Maryland preschool development birth through five (PDG-b-5) - maryland's preschool development grant b-5 (PDG b-5) funds will accelerate the momentum caused by the state's investment of over $300…

The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families awarded the Maryland State Department of Education $29.502 million on December 31, 2025, under the Preschool Development Grants Birth Through Five program (CFDA 93.434) to strengthen Maryland's early childhood education system through December 30, 2026.

The award funds activities across three strategic pillars. First, MSDE will reconcile fragmented early childhood care and education elements into a unified system by aligning ECE workforce advancement pathways, developing a centralized pre-kindergarten enrollment portal, and expanding the Maryland Excels Find a Program tool to increase quality transparency and family access across the mixed-delivery system. Second, the funding expands program availability and sustainability by transforming child care resource centers into regional shared services and resource hubs connected to licensing and quality supports, redesigning Maryland Excels to emphasize instructional quality through Classroom Assessment Scoring System and Lena Grow, and conducting a one-time curriculum review to integrate high-quality instructional materials into Excels and pre-kindergarten. Third, MSDE will align and share information and data systems by modernizing Maryland's criminal justice information system to enable child care background check portability, improving the child care licensing portal, and embedding user-centered design into MSDE's early childhood systems. MSDE will also launch an Early Childhood Integrated Data Dashboard and develop a strategic roadmap aligning with Maryland's Blueprint for the Future.

Work is performed in Maryland. The Johns Hopkins University and Maryland Family Network, Inc. serve as sub-recipients, supporting development and implementation of the strategic plan to coordinate early childhood care and education programs and prepare low-income and disadvantaged children for elementary school transition.

Maryland preschool development birth through five (PDG-b-5) - maryland's preschool development grant b-5 (PDG b-5) funds will accelerate the momentum caused by the state's investment of over $300 million in the past two years to strengthen the ECE system-primarily through the child care scholarship program and the blueprint for MD's future, including prekindergarten (prek) expansion and family resource hubs supporting high-impact activities that expand access to high-quality ECE. MD will launch an early childhood integrated data dashboard and develop a strategic roadmap to align with the state's blueprint and msde's strategic vision. MD will use PDG b-5 funds to: (1) reconcile fragmented elements into a unified system by (1A) aligning ECE workforce advancement pathways, (1B) supporting the development of a centralized prek enrollment portal, and (1C) expanding the MD excels find a program tool to better reflect quality across the full mixed-delivery system and increase transparency and family access; (2) expand program availability and sustainability by (2A) transforming child care resource centers into regional shared services and resource hubs that connect to licensing and quality supports, (2B) redesigning MD excels to emphasize instructional quality through classroom assessment scoring system® (class) and lena grow, and (2C) integrating high-quality instructional materials into excels and prek through a one-time curriculum review; and (3) align and share information and data systems by (3A) modernizing MD's criminal justice information system to enable child care background check portability, (3B) improving the child care licensing portal for enhanced functionality and sustainability, and (3C) embedding user centered design into msde's ECE systems.