Summer 2024 Educational Tips Blog
appy summer everyone! I’m so excited to announce I am contracting with OCR (Office of the Child’s Representative) as an Educational Consultant on child welfare cases across the state. I am so excited to be a part of the team and look forward to expanding accessibility to professionals needing educational consulting services. It appears I can start taking cases mid-July depending on training. So, stay tuned for that official announcement from OCR. I will certainly send out an update with my official state date.
On that note, in furthering my education in the field, I am looking into how early childhood education can specifically mitigate juvenile justice involvement. As many of you know, I am a huge advocate for preventative work. This includes constantly researching ways in which we can keep kids out of the juvenile system entirely. What we know is that effective early childhood education can further prevent academic disengagement later in life.
However, not all early childhood education programming is created equally. While there are many opportunities for early childhood education, it is the quality of that education curriculum and its delivery that is indicative of maintaining students at grade level long term. Long term grade level sustainability strengthens the prevention of academic disengagement. As many of us know, the rates of academic disengagement are highly correlated with juvenile justice involvement. Overall, key components of quality preschool programming include qualified teachers, high standards for teaching and a strong curriculum.
In efforts to improve early childhood education, Colorado passed HB22-1295 in 2022 establishing the Colorado Universal Preschool Program to offer voluntary, high-quality universal preschool to every Colorado child in the year before kindergarten. New this year, it now includes offering additional hours (up to 30) to children who qualify and/or fall below the poverty line. This is a voluntary enrollment and is certainly a resource we can mention to families. This program is only in its second year, so it will be interesting to see longitudinal studies on the long-term impact. One would hope that all districts are equally able to offer this high-quality programming to students. I plan to continue this research in how we maintain these gains into high school.
Finally, parents and caregivers can always be encouraged to engage in learning with their children in the home. Every interaction is a learning opportunity for a child.
Please feel free to share resources in response to this newsletter and we can continue this conversation. More information on the Universal Preschool Program can be found here: Universal Preschool Colorado | Colorado Department of Early Childhood
Thank you for reading!