Every Student Succeeds Act/Preschool Development Grants

Program objective

The Preschool Development Grants (PDG) program seeks to assist states (including territories) in helping low-income and disadvantaged children enter Kindergarten prepared and ready to succeed in school and to help improve the transitions from the early care and education setting to elementary school. The overall responsibility of the ESSA PDG is to assist states (including territories) in the coordination of their existing early childhood service delivery models and funding streams - for the purpose of serving more children birth through age five in a mixed delivery model. The ESSA PDG has three targeted purposes. It aims to: "(1) assist States to develop, update, or implement a strategic plan that facilitates collaboration and coordination among existing programs of early childhood care and education in a mixed delivery system across the State designed to prepare low-income and disadvantaged children to enter kindergarten and to improve transitions from such system into the local educational agency or elementary school that enrolls such children, by— (A) more efficiently using existing Federal, State, local, and non-governmental resources to align and strengthen the delivery of existing programs, (B) coordinating the delivery models and funding streams existing in the State's mixed delivery system; and (C) developing recommendations to better use existing resources in order to improve-- (i) the overall participation of children in a mixed delivery system of Federal, State, and local early childhood education programs; (ii) program quality while maintaining availability of services; (iii) parental choice among existing programs; and (iv) school readiness for children from low- income and disadvantaged families, including during such children's transition into elementary school; (2) encourage partnerships among Head Start providers, State and local governments, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, private entities (including faith- and community- based entities), and local educational agencies, to improve coordination, program quality, and delivery of services; and (3) maximize parental choice among a mixed delivery system of early childhood education program providers." [Note to 42 USC 9831(a)] The PDG B-5 System Building Grants allow states and territories to develop and implement a comprehensive, statewide, birth through five needs assessment. States and territories then develop and implement a related strategic plan that also addresses activities that lead to more meaningful parent engagement, the sharing of resources and best practices among the different early childhood program providers, and improvements in overall quality, specific to each state's developmental goals. These grants allow states and territories to continue to improve coordination and collaboration of programs, services, and systems, while focusing on data integration, ongoing monitoring and evaluation, and improvement of governance structures, policy development, and stakeholder engagement.

As published in the SAM.gov Assistance Listing.

Eligible applicants (program level)

• ✓U.S. Territory (or Possession) Government (including freely-associated states)
• ✓U.S. State Government (including the District of Columbia)

Each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa are eligible to apply for a 1-year early childhood birth through five systems-building award, per our Notice of Funding Opportunity's (NOFO) eligibility criteria.

Intended beneficiaries: U.S. State Government (including the District of Columbia) and U.S. Territory (or Possession) Government (including freely-associated states).

Program-level eligibility from SAM.gov. Each funding notice sets its own requirements.

Frequently asked questions