Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, March 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This amendment is to respond to changes in
section
163.018,
RSMo, by HB 604, which allows a district or a charter school that has declared
itself as a local education agency to contract with an early childhood
education program to provide early learning services. HB 604 gave the board the
authority to set standards for any early childhood education program that is
under a contract as set forth above, and these standards contained herein are
entitled "Prekindergarten Program Standards."
(1) Any school district or charter school
reporting children ages three (3) to five (5) for calculation in their average
daily attendance must meet standards approved by the State Board of Education
(board) including:
(A) A lead teacher in each
prekindergarten classroom who holds a bachelor's degree and teaching
certificate in early childhood education or early childhood special education;
and
(B) A teacher assistant or
paraprofessional who holds an associate's degree in early childhood, or child
development, or sixty (60) college hours with a minimum of nine (9) college
credit hours in early childhood, child development, or child/family related
courses and experience working in a program with young children and their
families for any classroom with more than ten (10)
children.
(2) Any school
district or charter school contracting with an early childhood education
program reporting children ages three (3) to five (5) for calculation in their
average daily attendance must meet standards approved by the board set forth in
(1)(A) and (B) of this rule, and including:
(A) The program provides school day, school
year programming with options for full day, full year programming;
(B) The program has a teacher-to-child ratio
of one (1) to ten (10), maximum class size of twenty (20) children;
(C) The program implements a developmentally
appropriate curricula aligned with the early learning standards, and approved
by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE);
(D) The program aligns with the early
learning standards that implement a developmentally appropriate, culturally and
linguistically appropriate, authentic, reliable, and valid general development
and social/emotional screening tool and summative assessment used with all
children. Information from the screenings and assessments will be used for
educational purposes;
(E) The
program develops and implements procedures to ensure all staff members of the
early childhood education program shall undergo background checks as described
in section
168.133,
RSMo; and
(F) The program is
accredited by Missouri Accreditation of Programs for Children and Youth within
ninety (90) days of a fully executed contract.
