School-based Preschool Programs Technical Assistance Sessions (Spring 2025)

Description:

The Division of Early Childhood Care and Education at the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) will offer the School-based Preschool Programs Technical Assistance Sessions. The purpose of this series is to deliver targeted technical assistance and professional development to leaders in school-based early childhood programs. This includes:

• School division leaders who act as the program administrator for Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) programs;
• School division leaders or local agency leaders who act as the program administrator for the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI), Title I Preschool, or locally funded preschool programs;
• School division leaders who act as the program administrator for Head Start programs and/or the Disabilities Specialist in a Head Start program where the school division is the grantee.

The sessions will focus on building and leading high-quality early childhood inclusive preschool programs. Participants will learn approaches to partner effectively across Virginia’s school-based early childhood programs to improve child outcomes and to leverage local and regional data to identify program strengths and areas for growth, sharing approaches with peers and generating actionable insights. 

Sessions will be presented three times across the state. Participants will be assigned to a session location based on their Ready Region. The dates, locations, and designated participants for each session are as follows:

• March 12, 2025: Fredericksburg Convention Center
• Ready Regions 7, 8, 9
• March 13, 2025: Williamsburg (Registration closes 3/5)
• Ready Regions 4, 5, 6
• March 26, 2025: Roanoke (Registration closes 3/5)
• Ready Regions 1, 2, 3

The VDOE will assume the cost of registration and lunch. Space is limited; therefore, the following individuals are designated to register and attend:

• One school division leader who acts as the program administrator for ECSE programs,
• One school division or local agency leader who acts as the program coordinator for the VPI program, and
• One program leader who acts as the program leader or Disabilities Specialist for the Head Start program when the school division is the Head Start grantee.

If more than one person shares the designated role, it is the responsibility of the team to determine who will attend. Further, it is the responsibility of those who attend to work with team members not in attendance to share information and resources following the event.

Registration - Each individual planning to attend is to register themselves. Please do not register another person. The Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) at George Mason University will manage registration. Please only register for the site designated for your program location based on the corresponding Ready Region. If your division is on Spring Break during your assigned date, you may put yourself on a waitlist for another event by emailing Jackie Kilkeary at jkilkear@gmu.edu. The waitlist is only to be used by the divisions with conflicts due to Spring Break.

• Fredericksburg Registration- Ready Regions 7, 8, 9
  • March 12, 2025 (Registration closes 2/21)
• Williamsburg Registration- Ready Regions 4, 5, 6
  • March 13, 2025 (Registration closes 3/5)
• Roanoke Registration- Ready Regions 1, 2, 3
  • March 26, 2025 (Registration closes 3/5)

Time – 9:00 am- 5:00 pm

• 9-10 Registration and Networking 
• 10-4:00 event (with working lunch) 
• 4:00-5:00 Networking and Reflection

Roundtable Reflections: There will be a portion of the day for "Roundtable Reflections." At registration, you will select topics that you would like to attend. The topics and descriptions are below:

• Get to Know Your Inclusion Data with Dawn Hendricks: Learn about your data on inclusion of preschool aged children with Individualized Education Programs. Division level data and a description of how to interpret the data will be provided. Participants may ask questions related to their data collection, reporting, and analyzing.
• Classroom Learning with Marie LaMonica-Sarro: Learn about and discuss resources designed to support instruction in Virginia classrooms. Topics will include the Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS) and aligned resources (ELDS Micro-credential, ECE Resource Hub, WIDA Making Connections Document), Early Childhood Curriculum (including STREAMin3), and Early Childhood Screening (VKRP and VALLS: Pre-K).
• Braiding Funding for Blended Classrooms with Tiffanie Meehling: Discuss options and possibilities for maximizing funding utilization across several publicly funded programs. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss several scenarios and brainstorm possible programmatic shifts that may allow current funding to serve more students. 
• Coordinated Approaches Across Early Childhood Programs with Taundwa Jeffries: Discuss strategies to coordinate efforts across Head Start, VPI, and ECSE programs in your school division. Participants will share and learn ways to align goals, improve communication, and build inclusive environments that support all children.
• Quality Interactions with Lucy Mitzner: Discuss and share strategies for strengthening quality interactions through the use of the CLASS tool within your division. Possible discussion to include local and external observations and feedback, score replacement, exploration of future use of CLASS 2^nd edition, effective use of CLASS data, and CLASS and curriculum connections. 
  
• Improving Inclusion in Early Childhood Classrooms with TTAC: Learn about strategies to improve inclusion in early childhood classrooms. Resources will be shared and participants will discuss efforts to increase inclusion as well as improve quality of inclusive practices.

Session Materials - Participant materials and agenda will be shared digitally prior to the session. It is the responsibility of the participants to print materials if desired.

Meals – Lunch will be provided.

Format – The sessions will be a mixture of presentations from the VDOE, presentations from school divisions providing concrete examples of strategies and practices, as well as time for small group discussions and networking.

Travel Expenses - School divisions are encouraged to cover participants’ travel expenses (e.g., mileage, lodging if applicable) based on state travel rates. The VDOE will not provide reimbursement for participants’ travel expenses.

Contacts

For questions regarding online registration, please contact Jackie Kilkeary at the TTAC at George Mason, at JKilkear@gmu.edu.

For questions related to Early Childhood Special Education participation contact Dawn Hendricks, Early Childhood Special Education Coordinator, at Dawn.Hendricks@doe.virginia.gov.

For questions related to VPI, Title I, or locally funded participation contact Tiffanie Meehling, Associate Director of PreK Programs, at Tiffanie.Meehling@doe.virginia.gov.

For questions related to Head Start participation contact Taundwa Jeffries, at Taundwa.Jeffries@doe.virginia.gov.