahoma Professional Teachers Examination (OPTE).
  12. Since the 2010-2011 school year, professional development has not been required by the state. As per Oklahoma HB 2928, “A licensed or certified teacher shall not be required to complete any points of the total number of professional development points required.” It is a local school district’s decision how many hours of professional development are required.
  13. Teacher Assistants are only required to hold a high school diploma or GED diploma and pass the FBI criminal history check. However, if the teacher assistant is employed in a Title I school, they must be highly qualified using one of the following methods: 1. Hold an associate’s degree or higher. 2. Completed at least two years or 48 credit hours of study at an institution of higher education 3. Passed the OGET (Oklahoma General Education Test) 4. Pass the ETS (Education Testing Service) ParaPro Assessment Test or the WorkKeys Assessment. About 67 percent of school sites are Title 1.
  14. Corporate spaces, community-based organizations such as YMCA, assisted living, university child development centers, and tribal Head Start.
  15. Documentation of children’s learning and/or child outcomes (locally determined outcomes aligned with student standards); Documentation of program-level outcomes (locally determined outcomes aligned with student standards); Review of program facilities and safety procedures; Review of program records
  16. The annual accreditation report is collected in October and the other two audits by the Regional Accreditation Office are made at the end of the first nine weeks of school and the end of the school year.
  17. Determined locally.
  18. Uses of child-level assessments are determined locally but it is state policy for them not to be used for high-stakes testing. Common applications include to: identify needs that will guide teacher training or professional development, track child and program level outcomes over time, and provide a measure of kindergarten readiness.
  19. It is a district decision which comprehensive assessment to use. For the required Reading Sufficiency Act, districts must choose one of thirteen approved assessments for reading: Aimsweb, The Children’s progress Academic Assessment, DIBELs Next, DRA2+, easyCBM, Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE), iReady Diagnostics, Literacy First, Measures of Academic Progress, Measures of Academic Progress for Primary Grades, mCLASS DIBELs Next, Star Early Learning Enterprise, Woodcock Reading Mastery tests, Third Edition III.