UPK News

and FAQs

from the New York State Education Department's Office of Early Learning

Winter Edition: 2023-2024 Program Year

Important Dates and Deadlines:

Important Dates and Deadlines for the 2023-2024 School Year

January 25, 2024: The Value of Play: Play Based Learning for P-3 Students Webinar

January/February: Districts should be issuing Request for Proposals (RFPs) to local agencies to solicit interest in a collaborative partnership for prekindergarten services for the 2024-2025 program year. Issuing an RFP is required for any district not currently collaborating at the required 10% minimum.

March 13, 2024: PreK Final Child Counts Due - See the Child Counts Reporting and Guidance memo and Child Counts Webinar for guidance. Please note that the provision of "ever enrolled" has ended (see memo for more information).

March 13, 2024: Collaboration in UPK Webinar

May 2, 2024: Save the Date for Navigating PreK Day 2024 - School business officials can click here to register

May 15, 2024: Social Emotional Learning in the P-3 Classroom

May 31, 2024: FS-10A Amendments Due - See the FS-10A Budget Amendments Webinar for guidance

Photo of Erik Sweet, Executive Director of the Office of Early Learning

Dear educators,

I hope you have all had an excellent beginning to the school year. I am excited to share with you that the Office of Early Learning is working on several new resources for the Prekindergarten-Grade 3 community. Additionally, we have started our annual monitoring visits for those districts that have SUFDPK expansion grant funding, so we look forward to visiting your school to learn more about your programs.

As a continuation of our Office of Early Learning Navigating PreK Day event in September, we will be holding a second event, Navigating PreK Day 2024, on May 2 at the New York State Museum in Albany, and we welcome all UPK administrators and program leads. The event will include some panel presentations with UPK programs, as well as an update on the 2024 budget as it relates to Prekindergarten and any timely news. Please join us in Albany for this in-person event so that we can learn together.

In our efforts to expand Prekindergarten - Grade 3 support and highlight best practices, we have planned three webinar events for 2024 around early learning and social-emotional learning, UPK collaboration between eligible agencies and districts, and play and classroom instruction. The dates for the events and the sign-up link can be found below in this newsletter.

Throughout the year, if you have suggestions for resources, or if we can assist you, feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Erik Sweet

Executive Director, Office of Early Learning

Erik.Sweet@nysed.gov

(518) 474-5807

flyer for navigating prek day may 2 2024

2023-2024 PreK Child Counts

Reporting and Guidance

Image of a chart for Coding SUFDPK and UPK students in SIRS which is available in the linked memo

Each spring, school districts are required to report their prekindergarten (PreK) child counts (enrollment numbers), regardless of the funding that supports their program. For the 2023-24 school year, all student counts must be entered via the Student Information Repository System (SIRS) and the SED Monitoring and Vendor Performance System, as applicable, on or before the close of business on March 15, 2024.

For the 2023-2024 school year, PreK child counts must reflect the actual PreK enrollment as of March 13, 2024. Please note this is a change from previous years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, districts were temporarily given an opportunity to report enrollment through multiple pull dates and recoup funds for any child educated in their program. This provision of counting "ever-enrolled" has ended.

For more information or questions, please email OEL@nysed.gov.

Read the Full Child Counts Reporting & Guidance Memo Here

Best Practices P-3 Webinar Series

The Office of Early Learning is excited to host a series of webinars over the next few months that focus on best practices in Prekindergarten through Third Grade. See the below flyer for more information on each webinar. Register by scanning the QR codes below, or following these links:

January 25, 2024: The Value of Play: Play-Based Learning for P-3 Students

March 13, 2024: Collaboration in UPK

May 15, 2024: Social Emotional Learning in the P-3 Classroom

flyer for p-3 webinars from the office of early learning

photos of teachers pointing to the smart board

UPK Classroom Spotlight: Cazenovia CSD

The Cazenovia Central School District is proud to offer Universal Prekindergarten to families this year. The UPK classrooms are housed within Burton Street Elementary school and welcome the district’s youngest learners into the school community.

One goal of Cazenovia’s UPK program is to ensure continuity of instruction. The district is committed to instruction of reading foundational skills using both the Fundations and Heggerty programs. UPK teachers, Mrs. Jenny Bailey and Ms. Tracy Ryan, have implemented each of these programs with their prekindergarten students. Students will continue instruction with Fundations and Heggerty through 2nd grade. Such continuity of instruction helps to ensure students are meeting the NYS Next Generation ELA standards related to foundational skills.

The Fundations and Heggerty programs each follow a developmental sequence and allow opportunities for individual student needs to be addressed. Mrs. Bailey and Ms. Ryan have common planning time each day which allows for the review of curricular content, collaboration and goal setting. Mrs. Bailey and Ms. Ryan are excited by the progress students are making and look forward to continued growth this year as the group prepares for kindergarten!

Office of Early Learning SUFDPK Monitoring

The Office of Early Learning (OEL) conducts annual reviews of districts and agencies receiving Statewide Universal Full-Day Prekindergarten (SUFDPK) funding. Part of this review includes an on-site visit to prekindergarten programs funded under this grant. During these visits, OEL liaisons work with programs to ensure they are meeting NYSED UPK requirements and regulations and provide technical assistance for program improvements.

photo of two women from the Office of Early Learning holding clipboards

Helpful Resources/Professional Development:

teachers in a library watching a presentation

Office of Early Learning Presentation at Schalmont CSD

On the invitation of the Schalmont Central School District, representatives from the Office of Early Learning (OEL) joined the Schalmont PreK Advisory Committee on Wednesday, December 6th. OEL liaisons discussed funding sources, the construct of a typical PreK day, and curriculum/instructional resources as the district considers implementation of UPK over the next two years. The Committee was able to facilitate a question and answer session with community stakeholders who are excited at the prospect of this programmatic addition.

UPK Classroom Spotlight Opportunity

The Office of Early Learning is looking for best practices from districts, CBO, and Direct Contract Agency UPK classrooms to spotlight throughout the year. If you are interested in sharing a success story in any of the following areas, please submit your story via email to the Office of Early Learning at OEL@nysed.gov .

Learning centers
Theme integration
Building classroom community
Differentiated instruction
Kindergarten transition
Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the UPK classroom
Anything the district is inspired to share with the field

You will need to include the following information in your submission:

Subject: UPK Spotlight Submission
Local Education Agency Name
Teacher Name
Photo of the best practice in action
1-2 paragraphs describing the best practice and highlighting any results since its implementation.

We look forward to hearing from you!