Foundation for the Future
Early Childhood Education

District 11 offers free preschool to 3- and 4-year-olds, including those with special needs, through funding from Universal Preschool (UPK), CDE, and CDEC. With over 50 programs across D11 elementary schools, we help families find the best fit for their child.

Our curriculum supports social-emotional, language, and early academic development in a play-based, literacy-rich environment. Children build confidence, independence, and a love for learning in a structured, supportive setting.

We welcome children with special needs and follow IDEA guidelines. If you have developmental concerns, visit our Child Find page.

Children must be 3 or 4 years old by October 1. Apply any time during the year as space allows. Call 719-520-2540 or visit our Apply For Preschool page for more information.

As the premier early childhood education provider in the Pike’s Peak region, we are elevating each child’s unique journey toward a bright and promising future. With a deep commitment to children, our programming prioritizes highly trained staff, small class sizes, low student-teacher ratios, and remains grounded in play and social-emotional competence as the foundations for inspiring life-long learners. 

 We provide each student with the highest quality preschool experience by emphasizing whole child learning, prioritizing the foundational skills that are the best predictors of future success, supporting each child as an individual worthy of thriving, and by balancing teacher-directed and child-directed learning through play.  

Program Philosophy 

Childhood is a unique and amazing time in the human experience. Rich and nurturing experiences in the first 5 years of life can have a profoundly positive impact on all the years that follow. Progressing through developmental stages is unique to each individual and should be supported by a network of invested adults. Young children learn best when they engage in intrinsically motivated activities, have access to hands-on investigation, are interacting socially, and when they are in a focused and joyful state; this is PLAY. Play is how developing brains become wired for adulthood; it’s how children develop language, motor, cognitive, social-emotional, regulation, problem-solving, resilience, and independence skills. The best early childhood education is enthusiastically rooted in playful learning opportunities. 

In acknowledgement of the research regarding child and human development, we must carefully attend to both the content of, and the process of, instruction in our early childhood classrooms. To truly prepare young children for kindergarten (and beyond), our instructional emphasis must rest heavily on the skills that promote ongoing access to learning: attentional and self-regulation skills, social interaction and social competence skills, and fostering a pattern of successful learning experiences to set the tone for students as engaged learners. Preschool standards must be taught in ways that prioritize high engagement, foster internal curiosity, and empower students to learn how to learn.  

Every child deserves access to enriching experiences in early childhood. The opportunity to participate in high-quality early childhood programming promotes equity, improves trajectories, and can positively shape outcomes well into adulthood. Children can thrive when they have access to secure social connections with adults, environments that foster curiosity and invite exploration, and scaffolding from adults and peers that help them progress in their development. When a community collaborates to nurture a child, the potential is endless. 

Find us on social media for fun, family-friendly content related to our classrooms, child development, activity inspiration, community events, and more!

Program Commitments: 

1. We value and appreciate each child as a unique person, with individual journeys of growth and development.  

2. We foster supportive and trusting relationships with each child, knowing these relationships are critical to enhancing learning and achievement, and to inspiring a lifelong love of learning.  

3. We carefully curate ambitious learning experiences that reflect the needs and interests of students, and that honor individual differences and cultural and linguistic diversity among children.  

4. We encourage active family involvement by cultivating partnerships of cooperation, open communication, and meaningful collaboration. 

5. We center students and families in our decision-making.