UPK NEWS, events + resources
JI has a NEW page for families! Please direct families to Jointinitiatives.org/UPKfamilies if they need information or assistance.
🌐 VISIT THE NEW FAMILY UPK PAGE HERE.
The page you are on has been revised and tailored to meet the needs of UPK providers. If you have suggestions as to anything that is missing, please contact us HERE, so that we may include that information for you.
The UPK Provider Handbook is Your Friend!
The UPK Provider Handbook is kept up to date by CDEC and can always be found HERE. If you have a question, the provider handbook is a great place to start!
2024-25 upk school year information
Direct enrollment will continue through the rest of the UPK year. The pages below are from the updated UPK Provider Handbook HERE. Please scroll through or see the full handbook. If you unenroll a child, you will be able to look at children who are in selected status with you and call to see if they are interested. However, direct enrollment is ideally set up to make the enrollment process as seamless as possible when you have a family who comes in to tour with you and decides to register. If a family needs to complete an application, you can help them do that right in front of you! As always, if you need more seats open, please reach out to Noreen at nglt@mac.com. You cannot offer a seat that you don’t have in the UPK system.
2024-25 UPK PROVIDER PAYMENT SCHEDULE + RATES
The payment schedule for UPK providers is available HERE. Payment issues must be addressed to Metrix IQ as we cannot address those. As soon as you know that you have a payment issue, please send an email to coupkpayments@metrixiq.com. If you have a routine question about payments or need to set up your account with Metrix, you can open up a ticket HERE.
The rates for JI for this year are as follows:
- Part-Day Rate: $4,806.51
- Half-Day Rate: $6,060.38
- Full-Day Rate: 10,762.40
The payment schedule for UPK providers is available HERE.
FAMILIES CAN STILL APPLY FOR THE 2024-25 SCHOOL YEAR THROUGH MAY OF 2025
All families with eligible children (the year before kindergarten) may register at upk.colorado.gov. Complete eligibility information is on the UPK for Families page HERE. All families must complete a new registration for the 2024-25 UPK year. If you have ANY questions about registering, have trouble logging in, or need to make changes at any point, please contact UPK@jointinitiatives.org. Please be sure to complete ONLY ONE application per eligible child. If the family registered as a 3-year-old, they may use the same login created for Year One and then will choose that they are registering for the 2024-25 year.
changes to 2024-25 applications
Families who need to make changes in their 2024-25 application must contact UPK@jointinitiatives.org so the application can be unlocked. Any family who is having an issue with accepting or declining a match should reach out to UPK@jointinitiatives.org for assistance.
2025-26 UPK SCHOOL YEAR INFORMATION
2025-26 UPK Calendar can be viewed HERE.
2025-26 UPK REGISTRATION FOR PROVIDERS
UPK Registration for providers has started and is ongoing. If you are not currently a UPK provider but wish to become one, please reach out to Noreen (nglt@mac.com or at 719-338-7223) to get more information about the registration process.
2025-26 UPK REGISTRATION FOR FAMILIES
2025-26 Family Registration is OPEN!
The 2025-26 UPK family application is open. Priority enrollment (also referred to as pre-registration) for those who are continuity of care, have siblings at your center, or are a child of an employee will take place between December 17 and February 3. Families must apply by that time to receive priority placement (if confirmed by the provider).
Pre-Registration
- December 17 – February 3: Pre-registration application window for families requesting Continuity of Care placements, sibling attending, or child of employee.
- December 17 – February 3: Providers will receive matches each day for eligible family
registrations, and will be able to accept or decline placements. - February 4 – 10: Families will receive their matches at noon on the 4th to begin accepting. Families must accept pre-registration matches.
- February 4 – 9: Providers can adjust seats by adding seats on their own, or by connecting with Noreen at nglt@mac.com to remove seats.
General Family Registration
- December 17 – February 5: Registration through upk.Colorado.gov opens for families for the first round of matching.
- The last date for program uploads or archives before the first matching round is January 30th.
- February 3rd by 5 pm: Families who submitted their application between 1/22/25 and 10:00 AM on 1/31/25 receive eligibility notification.
- February 10: First family-to-provider matching round runs at noon.
- February 12 – 21: Providers will review and accept or decline matches after receiving notification of matches at noon on Feb 12th.
- February 24: Families notified of first round matches at noon. Families must accept or decline by March 3.
- March 3rd by 5 pm: Families who submitted their application between 1/31/25 and 10:00 AM on 2/28/25 receive eligibility notification.
- March 4 – 9: Providers can adjust seats by adding seats on their own, or by connecting with their LCO to remove seats.
- The last date for program uploads or archives for the second round of Matching is February 28th.
- March 10: Second matching round runs at noon.
- March 12 – March 21: Providers review and accept or decline matches after receiving notification of matches at noon on March 12th.
- March 24: Families notified of second round matches at noon. Families must accept or decline by March 31.
- April 1 until the end of the 2025–26 school year: Direct enrollment for non-IEP families directly through providers. Providers can adjust seats by adding seats on their own, or by connecting with Noreen at nglt@mac.com to remove seats during this time.
IEP Registration
- December 2024 through the end of the 2025-26 school year: As families whose children have IEPs submit their applications starting in December, they are assigned to an AU. Starting in January 2025, the AU can place the student into a program using the Program ID through the AU Portal.
- March 2025 through the end of the 2025–26 school year: Special Education Administrative Units (AUs) and school districts will request placement of students in accordance with their IEPs and CDEC will support direct upload of those identified placements. Providers will accept matches within 2 weeks of receiving a match; families will have until the start of the school year to accept matches.
Please see the UPK calendar linked above for more information about specific dates.
UPK expenditure reporting
The 2023-24 Expenditure Reporting is due on December 20, 2024. The quarterly expenditure reporting for August through November 2024 and December 2024 through February 2025 is due on March 30, 2025. Q3 reporting (March through May 2025) is due on June 30, 2025. For more information, see the resources and upcoming office hours.
- Expenditure Memo
- Expenditure Reporting FAQ
- Expenditure Reporting Guidance Slides
- Expenditure reporting Template and Tools
Upcoming Provider Office Hours Offered by CDEC
To accommodate simultaneous translation, provider office hours have been moved to Zoom. (Previous links were Google Meet.)
- 1st Tuesday of each month at 6pm on Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/83557451399
- 4th Monday of each month at 1pm on Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/88949693259
- CDEC Slides from February 2025 Provider Meeting HERE
For the recordings of Office Hours from November 26th, click HERE.
- Still need additional assistance?
Please contact Noreen Landis-Tyson at nglt@mac.com or call 719-338-7223.
Roundtables for Early Childhood Providers
Joint Initiatives offers Roundtables to keep early childhood providers informed about guidance from the Colorado Department of Education (CDEC), provide time for Q+A, and provide expert business consultation and training. Roundtables will be held monthly via a one-hour Zoom session (Join Meeting HERE, Meeting ID: 418 525 8570, Passcode: UPK) Roundtables for previous months are in the Resources section at the bottom of the page. You can also access all Roundtable videos for centers, family child care, and school districts on JI’s YouTube channel HERE.
▶ January 2025 Roundtable Slides HERE
▶ January 2025 Roundtable Recording
This section contains past UPK Newsletters and UPK Updates. Updates contain information shared by Noreen Landis-Tyson in direct emails, and we are posting it here. Additional past newsletters are in our Resources section below.
marketing
your program
Keep your profile up to date!
JI’s webinar/roundtable to support providers in setting up their profiles to attract as many families as possible is now available. If you need one-on-one assistance to address any points covered in the presentation, please contact Noreen at nglt@mac.com or 719-338-7223.
▶View Marketing Training Presentation Slides HERE
There is also a section in the Provider Handbook on Marketing your program that begins on page 49. You can find the Provider Handbook HERE.
UPK FLYERS AVAILABLE:
JI has created flyers that can be used to hand out to parents. You can download the flyer HERE (in English and Spanish) and print copies as needed. If you would like copies delivered to your program for your use, please contact us at UPK@jointinitiatives.org and we will deliver them to you.
RESOURCES +
SUPPORT
▶ Visit the CDEC UPK web page HERE.
For Families
- 2024-25 UPK Family Handbook
- 719.630.0927 (press 4 for UPK assistance in English; press 5 for Spanish)
- Heather Mayheu: 719.684.4326
- Need additional support? Contact the JI UPK staff at UPK@jointinitiatives.org
For Providers
- 2024-25 UPK Provider Guide
- Program Setup Form Guide HERE
- 2024-2025 UPK Provider Agreement
- Need help determining what programs and seats you would like to offer? Contact the JI UPK staff at UPK@jointinitiatives.org or Noreen at nglt@mac.com.
- Need additional support? Contact the JI UPK staff at UPK@jointinitiatives.org or Noreen at nglt@mac.com.
For Partners
- Universal Preschool 101 for Partners Presentation Slides
- Universal Preschool 101 for Partners Recording
ROUNDTABLES + NEWSLETTERS
All Roundtable videos for centers, family child care, and school districts are available for viewing on JI’s YouTube channel HERE.
Read past newsletters here:
upk quality standards
DRAFT QUALITY STANDARDS
The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) has released the Universal Preschool (UPK) Colorado Quality Standards designed to ensure that preschool services are both high quality to prepare children for kindergarten and accessible throughout the state across various provider types and program settings, including school-based, community-based, and home-based settings. The proposed UPK Quality Standards reflect statutory requirements, incorporate findings from comprehensive reviews of 26 national and Colorado-specific standards, and include input and feedback from Families, Providers, School Districts, Early Childhood Councils, and Early Childhood Community Members.
To recap, the Rules Advisory Council (RAC) met on February 8, 2024, and voted in favor of the Department promulgating the proposed Colorado Universal Preschool Program (UPK) Quality Standards rules with suggested revisions from the RAC. These revisions included: 1) removing the ratios and groups sizes from rule section 4.109(A)(2), to align with the ratios and group sizes established in the Child Care Licensing rules; and 2) revising the professional development requirements to more closely align with the number of required hours and competency areas of the Child Care Licensing rules, and amend the frequency of one-time trainings in rule section 4.114. The recommendation for revisions to the professional development requirements were more of a concept rather than proposed rule language.
On March 28, 2024, the Executive Director adopted the proposed Quality Standards rules (Adopted Redline | Adopted Clean) for the Colorado Universal Preschool Program (UPK). The adopted UPK Quality Standards rules will presumably become effective on May 30, 2024.
- Complete Rule Folder
- Quality Standards Crosswalks (previously released in Spring 2023)