Denver Public Schools

The foundation has an ongoing interest in Denver Public Schools (DPS), and in recent months, we release two papers with a focus on DPS.

In May 2012, we released the report "True North: Goals for Denver Public Schools," along with partners A+ Denver, Together Colorado and Stand for Children Colorado.

In "Great Expectations, Mixed Results," numbers show some of Denver’s new schools are doing well in their first few years of operation, while others are not helping their students achieve the academic growth they need to be successful. The report offers an analysis of 36 charter, innovation, and redesign schools that have opened in DPS over the last 5 years. We assert that DPS needs to set standards and expectations for its new schools up front – before opening – to provide clear criteria for whether a new school is performing well or not. The report examines the academic growth of students in these new schools in several ways, and includes an appendix comparing certain of the new schools to both their older versions, district averages, and their performance relative to the entire district.