2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 26.5 - EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND SERVICES (§§ 26.5-1-101 — 26.5-6-103) › Article 3 - FAMILY AND CHILD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING (§§ 26.5-3-101 — 26.5-3-904) › Part 6 - SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING PROGRAMS (§§ 26.5-3-601 — 26.5-3-603) › Section 26.5-3-601 - Legislative declaration

(1)
The general assembly finds and declares that:
(a)
Young children from low-income families often struggle to achieve the same outcomes as their peers from higher-income families because they rarely have access to the same supports, particularly those supports with a focus on the development of social-emotional skills like emotion regulation, pro-social communication, and problem solving;
(b)
Exposure to poverty, a stressful home environment, and delays in the development of behavioral and academic skills at a young age are strong predictors of later academic challenges, health issues, behavior problems, substance abuse, lower educational attainment, lower rates of employment, teen parenthood, and the likely recurrence of these risk factors for the next generation of children;
(c)
Research demonstrates that the opportunity to support positive development experiences during early childhood using evidence-based interventions that support sensitive and responsive caregiver-child interactions are linked to children's academic and social competence; and
(d)
Helping teachers and parents learn when and how to use these evidence-based interventions has demonstrated reductions in parental depression and increases in parental self-confidence; increases in positive family communication and problem solving; increases in children's appropriate cognitive problem-solving strategies and in the use of pro-social conflict management strategies with peers; reductions in conduct problems at home and conduct problems in school that often lead to suspension and expulsion; and increases in children's positive affect and cooperation, positive interactions with peers, school readiness, and engagement with school activities.
(2)
(a)
The general assembly finds, therefore, that it is in the best interests of the state to authorize the department to implement proven, evidence-based, two-generation prevention programs to teach teachers and parents strategies and skills to connect with all children, especially those who demonstrate challenging behaviors; to promote children's social competence; to reduce behavior problems; and to provide programming to children to help them learn problem-solving and emotion-control skills. The goals of providing these programs are to strengthen teacher-child and parent-child relationships and promote child behavioral change, including self-regulation and decreased aggressive behavior and impulsivity.
(b)
The general assembly further finds that, to implement these programs efficiently and effectively and to promote successful partnerships between state agencies and the private sector, it is appropriate to divide responsibility for the programs between the department, which is responsible for financial administration of the programs, and an implementation partner, which is responsible for programmatic and clinical support, evaluation, and monitoring for the programs, and such other responsibilities as may be described in this part 6. It is the intent of the general assembly that the department and the implementation partner work collaboratively to share information as necessary to promote efficient and effective program implementation.
Added by 2022 Ch. 123,§3, eff. 7/1/2022.