Early Childhood Colorado Partnership

Results & Indicators

Results Indicators Summary
Children reach their developmental potential and are ready to succeed in school and life The largest, most consistent gains in this result area have been demonstrated in preschool enrollment and full-day Kindergarten access. Despite progress with enrollment, there has been a slight increase children in Kindergarten through third grade with a significant reading deficiency. The percentage increase is flight, but considering population growth, the actual number of children is significant. While overall trends are postivie for children with social emotional, concentration, or behavioral concerns and screening in health care settings, the trends have been variable year to year. Suspension data suggests that the actual percentage of children experiencing suspension has increased slightly. However, the number of children suspended has increased by nearly 2.5 percent. Also, given the impact of early suspension on later outcomes, an increase of 953 students is significant.
Localities and the state attain economic and social benefits by prioritizing children and families Funding to the Colorado Preschool Program has increased by 60 percent over a five year period. This could be related to the increase of eligible children enrolling in preschool that was observed in the first result. At this time, we have no trend for ratio of child care slots to children or living wage. However, in nearly one-third of cases at this time, minimum wage is insufficient to provide a living wage and the current number of licensed child care slots does not provide for all children in Colorado. Established targets will be helpful in evaluating the child care data. Relatively few bills were introduced to enact family-friendly workplace policies. Overall, we will know more about this result as data trends become available, but pre-Kindergarten investment is moving in the right direction.
Environments that impact children are safe, stable, and supportive Housing is a major determinant of economic stability. While the percentage of children in households spending more that 30 percent of their income on housing appears to be decreasing, nearly one-third of children live in households with housing challenges. This trend may reflect income recovery after the end of the recession (June 2009) but may face future negative pressure given Colorado’s rapidly rising housing costs. Parent perception of neighborhood safety is high. However, this is an indicator for which differences may exist across income and race/ethnicity. In terms of child care environments, more than 1 in 10 families experienced child care challenges that influenced their employment, and this trend is steady. A trend had not yet been established for percentage of licensed child care centers and preschools with a 3-5 rating. The current measurement is based on the total of all licensed child care facilities and suggests time needed and challenges experienced by facilities in achieving high ratings. Overall, this result area has stayed about the same over the past 5 years.