U.S. Secretary of Education in Denver to highlight Colorado's gains in early childhood education

U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr. visited Colorado on Monday to highlight gains the state has made in early childhood education.

During his visit, he plans to visit Mile High Montessori Edna Oliver Early Learning Center and the Tramway Nonprofit Center.

He will discuss with education leaders Colorado's efforts to improve access to high-quality early learning opportunities.

Those improvements were made possible by $44.8 million in federal funding from the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant and the establishment of the Colorado Shines System, according to Lee Rasizer a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Human Services.

Colorado Shines rates early learning programs and helps those programs improve their quality level.

Since February 2015, the rating system has grown from 473 programs to more than 4,400.