Page 37 - Superintendent Report 2021-22

Virtual & Home Educational Services

The Department of Virtual and Home Educational Services provides
a choice for families for Virtual Education, Hospital Homebound, and
Home Education outside the traditional brick & mortar environment.

• Palm Beach Virtual School is a grade K-12 option in Palm Beach County. Full-time and part-time
opportunities are available to students. All full-time students work on a flexible schedule. All
courses are asynchronous.
• Hospital Homebound is a temporary intervention service. The primary goal is to minimize
instructional gaps by providing access to the curriculum while the student is medically confined
and promoting re-entry into a traditional setting.
• Home Education is a parent-directed educational option. Parents have the freedom to determine
their child’s educational path and plan for reaching their goals. Students have the opportunity
to explore and learn at their own pace.
• For the FY22, over 14,000 students participated in Virtual & Home Educational Services.

Objective 3: Ensure academic proficiency of all students in pre-kindergarten
through grade 2.

Early Childhood Education

Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Program
The Department of Early Childhood Education (ECE) leads and manages the instructional and
operational components of the District’s Florida Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education
program. ECE earns and blends revenues from parent fees, grants, and contracts to provide 124
classrooms in 64 schools with the capacity to serve approximately 2,430 students, including 528
Head Start and Early Head Start students and their families. End-of-the-year aggregated data
indicates that 85% of the District’s VPK students met or exceeded the Florida VPK Assessment
expectations. In addition, the District’s Head Start program met or exceeded all federal and local
audit requirements during its April 2022 Federal Program Review.

Emergent Literacy Training for Lead VPK Instructors
To support capacity building among the VPK and Head Start teaching
teams, ECE provides technical assistance, onsite coaching, and
professional development. Recent legislative changes mandated that
VPK lead instructors complete specified emergent literacy training by
July 1, 2022. ECE supported lead teachers with this state requirement,
and 100% of returning VPK lead teachers completed the training before
June 30, 2022. To further support capacity building, ECE also facilitated
course completion opportunities for early learning paraprofessionals,
resulting in 24% of VPK assistant teachers completing the training as of
June 30, 2022.

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