Author: Ann Schimke Chalkbeat Colorado

A decade ago young children who missed key developmental milestones – like walking or talking – too often fell through the cracks in northern Colorado’s Grand and Jackson counties. Some were never screened for delays as babies or toddlers. Others were screened, but not referred to the right place for a full evaluation. Many parents…

Last year, a group of early childhood advocates in the western Colorado city of Grand Junction envisioned opening a free 24-hour child care program to serve families in crisis. But problems getting a state waiver for the project derailed that dream. Leaders of the effort say they’ll now pivot to working on legislation that explicitly…

A proposed bill would make it harder for Colorado parents to opt their children out of immunizations for personal or religious reasons by requiring an in-person visit to their local health department to get a signature on the exemption form. The bill, introduced by Rep. Kyle Mullica, a Democrat from Northglenn, comes as measles outbreaks…

Governor Jared Polis has been pushing for free full-day kindergarten statewide since his first weeks in office – and now the $185 million proposal is close to the finish line, with a start date next fall. Such an expansion would be a big change for Colorado – placing more young students in full-day instead of…

Smiling shyly, 9-year-old Morgan Pohl tossed a heap of clothes into the washer and carefully added detergent to the top of the machine. She hit the start button and headed off to lunch in the next room – the cafeteria at Doull Elementary School in southwest Denver. Doing laundry at school is a weekly ritual…

The reading courses at Colorado’s largest educator preparation program don’t match up with research on literacy instruction, and many of the professors have philosophies that contradict state standards, according to a scathing new critique by state evaluators. The Greeley-based University of Northern Colorado, which enrolls about 2,800 teachers-in-training, is the first institution to face new…

Last school year, Colorado’s public schools handed out nearly 6,000 out-of-school suspensions to young children.  This week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed legislation that could reduce those numbers – the latest push in a four-year effort to get early childhood discipline reform across the finish line. The bill introduced Wednesday would limit suspensions and…

With Gov. Jared Polis’ proposal for the biggest expansion of Colorado’s state-funded preschool program in its 30-year-history, many early childhood educators are cheering the possibility of 8,200 new preschool slots for at-risk children. But they’re also asking hard questions about how providers will find the staff and space to create new preschool classrooms, and whether…

Arianna G. H. Kingston, an assistant preschool teacher in Colorado Springs, has worked in the early childhood field for much of the last 30 years. She makes $15 an hour. Kingston, who helped a group of children piece together a giant construction-themed puzzle one morning this week, considers the job a calling. She said she’s…

After rallying support for statewide full-day kindergarten during his first three weeks in office, Gov. Jared Polis turned his attention to preschool on Thursday, another piece of his ambitious early childhood agenda. Against the backdrop of a red, blue and gray play structure inside the Englewood school district’s gleaming new preschool, Polis committed to creating…