The Florida Department of Education announces an extension to the call for publishers’ submissions of comprehensive prekindergarten curricula for the 2007 Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Curriculum Approval Process. Intent to Submit forms are requested by May 1, 2007. Note: this date supersedes the original deadline of Friday, April 6, 2007. This form is available on the DOE/OEL website at: www.myflorida education.com/earlylearning/curric.htm or by contacting the Department of Education, Office of Early Learning at earlylearning@fldoe.org.

For the purposes of this approval process, a curriculum is defined as a set of written materials that

• is replicable
• addresses the use of materials, scheduling, arranging the environment, and interaction between children and adults, either separately or in combination
• includes more than activity suggestions and more than theory and pedagogy
• is aligned with the VPK Education Standards
• is aligned with scientifically-based research.

Only comprehensive curricula will be reviewed for approval during this process. In order to be considered comprehensive, the materials submitted must stand alone and cover the VPK Education Standards in all seven domains. If ancillary or supplemental materials are required in order for a given curriculum to be considered comprehensive those additional materials must be submitted with the basic curriculum as a packaged set (i.e., “curriculum package”) and must be made available to providers as a complete curriculum at a set price.

Information about the process, including policies and procedures, specifications, and deadlines, will be posted on the DOE/OEL website at www.myfloridaeducation.com/early learning/curric.htm. Questions related to this announcement may be directed to: Shan Goff, Executive Director, or Kim Komisar, Director, Program Standards and Professional Development, by phone at (850)245-0445 or via email at shan.goff@fldoe.org, or kim.komisar@fldoe.org.