Utah Code 35A-15-202. Elements of a high quality school readiness program

35A-15-202. Elements of a high quality school readiness program.

(1)

A high quality school readiness program that an eligible LEA or eligible private provider runs shall include:

Terms Used In Utah Code 35A-15-202

Board: means the School Readiness Board, created in Section 35A-15-201. See Utah Code 35A-15-102
Eligible private provider: means a child care program that:

(i)	is licensed under 4; or

(ii)

except as provided in Subsection (5)(b)(ii), is exempt from licensure under Section 26B-2-405. See Utah Code 35A-15-102

Evaluation: means an evaluation conducted in accordance with Section 35A-15-303. See Utah Code 35A-15-102

High quality school readiness program: means a preschool program that:

(a)	is provided by an eligible LEA, eligible private provider, or eligible home-based educational technology provider; and

(b)

meets the elements of a high quality school readiness program described in Section 35A-15-202. See Utah Code 35A-15-102

Kindergarten transition plan: means a plan that supports the smooth transition of a preschool student to kindergarten and includes communication and alignment among the preschool, program, parents, and K-12 personnel. See Utah Code 35A-15-102

LEA: means a school district or charter school. See Utah Code 35A-15-102

Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.

School readiness assessment: means the same as that term is defined in Section 53E-4-314. See Utah Code 35A-15-102

State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5

(a)

an evidence-based curriculum that is aligned with all of the developmental domains and academic content areas defined in the Utah core standards for preschool that the State Board of Education adopts, and that incorporates:

(i)	intentional and differentiated instruction in whole group, small group, and child-directed learning; and

(ii)

intentional instruction in key areas of literacy and numeracy, as determined by the State Board of Education, that:

(A)	is teacher led or through a partnership with a contractor as defined in Section 63N-20-101;

(B)	includes specific literacy and numeracy skills, such as phonological awareness; and

(C)	includes provider monitoring and ongoing professional learning and coaching;

(b)	ongoing, focused, and intensive professional development for staff of the school readiness program;

(c)

ongoing assessment of a student’s educational growth and development that:

(i)	is aligned to the Utah core standards for preschool that the State Board of Education adopts; and

(ii)	evaluates student progress to inform instruction;

(d)	administration of the school readiness assessment to each student;

(e)	for a preschool program that an eligible LEA runs, a class size that does not exceed 20 students, with one adult for every 10 students in the class;

(f)	ongoing program evaluation and data collection to monitor program goal achievement and implementation of required program components;

(g)	family engagement, including ongoing communication between home and school, and parent education opportunities based on each family’s circumstances;

(h)

only lead teachers who, by the lead teacher’s second year, obtain at least:

(i)	the minimum standard of a child development associate certification; or

(ii)	an associate or bachelor’s degree in an early childhood education related field; and

(i)	a kindergarten transition plan.

(2)	A high quality school readiness program that a home-based educational technology provider runs shall meet the requirements as described in Title 63N, Chapter 20, Part 1, UPSTART.

Amended by Chapter 380, 2023 General Session

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