FL S0518

Requires private prekindergarten providers and public schools to implement evidence-based preassessment and postassessment approved by the State Board of Education, removing the contingency on legislative appropriation.

Specifies assessment requirements including validity, reliability, developmental appropriateness, observation-based methods, norm samples matching Florida's birth-through-age-5 population, and support for English language learners and students with disabilities.

Mandates preassessment and postassessment administration by prekindergarten instructors during the first and last 2 weeks of the school-year or summer prekindergarten program.

Requires all parents enrolling children in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program to submit their child for preassessment and postassessment.

Directs the Office of Early Learning to use preassessment and postassessment data to calculate kindergarten readiness rates, measuring student learning gains through a value-added measure based on growth from at least 2 successive years of assessments, and to annually report appropriate growth levels to the State Board of Education.