A Colorado Shines rating is a symbol of quality. The Colorado Shines rating is a guarantee to families that your program is licensed, in good standing, and meets basic health and safety standards.
Colorado Shines rates the quality of Colorado's Early Learning Programs on a scale of 1 to 5, based on how well a program:
Supports children's health and safety
Ensures staff are well-trained and effective
Provides a supportive learning environment that teaches children new skills
Helps parents become partners in their child's learning
Demonstrates good leadership and business practices
Once you receive a rating, Colorado Shines provides support to help your program continue to improve its quality. Colorado Shines is a flexible process that can be customized to meet the needs of each program. Learn More About Colorado Shine for Families.
Currently, all Douglas County School District Preschool Programs have received a Level 3 Rating. We are in the ongoing process of improving our quality rating for all of our preschool classrooms across the district. As a part of our quality rating process, the Early Childhood Department creates a Quality Improvement Plan which is primarily developed using family and staff surveys. We take the information from the surveys and develop goals to improve the quality of our programs for the families that we serve. To access our current Quality Improvement Plan for the 2022/2023 School Year, please click HERE
To create quality programming it is essential to have a comprehensive curriculum to help guide our teaching staff. Our program utilizes the Creative Curriculum for Preschool as a comprehensive, research-based curriculum that features inquiry, exploration, and discovery as the foundation of all learning. This program is a content-rich, play-based, developmentally appropriate curriculum, it delivers academic rigor alongside social-emotional learning and cognitive development. This curriculum aligns with the Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment which is completed for all students throughout their attendance in our programs. This measures all areas of student development through observation. In addition, we use the Early Step Social Emotional curriculum, which is a branch of the Second Step Program that aligns with district programming for Kindergarten through 6th grade. This program supports self-regulation and social-emotional skills which will help our littlest learners harness their energy and potential by teaching them how to: Listen, Pay Attention, Manage Their Behaviors, and Get Along With Others. Lastly, all classrooms use the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scales (ECERS). this tool is used to measure quality in each classroom environment as well as interactions between staff and children. Staff uses this tool to create goals moving forward to increase quality in each individual classroom.