Welcome to the Oklahoma Teacher Recruitment & Retention Program!
The Oklahoma Teacher Recruitment & Retention (formerly Strong Start) provides child care benefits to eligible employees working in licensed child care facilities, expanding income eligibility for those who qualify. It’s one more way the state of Oklahoma is investing in you—the heart of early childhood education in our state.
To qualify, applicants must:
- Be employed at least 20 hours per week (averaged monthly); providing direct care, supervision, or educational services to children OR perform on-site duties that support the daily operation of a licensed child care facility.
- The applicant must be listed as an active employee of the licensed and contracted facility in the Child Care Licensing database.
- Have first applied for benefits from OKDHS for the traditional Child Care Subsidy Program and have been denied or approved with a copayment.
Work at a facility that:
- Is licensed under the Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act
- Participates in the OKDHS Child Care Subsidy Program
- Meets one of the following income requirements:
- For a two-parent household: total annual gross income does not exceed $120,000,
- For a single-parent household: total annual gross income does not exceed $60,000, or
- Have children enrolled in a program participating in the Child Care Subsidy Program
Tips on using Submittable:
- You will need to create a free Submittable account or sign in with Google or Facebook credentials to submit to these forms. Please use your legal first and last name when creating your account.
- You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish filling out the form at a later date. There is an autosave feature, but you can also manually save your draft by clicking the button at the bottom of the form.
- Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.
- We will follow up with you about your submission by email. Please be sure to safelist notification emails from Submittable and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly.
Technical Questions?
Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support.
The Oklahoma Teacher Recruitment & Retention Program is supported by Grant Number 90TP0094-01-00 from the Office of Early Childhood Development within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this program (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Early Childhood Development.
Grant & Research Proposals
Purpose Statement:
The Clearinghouse will promote the well-being for Oklahoma children and their families by building and evolving definition of quality, fast-tracking innovation, implementing research-informed practices and practice-informed research to support and improve early childhood systems, and maximizing public and private partnerships. The Clearinghouse equips parents, providers and policymakers with research & real-world insights to make informed decisions, strengthen early childhood systems & foster strong public-private partnerships.
Summary:
Submitting your project to the OK Clearinghouse connects your work to the Oklahoma School Readiness Pathway, a framework of benchmarks, goals, outcomes, and indicators showing how Health, Early Care & Learning, Family Support, and Economic Stability shape a child’s readiness for school, from birth through school entry. The Pathway helps the state track progress and make data-informed decisions about policy changes, investments, and quality improvements, with the goal of ensuring families have consistent access to services, economic security, and sustainable funding.
By submitting, your project becomes part of the information OPSR uses to develop recommendations about public and private programs, services, and initiatives that expand access to high-quality early care and learning. Your work can help shape the actions Oklahoma takes to ensure all children are ready to succeed in school.
Submission Form:
This form is used by individuals, providers, agencies or organizations to submit research-based, practice-based and innovative ideas to the Oklahoma Clearinghouse for Early Childhood Success.
Submission pathway: The idea must be research-based, practice-based or innovative.
Research-based: Programs and services with study outcomes published in peer-reviewed journals.
Practice-based: Programs driven by practitioner wisdom or consensus approaches that do not necessarily use research evidence systematically.
Innovative: Novel ideas that describe a plan but have not yet been put into practice or backed by research.
Who May Submit:
Eligible: Any individual or organization with a plan to strengthen school readiness in Oklahoma may submit a program, service, or idea. Submissions must align with the OPSR School Readiness Pathway and aim to improve outcomes for young children and families. Implementation funding must support work that serves Oklahoma children, families, providers, or early childhood systems.
Not eligible: Submissions may be disqualified if they:
Are intended for implementation outside of Oklahoma.
Request funding solely for the personal benefit of a single individual rather than a program, organization, or community.
What happens after submission?
By submitting this form, you are agreeing to have your information rated by the Clearinghouse Committees. After review and rating, the summary may be posted on the Clearinghouse website (www.okclearinghouse.org ). The audience for the website includes teachers, parents, providers, policy makers and other professionals working to improve outcomes to ensure early childhood success. They will be searching for an idea, practice, program, or other research to support improving outcomes and will find their way to your summary and contact information.
Submissions will be screened by Clearinghouse staff to ensure all necessary information is included. If not, Clearinghouse staff will contact you requesting additional information before moving the submission forward for the Committees to review.
The Rating Rubric will be posted at https://www.okclearinghouse.org/submissions
If you have questions, please email clearinghouse@okschoolreadiness.org.
Tips on using Submittable:
You will need to create a free Submittable account or sign in with Google or Facebook credentials to submit to these forms.
You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish filling out the form at a later date. There is an autosave feature, but you can also manually save your draft by clicking the button at the bottom of the form.
Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.
We will follow up with you about your submission by email. Please be sure to safelist notification emails from Submittable and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly.
Technical Questions?
Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support.
Submittable Technical Questions?
Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support.
UEI/Organization Identifier Questions?
To find your organization, please enter your UEI or your legal organization name in the "Organization Identifier" field.
Note: If you received your UEI from SAM.gov in the last month, your UEI may not be uploaded in this application template yet. While the UEI is required for your organization to participate in this program, please note that you can still proceed with the application process by selecting, "No, I was not able to locate my UEI in this application," and then clicking the "Continue to Application" button.
To find your UEI, search for it using SAM.gov.
A UEI (Unique Entity Identifier) is a 12-character alphanumeric code assigned by the U.S. federal government to uniquely identify organizations that do business with the government, including those applying for or receiving federal grants and contracts.
Providers can obtain a UEI at no cost by registering at SAM.gov. Please see this video for instructions.
The UEI is required to ensure that OPSR is not issuing payments to entities that are suspended, debarred, or otherwise ineligible to receive federal funds.
Who is Eligible?
- You must be working at least 20 hours a week (averaged on a monthly basis) in a licensed child care program within the state of Oklahoma that has an active child care subsidy contract with OKDHS.
- The applicant must be listed as an active employee of the licensed and contracted facility in the Child Care Licensing database. Use this Employment Verification Form for the application.
- Applicants of Child Care Programs must meet all personnel qualifications as outlined in
Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 340:110-3-284.
- Applicants of Family Child Care Homes must meet all caregiver qualifications as outlined
in Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 340:110-3-85.
- Applicants of Large Family Child Care Homes must meet all caregiver qualifications as
outlined in Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 340:110-3-97.1.
- You must have first applied for traditional child care subsidy (https://www.okdhslive.org) benefits through OKDHS's traditional Child Care Subsidy Program and been denied (based on "income exceeds agency standards") or approved with a copayment,
- Meet the income eligibility requirements:
- For a two-parent household: total annual gross income does not exceed $120,000,
- For a single-parent household: total annual gross income does not exceed $60,000, or
- Your child must be enrolled in a licensed child care facility that has an active subsidy contract with OKDHS.
Technical Questions?
Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support.