Early Childhood Education
Preschool Information Line:
720.433.0025
Email:
[email protected]g
Colorado Shines
A Colorado Shines rating is a symbol of quality. The Colorado Shines rating is a guarantee to families that your program is licensed, in good standing, and meets basic health and safety standards.
Colorado Shines rates the quality of Colorado's Early Learning Programs on a scale of 1 to 5, based on how well a program:
- Supports children's health and safety
- Ensures staff are well-trained and effective
- Provides a supportive learning environment that teaches children new skills
- Helps parents become partners in their child's learning
- Demonstrates good leadership and business practices
Once you receive a rating, Colorado Shines provides support to help your program continue to improve its quality. Colorado Shines is a flexible process that can be customized to meet the needs of each program. Learn More About Colorado Shine for Families.
Currently, all Douglas County School District Preschool Programs have received a Level 3 Rating. We are in an ongoing process of improving our quality rating for all of our preschool classrooms across the district. All classrooms are using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scales (ECERS). this tool is used to measure quality in each classrooms environment as well as interactions between staff and children. Staff uses this tool to create goals moving forward to increase quality in each individual classroom.
As a part of our quality rating process, the Early Childhood Department creates a Quality Improvement Plan which is primarily developed using family and staff surveys. We take the information from the surveys and develop goals to improve the quality of our programs for the families that we serve. To access our current Quality Improvement Plan for the 20/21 School Year, please click HERE
Classroom Sessions
We implement two age-based classroom sessions, AM and PM available Monday through Thursday. This allows for targeted and age-appropriate learning opportunities in our classrooms. All of our classrooms are programmed as a fully inclusive educational setting. These classrooms are populated with a variety of student learners, including students who are considered "neuro-typical," students who are identified as "at-risk" but the Colorado Preschool Program (CPP), and students who are identified as having a disability that requires special education services (IEP). This inclusive setting fosters a high-quality learning environment that provides greater access to age-appropriate peer modeling and higher-level social interactions, play, and pre-academic opportunities.
Three-year-olds will be placed in the morning session to meet their unique developmental needs.
Four-year-olds (children who turn before October 1st) will be placed in the afternoon session to support their developmental progress towards and readiness for Kindergarten.
Tuition-Based Programs
We offer the following options
Two-days a week (Monday/Wednesday OR Tuesday/Thursday)
Cost: 170.00/per month
Four-days a week (Monday thru Thursday)
Cost: 340.00/per month
Non-Refundable Registration Fee
(This fee has been waived for the 22/23 School Year)
Cost: 100.00/per school year
All tuition is processed through My School Bucks. If you have a question or need assistance in regards to tuition please contact 720.433.1187.
Colorado Preschool Program (CPP)
The Colorado Preschool Program is a state-funded, district-run, preschool program. CPP is intended to serve preschool-aged children in Colorado who are at risk for starting elementary school unprepared. There is no fee for families that qualify. CPP allows eligible children to attend high-quality preschool at no cost to families. Families are an instrumental part of a child's learning experience. CPP helps support you in your as a parent or guardian in your child's education experience.
Eligibility requirements vary depending on age. Child and family qualifying factors that affect overall learning readiness must be present in a child's life in order for a child to take advantage of CPP. Children are determined eligible for CPP based on the qualifying risk factors which have been shown to be associated with later challenges in school.
Three-year-old students must have a least three qualifying factors present to be eligible for the CPP Program.
Four-year-old students must have a least one qualifying factor present to be eligible for the CPP Program, although most children show two or more.
To request an application for CPP, please indicate your interest in the initial placement request survey located on "Preschool Enrollment"
More information on Colorado Preschool Program can be accessed on the Colorado Department of Education website.
Special Education Program
Students who have been found eligible to receive special education services (IEP) AND are three and up to age five will receive their services in one of our preschool classrooms. If you have recently moved to Colorado and your child was receiving special education services in another state please email [email protected] to begin the direct placement process. If you have concerns about your child's development and are interested in a developmental assessment at no charge (Birth to five years), please click HERE to request an appointment.
More information on Special Education Programming in Preschool can be accessed on the Colorado Department of Education website.