Pre School Development Birth to 5- System Building Grant - With the help of its PDG B-5 Systems Building Grant, Florida’s Department of Education, Division of Early Learning (DEL), in partnership with a statewide advisory group, has designed an Informal Pathway that will invest existing professional learning funds more effectively to transform Florida’s fragmented, inconsistent credentialing process into a coherent, competency-based system that prepares educators for success while providing clear, achievable steps toward career advancement. This will also ensure Florida’s significant investment in workforce requirements translates into the skilled, stable workforce that children and families deserve. Florida will also improve family choice and responsiveness and streamline efficiencies for early childhood business owners by strengthening and modernizing the state’s Enhanced Field System Modernization (EFSM) data system. DEL will make the system more responsive by strengthening linkages between key administrative systems supporting $1.8B of federal and state investment in child care financial assistance for low-income working families, the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) system, and program accountability, enabling strategic data utilization that will shape recommendations to streamline early childhood monitoring and oversight systems. These investments will increase interoperability; streamline data collection and reduce administrative burden for providers; improve the consistency and quality of data used to monitor program performance and children’s developmental progress and support timely identification of children in need of services by improving communication across early learning, health, and social service partners.
