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BOSTON UNIVERSAL PRE-KINDERGARTEN
Welcome! We’re excited you are considering preschool for your child. Preschool is also known as Pre-Kindergarten. In Boston, we have Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK), a program that is funded by the City of Boston and promises to deliver on high-quality choices that are free of cost to Boston’s three and four year old children. UPK is a 6.5-hour school day for 180 days per year.
The Boston UPK model offers the same high quality programming in a variety of settings:
- Boston Public Schools (BPS) - known as K0 (for 3-year-olds) and K1 (for 4-year-olds)
- Community Centers
- Family Child Care
- Independent Schools
You can find the full list of schools and centers that offer UPK in this map.
What does high-quality Pre-K mean?
All UPK programs - regardless of where they are offered - are standardized and quality-based. They all share the following:
- Boston Public Schools' (BPS') UPK program exceeds national standards.
- All pre-k teachers have a degree in early childhood education and are prepared to teach in classroom settings to support students of all backgrounds and needs.
- Teachers receive ongoing professional development throughout the year to enhance their teaching.
- Expert coaches provide ongoing support to teachers.
- Students learn from the Boston Public Schools Focus on Pre-K curriculum and the Building Blocks curriculum, which are national models in early childhood education.
- All classroom environments are age-appropriate and culturally responsive.
- Small classrooms with 2 educators for 20 students.
- Nationally accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
- Each UPK community provider has a family engagement coordinator available to provide support to families to meet their individual needs.
Eligibility and Registration
The application for School Year 2023-2024 is open on an ongoing basis - Apply now here.
Applications for School Year 2024-2025 will open on Monday, March 25th, 2024.
You can download a UPK informational flyer below:
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