FY09 UPK Classroom Quality Grant: Suggestions for Grantee Activities by Expenditure Category

Please note: EEC encourages grantees to refer to these ideas, but not be limited by them.

Staff Compensation

  • Increase salary and benefits to UPK teachers/providers and assistants
  • Hire new staff
  • Provide bonuses to current staff
  • Compensation for coaches/mentors

Comprehensive Services for Children

  • Provide comprehensive services that will facilitate meeting the social-emotional and/or physical health needs of children. Comprehensive services should not supplant services entitled to children with an IEP and may include:
  • Dental care
  • Health services/screenings
  • Mental health services
  • Nutrition services
  • Physical therapy
  • Psychological services (i.e. outpatient therapy)
  • Social work
  • Speech therapy
  • Special education services

Assessment Materials

  • Assessment instruments
  • Assessment tool manuals
  • Online licenses for children
  • Other resources pertaining to observation and assessment

Assessment Trainings

  • Provide trainings on observation and assessment-related topics, for example:
  • How to use assessment systems
  • Using assessment to inform curriculum
  • Using assessment to individualize instruction
  • Using assessment for special populations
  • Using assessment to communicate with parents

Other Assessment Supports

  • Purchase of technology and equipment to support the administration and recording of assessments:
  • Computers
  • Printers
  • Digital cameras and video cameras

Professional Development

  • Provide a range of professional development opportunities either within the program or through an outside source (i.e. college course), in such areas as:
  • Behavior management
  • Bilingual education
  • Child development
  • Curriculum
  • Family services & case management
  • Mental health issues
  • Multicultural understanding
  • Services for children with special needs
  • Violence, abuse & neglect

Full Day Full Year Services

  • Hiring of new staff to support the extension to full-day/full-year services
  • Transportation for children to after school care, if full-day services are not currently provided

Instructional Support and Educational Materials

  • Purchase of a new or updated curriculum
  • Purchase of new educational materials (i.e. books, puzzles, alphabet, math, science/nature materials)
  • Enrichment activities (music, dance, educational field trips, guests in classroom)

Accreditation Support

  • Hiring of accreditation consultants to aid in the NAEYC or NAFCC process
  • Purchase of a digital camera to assist with portfolio requirement
  • Hiring of substitutes to allow classroom teachers time to compile portfolios and prepare for site visits
  • Purchasing of self-study kits for accreditation
  • Up to 50% of NAEYC or NAFCC fees
  • Additional teacher/provider time to focus on accreditation process

Transition to Kindergarten

  • Provide materials/resources for parents that will prepare them for their child’s transition to kindergarten
  • Newsletters
  • Books
  • Information on expectations about transition
  • Teacher compensation/substitute time to produce and prepare transition reports for children (to be shared with parents and kindergarten teachers)
  • Materials/staff time to provide informational parent meetings on the public school enrollment process
  • Staff time to meet with public school staff about children’s transition

Family Support

  • New family outreach (i.e. newsletters, phone calls)
  • Parent support groups
  • Staff time/hire substitutes to allow teachers to participate in more frequent parent-teacher conferences
  • Provide staff training on working with families in crisis or with specific issues and referring them for services

Administrative Costs (no more than 8% of total amount requested)

  • Salaries associated with administering the grant
  • Internal audits
  • Rental of space
  • Telephones/utilities/supplies associated with administering UPK grant

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