In a letter sent this week to dozens of the city’s most powerful leaders, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet and school board President Theresa Peña called for “radical change” to improve the district’s record of student achievement.
Only 33 African-American students and 61 Latino students in the district scored proficient or better on the 10th-grade math Colorado Student Assessment Program test in 2005, according to the letter.
“These 94 children represent fewer than four classrooms of students,” the letter said.
The letter – addressed to former Denver Mayors Federico Peña and Wellington Webb, and copied to 38 other people, including U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and current Mayor John Hickenlooper – quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and was meant to “capture in one place the seriousness of our achievement gap,” Bennet said Wednesday.
The letter also detailed reasons behind the Manual High School closure, including its poor academic record. For three consecutive years, no Manual student has scored advanced on the CSAP in any subject.
“The level of achievement combined with the dwindling student population made the Manual situation untenable,” the letter said.
Former Mayor Peña said he doesn’t think Bennet’s ambitious reform agenda, “The Denver Plan,” has been “embraced or understood.”
The plan calls for, among other things, longer class time in math and reading for students who are below grade level, and principals as instructional leaders.
