Glossary
Act 3
The Early Childhood Education Act that was passed in 2012 for Louisiana's young children. The statute called for a statewide, integrated, and unified early childhood care and education network with standards to ensure Louisiana's children are Kindergarten ready.
CCAP
Child Care Assistance Program that helps low-income families pay for child care while working or attending school. Eligibility is based on family size, household income, and how many hours the adult applying works and /or attends school or training.
CDA
The Child Development Associate credential that is widely recognized in early childhood education. In Louisiana, once a teacher receives a CDA, he/she can apply for an Early Childhood Ancillary Certificate.
CLASS
Classroom Assessment Scoring System tool used to observe infant, toddler, and Pre-K classrooms. It measures quality teacher-child interactions that are proven to drive learning and development in young children. CLASS is used in all of our early childhood network classrooms.
Coordinated Enrollment
The enrollment process where the community network works collaboratively with all program partners to enroll children in high-quality early childhood programs. Our network holds family-friendly events February-May annually and offers an online application.
DAP
Developmentally Appropriate Practice is an approach in early learning that respects both the age of the child and the individual child's development needs in a comprehensive way (social/emotional, cognitive, and physical).
Early Intervention
A program focused on providing specialized supports for the development, health, mental, and emotional needs of children from birth-kindergarten. Early intervention may include speech therapy, physical therapy, or other types of services based on the needs of the child and family.
Early Childhood Ancillary Certificate
A certificate obtained once a teacher has attended a special Early Childhood Ancillary Certificate Program, which is an approved child care preparation program or meet the necessary requirements to apply for the certificate.
Early Childhood Network
The state's unified early childhood programs, including all publicly-funded programs, Type III Centers, Head Start, and Pre-K Programs. Our early childhood network is called the APPLE Network and consists of PPSB Head Start, PPSB Pre-K programs, South Plaquemines Children's Center, Belle Chasse Academy Pre-K Program, 3 Sisters Academy, and Froggies Child Care.
ELDS
Louisiana's Early Learning and Development Standards which is a framework designed to help early childhood educators to determine the particular skills and abilities children need to develop to be successful and foster their development.
Economically Disadvantaged
Children who come from a family with an annual income below a level-based on low-income thresholds established by the U.S. Census Bureau, adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price Index.
Head Start
A federal program that promotes school readiness for children 3 to 5 from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development. Our Head Start programs are housed within our PPSB schools throughout the district.
Lead Agency
a state agency, local public school system, or a non-profit or for-profit cooperation having an educational or social service mission to serve as the fiscal agent of the early childhood community network. Our lead agency is Plaquemines Parish School Board, a public school system.
Louisiana School Finder
A site developed by Louisiana Department of Education that provides families with finding a school or early childhood center. The site provides helpful information about Louisiana's Performance Scores and Ratings.
Performance Profiles
Information regarding performance in preparing children for kindergarten that is reported each school year for each publicly-funded site and community network. The profile is composed of the site or community network's performance rating from CLASS Observations and the specific information about the classroom and teacher.
Pre-K Programs
Programs that prepare young children for kindergarten. Our APPLE Network has Pre-K 3 and 4 year-old programs offered in our Type III Child Care Centers, where families can apply for CCAP. We also have Pre-K 4 year-old programs housed within our schools. Funding for these programs within the schools includes Title I, 8g, and LA-4.
Teaching Strategies Gold
An authentic, ongoing assessment tool that early childhood programs use to track children's growth electronically. Teaching Strategies Gold is aligned with Common Core standards, ELDS, and the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework. Teaching Strategies Gold is used in our network and all of our publicly-funded children have a portfolio.
Tier I Curriculum
Curriculum that exemplifies quality, meets all the non-negotiable criteria, and scored best possible on all indicators of superior quality while being rated. Our APPLE Network uses a Tier I Curriculum for all our classrooms. Infants and Toddler classrooms use Frog Street. Head Start and Pre-K classrooms use Teaching Strategies Creative Curriculum.
Type III Centers
An early learning center that directly or indirectly receives state or federal funds from any source other than that federal food and nutrition program. All of the Head Start programs and Child Care programs in our APPLE Network are licensed as Type III Centers.
Glossary