Iowa Admin. Code r. 441-118.9
"Action plan" means a written, detailed sequence of steps taken or activities performed to reach one or more goals.
"All staff" means program administrator or director, assistant program administrator or assistant director, on-site supervisor, lead teacher and staff counted as part of the staff-to-child ratio.
"Area education agency" or "AEA" means an agency working as an educational partner with public and accredited nonpublic schools to help learners, school staff, parents and communities. AEAs provide early intervention services, special education support services, media and technology services, a variety of instructional services, professional development and leadership to promote school improvement as established in Iowa Code chapter 273.
"Assessment tool" means a tool used to gather and provide educators, parents, guardians, and caretakers with critical information about a child's educational growth and development. Assessment tools are used to determine what children in care know, understand and are able to do. Assessment results drive the ways teachers support and assess children's learning, plan their curriculum to support each child, monitor progress and identify next steps.
"Assistant program administrator" or "assistant director" means the staff member working directly under the administrator or director and assisting with program planning, managing, marketing and directing.
"Assistant teacher" means any staff member working under the supervision of a lead teacher or other licensed personnel who has the ultimate responsibility for the design and implementation of education and related service programs. Other terms used may include paraprofessional, educational aide, associate, or instructional aide.
"Caring for our children" or "CFOC" means the national health and safety performance standard guidelines for early care and education programs representing the best practices based on evidence, expertise, and experience for quality health and safety policies for early care and education settings.
"Child and adult care food program" or "CACFP" means a federal United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) CNP that provides a subsidy for serving nutritious meals and snacks to eligible children and adults who are enrolled at participating child care centers, homes, and adult day care centers. CACFP also provides reimbursements for meals served to children and youth participating in after school care programs, children residing in emergency shelters, and adults over the age of 60 or living with a disability and enrolled in adult day care facilities. In order to qualify for reimbursement, the meals served must meet federal guidelines.
"Child care experience" means knowledge and skills learned through employment or volunteer work in a licensed child care center, a school-aged only program, a preschool, a registered child development home or as a child care home provider.
"Child care nurse consultant" or "CCNC" means a registered nurse licensed in the state of Iowa who has completed training incorporating the nationally approved child care health competencies for health and safety in child care and early education. The CCNC provides on-site consultation, technical assistance, care planning for children with special health needs and training to child care and early education providers regarding health and safety. The CCNC is employed by or has a written agreement with the local Title V maternal and child health agency or the Iowa department of public health (IDPH) for service delivery directly through the state-level Title V maternal and child health program administered by the IDPH bureau of family health.
"Child care resource and referral" or "CCR&R" means the statewide (regionally based) agency focused on supporting quality child care throughout the state of Iowa. CCR&R serves as the starting point for all IQ4K applications and provides free technical assistance and consultation to providers throughout the IQ4K application process.
"Child development associate credential" or "CDA" means a nationally recognized credential earned by individuals working in the early child care and education field. The CDA credential is based on a core set of competency standards and includes an assessment process by the Council for Professional Recognition.
"Child development home" means a person or program registered under Iowa Code section 237A.3A that may provide child care to seven or more children at any one time.
"Child Net certification" means a verified completion of the 25-hour ChildNet training series and completion of the certification process.
"Child Net training" means the 25-hour training series offered through CCR&R focused on areas specifically designed for child development home providers.
"Child nutrition programs" or "CNP" means federally funded programs administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The programs are designed to help ensure that children receive nutritious meals and snacks to assist in promoting health and educational readiness. Programs serving nutritious meals and snacks are reimbursed for participating.
"Classroom assessment scoring system" or "CLASS" means an observation instrument that assesses the quality of teacher-child interactions in center-based classrooms.
"Community resources" means the various people, places or services that offer support to child care programs and the children and families they serve.
"Coprovider" means a second approved provider in a Category C registered child development home.
"Culturally sensitive" means the knowledge, skills, attributes and beliefs that enable people to work well with, respond effectively to and be supportive of people in a cross-cultural setting.
"Curriculum" means a written plan that outlines how students shall be taught. The curriculum consists of the plans for the learning experiences through which children acquire knowledge, skills, abilities, and understanding. The curriculum may include lessons, instructional materials, teaching techniques, or activities.
"Department" means the Iowa department of human services.
"Developmental screening tool" means a research-based questionnaire or checklist that asks questions about a child's development, including but not limited to language, movement, thinking, behavior and emotions. Developmental screening shall not be used to establish a diagnosis for a child but rather to help educators, parents, guardians or caretakers determine whether more in-depth assessment may be the next appropriate step.
"Early childhood-positive behavioral interventions and supports" or "EC-PBIS" means Iowa's pyramid model initiative which offers early childhood programs a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to promoting social-emotional development and addressing challenging behaviors among young children. EC-PBIS creates nurturing environments for children equipped with supported staff trained to respond to challenging behaviors to support the goal of fostering positive mental health at a young age.
"EC-PBIS module training" means a series of training intended for staff working with young children. The training teaches the pyramid model, which is a framework of evidence-based practices for promoting young children's healthy social and emotional development. There are different versions of the training depending on what setting and what age group the staff member is working with. Versions include:
1. EC-PBIS for Preschool (modules 1-3) intended for staff working in classroom-based programs with ages three to five.
2. EC-PBIS for Infants and Toddlers (modules 1-3) intended for staff working in classroom-based programs with ages zero to three.
3. EC-PBIS for Family Child Care (modules 1-2) intended for staff working with multiple ages of children in family child care settings.
"Eligible applicants" means programs meeting the definition of "facility."
"Environment rating scale" or "ERS" means a set of early childhood tools or scales developed through the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The scales are used to measure classroom and program quality through assessments by a trained, independent observer. The scales may also be used for self-assessment and program improvement. Four scales are available based on the type of program and ages of children in the classroom assessed:
1. Family child care environment rating scale (FCCERS) for programs in a family child care or child development home setting for children from infancy through school age.
2. Infant and toddler environment rating scale (ITERS) for groups of children in center-based care from birth up to three years of age.
3. Early childhood environment rating scale (ECERS) for center-based care with groups of children aged three through five years.
4. School-age care environment rating scale (SACERS) for center-based programs with groups of school-age children aged 5 through 12 years.
"ERS assessment" means an evaluation conducted through an on-site observation of an early childhood care and education classroom or program using one of the environment rating scales: FCCERS, ITERS, ECERS, or SACERS. The assessment is completed by a trained assessor and administered by entities approved by the department or the department's designee.
"ERS improvement plan" means the action plan created by a program or classroom to lay out ideas for improving program quality. It uses a framework based on ERS criteria and definitions. The ERS improvement plan follows and builds upon a completed ERS classroom or program self-assessment using the appropriate ERS.
"ERS score sheet" means the form used to evaluate and score a program or classroom based on the ERS items and indicators.
"Facility" means a licensed child care center, a preschool, a program operating under the authority of an accredited school district or nonpublic school, or a registered child development home.
"Full-time child care experience" means knowledge and skills learned through employment or volunteer work, at least 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month, in a licensed child care center, a school-aged only program, a preschool, or a registered child development home or as a child care home provider.
"Head Start program performance standards" means the mandatory regulations that grantees and delegate agencies must implement in order to operate a Head Start program. The performance standards are designed to ensure that Head Start goals and objectives are implemented successfully.
"Health and safety checklist for early care and education (ECE) programs" means the nationally recognized quality assessment tool, conducted by a CCNC or another designee as approved by the department, that uses key observable health and safety standards from CFOC. If followed, these standards are most likely to prevent adverse outcomes for children and staff in ECE settings. For the health and safety checklist, "observable" is defined as the following:
1. Requires interaction with the staff or director only to ask where to find an item or identify products.
2. Able to observe when walking through a program over a two-hour period of time.
3. The standard or item can be seen and evaluated in an objective way.
4. Observation may include opening windows, taking measurements (for example, measuring the depth of an impact surface or height of equipment), smelling for odors and reading labels (for example, checking dates on medication labels).
5. Does not require checking records or documents, such as child immunizations, professional development records or written program policies.
"Internal coach" means the staff member, identified by the program administrator, responsible for going into classrooms and supporting staff on the implementation of the EC-PBIS policies and practices. The internal coach shall be a member of the program's positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) leadership team.
"Iowa early care and education program administrator roles career pathway" means the statewide professional development path (www.ecieducationpathway.org) designed to assist early childhood center administrators or other early childhood leaders to develop a personal professional development plan as an early childhood educator II or early childhood educator III.
"Iowa early care and education teaching roles career pathway" means the statewide professional development path (www.ecieducationpathway.org) designed to assist early childhood teachers in a licensed center or a child development home to develop a personal professional development plan as an early childhood educator I, an early childhood educator II or an early childhood educator III.
"Iowa early learning standards" or "IELS" means a comprehensive resource tool developed to support and enhance children's learning and development. The IELS provides descriptions of the knowledge, behaviors and skills that children from birth through age five may demonstrate and can be used to share information with anyone who cares for or works with children during the first 2,000 days of life.
"Iowa quality preschool program standards" means standards developed by the Iowa department of education based on the ten standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation.
"IQ4K teaching staff qualifications worksheet" means the tool used to calculate an average score in the area of teaching staff qualification using a combination of the educational background and related work experience of identified teaching staff members.
"Leadership team" means the team of people that is working to implement a programwide EC-PBIS. The team is composed of program administrators, teachers and a coach. The leadership team is responsible for guiding the programwide process and making decisions on how to support implementation of the EC-PBIS practices throughout the whole program.
"Lead teacher" means the staff member responsible for providing a safe and developmentally appropriate classroom that complies with legislation, policies, and procedures. The lead teacher nurtures children, plans and provides instruction and other activities, ensures student safety, directs the work of other teachers in the classroom, communicates with parents and guardians, is familiar with emergency procedures, and ensures children with diverse needs are included and have their needs met at all times.
"Meals" means any breakfasts, lunches, snacks and suppers the child care program serves to children while in care.
"National Administrator Credential" or "NAC" means the 40-hour comprehensive training for child care and education administrators and successful completion of the certification process offered through the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA) Commission.
"National School Lunch Program" or "NSLP" means a federal CNP operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. The NSLP provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or no-cost lunches to children each school day.
"On-site supervisor" means the individual responsible for the daily supervision of the program who must be on site daily, either during the hours of operation that children are present or at a minimum of eight hours of the program's hours of operation.
"Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Young Children" or "PTR-YC" means the training based on the PTR-YC process for use in early childhood care and education settings including pre-K classrooms and consists of teams and goal setting, practical data collection, functional behavioral assessment, intervention planning and implementation. All steps are designed for use by early childhood providers.
"Professional development plan" means the individualized plan used to improve knowledge and skills. Professional development plans shall address the following:
1. Assessment of an individual's current interests, knowledge and skills.
2. Identification of specific areas for improvement.
3. Development of strategies and resources.
4. Creation of opportunities to reflect and demonstrate an individual's professional growth.
"Professional development training" means continuing education and career training offered by a department-approved training organization to child care and education providers to help them develop new skills, stay up to date on current trends and advance their careers.
"Program" refers to the complete operation of an eligible facility applying for an IQ4K rating.
"Program administrator or director" means a department-approved staff member responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of a child care program. The person is in charge of all aspects of running the program, including scheduling trainings, planning educational activities, hiring and managing properly trained staff, handling the budget, and establishing well-defined policies and procedures. The person is responsible for everything that takes place within the program and acts as the main communication hub between parents, teachers and children.
"Programwide PBIS training" or "PW PBIS training" means the training intended for leadership teams of classroom-based early childhood programs. The purpose of the training is to help guide and support the leadership team through the programwide EC-PBIS process.
"Provider" means the person or program that applies for registration to provide child care and is approved as a child development home.
"Quality rating oversight team" means the workgroup convened to provide oversight and guidance to the department regarding Iowa's QRIS.
"School-aged only program" means an eligible facility providing care primarily to children aged 5 through 12 when school is not in session, including but not limited to before school, after school, out-of-school days during the school year and summer break.
"Seamless summer option" or "SSO" means a federal CNP which allows school food authorities participating in the National School Lunch or School Breakfast Program to serve meals free of charge to children 18 years and under from low-income areas.
"Self-assessment" means an evaluation of current program policies, practices and procedures in comparison to best-practice standards based on the most up-to-date research.
"Social-emotional-behavioral mental health" or "SEBMH" means the way in which an individual thinks, feels, communicates, acts and learns. These skills contribute to resilience and to how individuals relate to others, respond to stress and emotions, and make choices. Foundational knowledge and skills that promote positive SEBMH include self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and relationship skills that support positive well-being and academic success.
"Specialized track" means a modified IQ4K application for eligible applicants who have successfully provided adequate documentation of current verification and certification in one of the department's preapproved specialized track areas.
"Staff" means any individual employed by and working at the facility under the supervision of the program administrator or director or assistant program administrator or assistant director.
"Summer food service program" or "SFSP" means a federal CNP that reimburses program operators who serve free healthy meals and snacks to children 18 years and under from low-income areas.
"Teaching staff" means all lead teachers and assistant teachers.
Iowa Admin. Code r. 441-118.9