Colorado Preschool & Kindergarten Program. 2007 Legislative Report

Download or read book Colorado Preschool & Kindergarten Program. 2007 Legislative Report written by Colorado. Department of Education and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quality early childhood programs produce beneficial outcomes for children and the community in which they live. The Colorado Preschool and Kindergarten Program (CPKP) provides funding to establish early childhood education programs that serve preschool and kindergarten children with the toughest educational challenges. Over the last eighteen years, the Colorado Preschool and Kindergarten Program has been able to demonstrate that early educational experiences do make a difference for at-risk children. Strong early learning leads to more successful students, better educated, more employable individuals, as well as less remediation throughout the education system, which benefits all of Colorado. This document provides a historical timeline of Colorado Preschool and Kindergarten programs. Highlights for 2006-2007 include: (1) Authorization to serve 14,360 children; (2) 2,154 or 15% of the available 14,360 CPKP slots must be used to provide full-day kindergarten services; (3) 610 or 5% of the preschool slots may be used to extend a child's preschool day; (4) 169 out of 178 (94.9%) school districts in Colorado now participate in CPKP (participation on the part of school districts is voluntary); (5) With 12,206 preschool slots, the Colorado Preschool and Kindergarten Program has the capacity to serve 17.4% of four year olds within the state; and (6) In the 2006 school year, school districts identified an additional 7,931 children who were CPKP eligible, but because of a lack of CPKP slots were unable to serve these children. The document discusses characteristics of children served by CPKP, local providers of services, program expansion, accountability, narrowing the school readiness gap, long-term benefits of preschool and kindergarten, and characteristics of quality CPKP programs. The document concludes with comments from CPKP teachers, reiterating the importance of CPKP programs and the difference that these programs make in the lives of students and families.