Early Childhood Program (Infants - PreK)

• For students with an IEP – if there are school-based/classroom services listed – there is no charge to attend the school program. If only therapy is listed – parents would be required to Private Pay for the school/classroom services.

• For students without an IEP - the cost varies by campus and age of child

• UCP accepts ELC/School Readiness vouchers and also Voluntary PreK (VPK).

Kindergarten through 12th Grade

• There are no costs to attend the school day program (tuition is free) for all students (there is a requested $35/year supply fee)

UCP Charter School follows a school day (approximately 8-9am - 3pm - depending on the campus).

• All campuses also offer a before and after school program that is private pay.

All of our classes (except the infant rooms) are led by a Certified Teacher (with a minimum of a Bachelor's Degree).

• In addition to the teachers - classes have at least one paraprofessional (and in most cases two or a co-teacher).

• Class sizes:

▪ Early Childhood classes range from 8 children (infants) to 18 children (PreK)

▪ K-3rd grade are generally 15-22 students (up to 22-23 if a co-teacher)

▪ 4th - 8th grade are generally 15-24 students.

▪ UCP Transitional Learning Academy class sizes are 9-14 students.

▪ We also offer some limited ESE/Low Ratio classes for students with behavior needs (based on a child IEP needs) with 9 students and 3 staff. These are not located at all campuses

• No - UCP Charter School does not offer transportation except at UCP Seminole Campus.

Yes, UCP of Central Florida is an Early Steps provider. We work closely with Early Steps of Central Florida/Howard Phillips Center and Orlando Health to provide classroom and therapy services for children from birth to three years old.

Yes, all UCP Campuses provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.

An Individual Family Support Plan (IFSP) is for children birth to age 3 with a defined disability or delay. An IFSP is written after the child is evaluated and found eligible for early intervention services by Early Steps. For more information: https://floridaearlysteps.com/

• An Individual Educational Plan (IEP) is a written plan that describes the individual specialized learning needs of a student with a disability (over the age of 3-age 21) and the services, supports, aids and accommodations or modifications that will be provided to that student based on the evaluation, eligibility and placement as a student with a disability in a school system.

Early Childhood Programs - Our core and supplemental curricula are aligned with the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards. Our core curriculum for Infants - Pre-K is the Frog Street Curriculum: https://frogstreet.com/.

Phonemic Awareness is taught in our Preschool and Pre-K classes using

Heggerty: https://shop.heggerty.org/curriculum/early-pre-k/.

Zoo-phonics is a multisensory approach to teaching children the building blocks of sound blending: https://zoo-phonics.com/.

Emotional Literacy and Readiness is taught in our Pre-K program using Let's Learn About Emotions with Kiwi: https://www.cloud9world.com/kiwi-emotions

Traditional (i.e. neighborhood schools) and Charter public schools both have to follow all state and federal laws related to education. This includes accountability, state testing, school grades, teacher certification, and background checks. Both are free of charge.

▪ Traditional schools are “zoned”, and you need to live in that zone to attend.

▪ Charter Schools are schools of choice – you can choice to attend regardless of where you live (there are priorities for children living in the county the school is located in). Charter schools were created to be more innovative and have more flexibility on how they deliver the curriculum/instruction.

Private Schools do not have any legal obligation to follow a child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) in any way (i.e. provide therapy, accommodations, etc.).

▪ They also are not required to have any background checks for their staff or any specific credentials for teachers/staff.

▪ Parents generally pay tuition for private schools (though sometimes vouchers cover tuition)