In 2002, Florida voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution to provide a high quality prekindergarten learning opportunity for every four-year-old. This program is referred to as Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Program. The legislation passed to implement this program required the development of performance standards. Florida’s revised VPK standards address the following areas of child development:

The Language and Communication Standard was revised and Emergent Literacy was added to achieve the VPK goal of addressing the needs of the total child and to provide clarity and focus in preparing young children to be ready for kindergarten. VPK is seen as one more year to reach the state’s goal of having all of children reading on grade level by the end of third grade.

Training in the Standards will be offered through the Department of Education and the VPK Regional Facilitators. For additional information, please visit the Office of Early Learning’s website:

http://www.fldoe.org/earlylearning