Chalkbeat Colorado's Early Childhood Reporter Ann Schimke joined us this week to discuss new proposed preschool quality rules for 2024.
The proposed 2024 rules would allow preschool class sizes of up to 24 students, a number Rutgers University’s National Institute for Early Education Research told Chalkbeat is too high for preschoolers to be successful. The institute, which ranks state Pre-K programs annually, also pointed out that the proposed rules do not address training and certification requirements for teachers.
Some experts say these proposed Colorado preschool rules set a low bar and could hurt the state's kids.
“One of the things they look at is the quality standards that these programs meet,” Schimke said. “They took a look at the proposed quality standards for Colorado's universal program, and they said in the best case scenario, Colorado would meet four of their (the institute's) 10 standards. In the worst case scenario, Colorado would meet zero standards.”
To further complicate things, Colorado's universal preschool program has already started.
“The new quality standards, even if they're on the weaker side, won't even take effect until year two of the program,” Schimke said. “Kids in the first year to two years won't even have the consistency of those standards.”