Denver Preschool Program’s Lessons Learned
By, Charlotte Brantley
President & CEO of Clayton Early Learning
![Charlotte Brantley is the President and CEO of Clayton Early Learning and a member of the Denver Preschool Program Board of Advisors.](https://greaterparkhill.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/charlotte-brantley.jpg)
President Obama’s plan for a major expansion of preschool faces an uphill battle if current congressional bickering over the budget is any indication. Fortunately, Denver has already enrolled nearly 70 percent of the city’s 4-year-olds in the Denver Preschool Program.
Funded with a 12-cent tax on a $100 purchase, the City initiative offsets the cost of preschool – which can top in state college tuition—for all Denver families with children in the last year of preschool before kindergarten. The program has invested in improving the quality of preschools as well. Last year, more than 90 percent of children were in top‐quality classrooms that benefit from grants and professional development and undergo independent quality ratings.
Architects of the Denver Preschool Program fostered choice by building on existing assets — private non-profit and for profit schools. Collaboration with the public school system has strengthened its early childhood education offerings and heightened demand, which funds from the recent bond and mill levy election will address.
With a career that spans decades of leadership in early childhood education, I know that children who are behind by kindergarten tend to stay behind. And I am only too aware of the cost and challenges of catching up. That’s why we can all be heartened by independent studies of the Denver Preschool Program; the vast majority of DPP graduates are ready for kindergarten, academically, socially and emotionally. Denver’s investment in quality early education appears to be paying dividends.
The President said a “zip code should never predetermine the quality of any child’s educational opportunities”. I couldn’t agree more with fellow Denver voters who approved the Denver Preschool Program in 2006.
Charlotte Brantley is President & CEO of Clayton Early Learning and a member of the Denver Preschool Program Board of Advisors. For more information, visit dpp.org.