AFFILIATIONS
In efforts to provide a high quality preschool education, Bethany Busy Bee Preschool is affiliated with the following organizations that audit practices, methods, tools, equipment, staff experience and training, parent involvement, communication, and, rules and regulations that are offered at our program.
Busy Bee is rated as Level 4.97 (out of 5 possible levels) program by Colorado Shines. We participate in the Colorado Shines Quality Rating Plan where parent surveys and feedback are utilized to establish the rating. Busy Bee utilizes TS Gold to record observations and document individual child assessments throughout the school year.
We are accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International and associated with the Early Childhood Christian Director’s Association.
Busy Bee is licensed by the State of Colorado.
Bethany Busy Bee Colorado Shines Rated-Level 4
Colorado Shines Level 4 with a score of 4.97 until we are rated again in 2028. Bethany Busy Bee has been a part of a quality rating program since 2009. Please use this link to view the 2024 Colorado Shines Rating Report.
Information obtained directly from CDEC Colorado.gov and ColoradoShines.com Families section
What is Colorado Shines?
Colorado Shines(opens in new window) is a quality rating and improvement system for all of Colorado’s licensed early learning programs serving children birth to 5 years old. It encourages and supports programs to improve their quality and to connect with families looking for quality care for their children.
A Quality Ratings Assessor will evaluate ratings at levels three through five and offer points within five categories: workforce qualifications, family partnerships, administration, learning environment, and child health.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR FAMILIES?
- Colorado Shines helps families find high-quality child care and early learning programs that fit theirs and their children’s needs.
- Colorado Shines does not incur a cost to families.
- Choosing child care is an important decision. Families deserve to know their children are in quality child care environments that foster a love of learning, promote each child’s unique skills, cultures, and support the development of the whole child.
- Participating child care and early learning programs receive free resources and training to improve the quality of their programs and there is no additional cost to families. Funding comes from the state of Colorado through two federal grants: Child Care Development Fund and Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant.
HOW DOES COLORADO SHINES WORK?
Colorado Shines, Colorado’s quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), is required for licensed child care providers supporting children prior to entering kindergarten and helps early learning programs offer high-quality care. It offers supports and resources to child care providers so they may support each child’s learning and development. Research shows this kind of assistance helps providers improve the quality of their programs. When more young children are ready for school, we all benefit.
- Colorado Shines rates the quality of programs on a scale of 1 to 5.
- At level 1, licensed child care programs must meet Colorado’s licensing requirements for health and safety.
- Programs with higher ratings have strong classroom instruction, training for staff and family engagement to support children’s success.
- Participants who are working on or who have been rated Level 2 are recognized as “Participating in Quality Improvement.”
- Child care programs rated at Levels 3, 4, or 5 are recognized as having achieved “High Quality.”
WHY IS A QUALITY RATING IMPORTANT?
You think about a lot of things when choosing child care, including cost, location and availability. In addition to safety, the most important consideration is the QUALITY of the program. Why?
Quality child care and preschool programs help ensure that children have positive experiences during a sensitive and important time of life. Quality child care and preschool programs help children prepare for kindergarten and success in school.
As a parent or caregiver, you want the best for your child. Quality care and education in the early years helps children start early and start strong. And the benefits last forever!
The early years of life are so important because the human brain develops faster during the first five years than at any other time in life! Click here to learn more about early childhood development.
WHAT ARE THE COLORADO SHINES STANDARDS OF QUALITY?
The Colorado Shines Quality Rating and Improvement System is a part of child care licensing for early childhood programs in Colorado. Programs that choose to be assessed, as a high quality program (quality level 3, level 4, and level 5) will have an onsite visit to score the program in the following quality standards:
- Child Health – Children have healthy snacks and meals. Higher quality programs will also track children’s development to make sure they are growing and learning. The tracking helps guide activities geared to benefit children the most.
- Workforce Qualifications and Professional Development – Well-trained, responsive and effective teachers are essential to a high-quality early education program.
- Learning Environment – Children have toys and activities to teach them new skills. The setting is clean.
- Parent Partnerships – Parents and providers are partners in their child’s early learning and care. Engaging, close relationships, and providing a community based school with families during their child’s first years. Including with school activities, family activities, educational activities and opportunities, and good communication.
- Administration – Strong leadership and business practices are critical to maintaining high quality early education programs.
Bethany Busy Bee is ACSI Accredited
Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI)
Information obtained directly from ACSIglobal.org
ACSI Schools: The Best Choice for Your Child
A Christian education at an ACSI member school will help your child grow spiritually, academically, and culturally. In fact, the recent Cardus Education Survey and other education studies show that ACSI schools better develop the whole child than any other type of school.
ACSI accreditation is a highly effective way for a Christian school/program to evaluate itself in light of its unique educational mission. An authentic Christian school/program may be thought of as involving the four interwoven educational strands of (1) academic ideas and thinking; (2) skills for life and living; (3) biblical worldview grounding; and (4) personal character, values, and spiritual formation. The self-study process guides a school/program to evaluate and reflect on all it does in light of this distinctive, four-pronged mission.
Accreditation and school improvement assist schools in changing for the better in an orderly and systematic way. They bring a vigorous dynamic into the school by engaging every school constituent in a process of organizational appraisal.
Bethany Busy Bee is licensed by the State of Colorado: #47043
It is the policy of the Colorado Department of Human Services to promote and encourage child care in environments that contribute to the safety, health, protection and well-being of children. To verify compliance with standards intended to ensure such an environment, the State Department requires thorough and ongoing appraisals of child care facilities, persons working in the child care profession, and the nature of care provided.
Colorado’s child care licensing laws give the Division of Early Care and Learning responsibility for licensing and monitoring approximately 9,000 child care facilities of all types. These include child care homes and centers, pre-school and school-age child care programs, summer camps, residential child care facilities, and child placement agencies. Criminal background checks are conducted on all child care providers and staff, as well as checks against the Judicial Department’s ICON database to determine court dispositions.
To facilitate parents’ involvement in monitoring and making decisions about licensed facilities, the Division makes licensing histories of child care facilities available to the public. On average, more than 1,900 licensing histories are reviewed annually. The licensing program is also responsible for enforcement when consumers report providers in the community for operating a child care home or facility without a license.
The Division provides technical assistance to child care providers and establishes educational and experience requirements for child care providers in all facilities. Persons seeking employment as a director or substitute director for a large child care center must meet specific educational and experience requirements in accordance with rules established by the State Board of Human Services.
For more information, please visit http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDHS-ChildYouthFam/CBON/1251583639921