Colorado's P- 3 Leadership Cadre

Colorado's P-3 Leadership Cadre

Traditionally education and care for young children has been thought of as a birth – age five then K – 12 experience. Support for families and children was provided through a focus on a smooth transition to kindergarten. However, there is a strong research base in the importance of the learning and growth opportunities for young children prior to kindergarten. There is also a growing awareness of the importance of a coherent, aligned system of support for families and children in order to ensure school readiness and promote school success. Taken together a P-3 or preschool through grade three, approach to early learning is taking hold nationally.

About the Cadre

In an effort to advance statewide learning of P-3 approaches to leading elementary schools, the Teaching and Learning Unit at CDE initiated a P-3 School Leadership Cadre. This cadre engaged small school leadership teams (i.e., principal, preschool and K-3 teacher leaders, instructional coaches, etc.) from across the state in a professional learning community from 2016 to 2018.

This learning community was co-created between participating school leadership teams and CDE with the intention to

learn from one another about efforts to create a P-3 system in schools,
learn from state and national experts about effective P – 3 models,
work to co-develop a P – 3 leadership model for the state, and
establish demonstration sites for the state.

A primary guide for the cadre was Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities: Competencies for Effective Principal Practice, a recent publication of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). In partnership with the Colorado Association of Elementary School Principals, CDE serves in the role of convener, co-creator, and co-learner in the cadre.

More information about the P-3 Cadre in Colorado, as well as accomplishments and lessons learned, can be found in the P-3 Cadre Report.

Cadre Profiles

Learn more about the goals, next steps and lessons learned from the P-3 Cadre members in the following school and district profiles.