Florida PERKS: Partners in Education and Research for Kindergarten Success

Florida PERKS is a three-year project funded under the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program of the U.S. Department of Education and designed to improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood teachers working in "high-need" communities in order to enhance the school readiness of young children, particularly focusing on the development of early literacy and cognitive development.

Participating teachers are current Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) teachers in Florida's newly-launched VPK Program who hold Child Development Associate (CDA) credentials upon entry into the project. As participants in PERKS, all teachers are awarded T.E.A.C.H. scholarships under the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Scholarship Program administered by the Children's Forum. Each teacher is given the opportunity to enroll in two community college classes toward the Associate Degree under the project and is encouraged to use their scholarship to continue pursuing coursework after their project year ends.

Participating teachers also receive technical assistance from regional Technical Assistant Specialists. Teachers are randomly assigned to one of four levels of intensity of technical assistance: weekly onsite visits, monthly onsite visits, monthly phone calls, or no technical assistance (control). Under this randomized experimental design, data analysis will test the effectiveness of formal professional development coursework paired with various levels of technical assistance intensity.

Specifically, the objectives of Florida PERKS are:

1. to increase the knowledge, skills, and practices of 240 VPK teachers through comprehensive early childhood development coursework focused on the topics of curriculum and assessment;
2. to test the effectiveness of varying intensity levels of technical assistance; and
3. to enhance the outcomes of approximately 2,400 children (based on VPK 1:10 ratios) through professional development and technical assistance provided to teachers.

Collaborative partnerships are essential to the project. The PERKS partners include the Children's Forum, two Florida universities, the Florida community college network, and 9 early learning coalitions in the state.

Co-Principal Investigators:
Phyllis Kalifeh CEO/President, Children's Forum
Rebecca Marcon, Ph.D., Professor, University of North Florida

Project Director:
Beverly Esposito, Ph.D., Children's Forum

Evaluator:
Rebecca Marcon, Ph.D., Professor, University of North Florida

Research Coordinator:
Saralyn Grass, Children's Forum

Technical Assistance Trainer:
Prish Malone, Children's Forum

Technical Assistance Coordinator:
Lynn Hartle, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Central Florida

Community College Coordinator:
Sandy Hightower, Ph.D., Instructor, Polk Community College

Coalition Coordinator:
Barbara Saunders, Executive Director, Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida

Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Education

Funding Dates: 10/01/2005 through 09/30/2008

Project Email: besposito@thechildrensforum.com