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Send us Fan Mail This year, Georgia’s Pre-K Program celebrates its 30th birthday. Pre-K in Georgia began in 1992 as a pilot program serving 750 at-risk four year olds at 20 locations. Because of the success of the Georgia Lottery, in 1995 the Pre-K program was opened to all four year old children regardless of family income. The program has grown every year since its inception, today serving more...

Send us Fan Mail Research tells us that, regardless of their abilities, children in high-quality child care programs are better prepared to enter school and more likely to develop healthy social and emotional skills.  When child care providers offer inclusive child care, they’re supporting not only children with disabilities but also their parents who can work, go back to school, or just take a br...

Send us Fan Mail The Georgia Professional Development System (GaPDS) for Early Childhood Educators is an innovative resource developed specifically for early care and education professionals.  On GaPDS you make a profile that tracks your job history, diplomas, and certificates…along with conveniently searching and registering both you and your staff for training. Georgia Training Approval is under...

Send us Fan Mail The 157th session of the Georgia General Assembly is now underway. For the first time this century, the legislature begins with a new Lieutenant Governor on the Senate side and a new Speaker of the House.  But what role does an agency like DECAL play in the process? Joining us to talk about the 157th meeting of the Georgia General Assembly is Polly McKinney, Advocacy Director with...

Send us Fan Mail The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (GPEE) recently held its annual Media Symposium where it released its 19th edition of the Top Ten Issues to Watch in 2023.  Commissioner Amy M. Jacobs was part of a panel discussing the future of education in Georgia.  She spoke along with Commissioner Greg Dozier from the Technical College System of Georgia, Chancellor Sonny Per...

Send us Fan Mail Our Child Care Services Division has been hard at work making your search for child care in Georgia more family friendly. If you have ever searched for child care on qualityrated.org or decal.ga.gov, you know there is a lot of information there on every licensed child care program in the state, but sometimes that information can be technical at best with regulatory language not ev...

Send us Fan Mail As 2022 draws to a close, this episode takes a look back at our most popular episodes of DECAL Download, based on the total number of downloads, added together with your likes and comments across social media. With all that data, we determined our top ten podcast episodes for 2022, and to find your way to the top of the list, just follow the money.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail On this episode of DECAL Download, light up your tree, grab some eggnog, and hang up the mistletoe.  It’s our annual holiday special featuring members of the DECAL team, gift ideas for the birth to five year old on your list, and some helpful ways to eat healthy during the holidays. Joining us on this holiday episode is Quandra Obi, Special Assistant to Commissioner Jacobs; Savann...

Send us Fan Mail From Dalton to Valdosta, and even Truist Park with the Atlanta Braves, we have been celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of Quality Rated.  This week we take a look back at all the festivities with Dr. Bentley Ponder, Deputy Commissioner for Quality Innovations and Partnerships.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail The year is winding down, the holidays will be here soon, and it seemed like a good time for us to sit down and Chat with the Commissioner.  This is an episode where we take questions from our DECAL team and the general public through our social media and discuss a wide variety of topics with Commissioner Jacobs.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail This year, Quality Rated is celebrating its tenth anniversary…a Decade of Stars…by naming 126 child care providers to the exclusive Quality Rated Class of 2012 in recognition of their unique status as early adopters that have consistently delivered high-quality, star-rated care and education to Georgia’s youngest learners. We’re also recognizing leaders who have been influential i...

Send us Fan Mail While many private-sector jobs have fully rebounded from problems presented by COVID-19, this has not been the case for the early childhood workforce in America which has actually shrunk by close to ten-percent from what it was in February, 2020.  To better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the early childhood workforce, our partners at GEEARS…Georgia Early Education Alliance f...

Send us Fan Mail Two of our websites used for lesson planning are coming together for a new website starting in January.  The PEACH (Planning Educational Activities for Children) site is being combined with the GELDS (Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards) site. Joining us to talk about the new GELDS site is Barb McWethy, Workforce Supports Manager here at DECAL, and Shenae Holms, Workf...

Send us Fan Mail It all started with 750 four year olds in 1992 under then Governor Zell Miller.  Now, 30 years later, it serves over 70,000 students across the state under Governor Brian Kemp.  It’s Georgia’s Pre-K Program, celebrating a milestone birthday this year and laying a solid foundation for academic excellence and future success in the lives of nearly 2-million children.  Joining us to t...

Send us Fan Mail Last month, DECAL named our Georgia’s Pre-K Teachers of the Year for the 2022-2023 school year just in time for the annual Georgia’s Pre-K Week October 3-7. The public school winner is Shannon Gibson from Baldwin Elementary School in Baldwin, and the private child care center winner is Alaina Jones from Akers Academy in Cumming.  Joining us this week to talk about their experience...

Send us Fan Mail October is Farm to School and Farm to Early Care and Education Month…an innovative way to build children’s relationship with food and the local food system through hands-on food education and gardening experiences, interactive and adventurous taste testing, and inclusion of local items into CACFP meals and snacks.  Joining us to talk about Farm to School and Farm to Early Care and...

Send us Fan Mail Today we are on location at Scott Elementary School, one of the Atlanta Public Schools, as we celebrate Georgia’s Pre-K Week, with a very special guest who just happened to write the new book we are giving to all Georgia Pre-K students and their classrooms called “Hey Georgia.”  We’re talking about former New England Patriots and University of Georgia football wide receiver Malcol...

Send us Fan Mail It’s a year of major milestones here at the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning…Quality Rated celebrates a Decade of Stars now marking ten years as Georgia’s Quality Rating and Improvement System…and this school year Georgia’s Pre-K Program celebrates 30 years of high quality early childhood education for the state’s four and five year olds.  But sandwiched in between al...

Send us Fan Mail This year DECAL and Voices for Georgia’s Children are celebrating the 12th Annual Georgia’s Pre-K Week, October 3-7…our thirtieth year offering Pre-K to students and families here in Georgia. Joining us to talk about Georgia Pre-K Week is State Representative Sharon Cooper, representing District 43 and the East Cobb County area, a frequent guest reader in Georgia’s Pre-K Program c...

Send us Fan Mail In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia received over $2-billion in federal money to help stabilize the child care industry, increase access to high quality child care for all families of young children, and support the state’s early childhood education workforce.  The money comes from the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and from the A...

Send us Fan Mail Our very first DECAL Download podcast was September 24, 2018, and we began with a simple Chat with Commissioner Jacobs.  Over the past four years, these episodes have proven to be among our most popular so we always try to take some time for your questions gathered from our DECAL team and on our social media channels.  In this episode, Commissioner Jacobs discusses everything from...

Send us Fan Mail For the second year in a row, DECAL and the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning are seeking applications for the 2022-2023 Georgia’s Early Childhood Educators of the Year Program, recognizing  the teachers of our very youngest learners…infants, toddlers, and preschool. Joining us to talk about our Early Childhood Educators of the Year is Laura Wagner, Interim Executive...

Send us Fan Mail Over the past few months, we’ve been taking a tour of DECAL’s six regions by talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region. Joining us to talk about the North East Region are Clayton Adams, Lead Community Partnership Coordinator for the North East; Dr...

Send us Fan Mail You have probably heard something about Quality Rated, Georgia’s child care rating and improvement system. But did you know that this year marks the 10th anniversary of Quality Rated here in Georgia…and were you aware that we are kicking off the celebration with the National Champion Atlanta Braves?  Joining us to talk about Quality Rated and the Decade of Stars Celebration is Son...

Send us Fan Mail In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia received over $2-billion in federal money to help stabilize the child care industry, increase access to high quality child care for all families of young children, and support the state’s early childhood education workforce.  The money comes from the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and from the A...