Denver Public Schools opened its doors this week to tens of thousands of students for what promises to be a year unlike any other. Superintendent Michael Bennet hopes they’ll be met with a more “optimistic and welcoming approach,” but for DPS the first challenge is getting the students in the door.
Each year, hundreds of students fall through the cracks, literally disappearing from the school district and the arc of secondary education. More than 100 students alone from the now shuttered Manual High School have failed to enroll in a new school. Bennet and others combed neighborhoods this summer, helping to enroll Manual students at other DPS schools. He even rode a yellow school bus Tuesday morning with Manual transfers and called their friends from his cellphone, trying to rouse them from their summer slumbers.
“We’ve learned a lot from the Manual experience about what we really need to do at every school in the district,” he said Wednesday. “We have to find ways to do outreach to get kids back.”
DPS won’t have exact figures until October about how many kids from Manual have dropped out, but it’s obviously not lost on anyone that Denver students can’t succeed unless they are pushed and given a chance to excel.
DPS this year will begin to implement key facets of “The Denver Plan,” its blueprint for reforming schools and boosting student achievement.
Some changes will be very visible. Students from kindergarten through 5th grade will receive report cards that do away with the old A, B, C format. Ideally, the document will give parents a more accurate glance at how their child is measuring up to the state’s standards.
The district also will roll out its “benchmark assessment” tests. For one hour, nine times each year, students will be tested on what they’ve learned. Rather than wait for CSAP results, which are tabulated after the students have moved on to another grade, the idea is to give teachers more data on where students are scholastically so they can modify their instruction.
The DPS Success tutoring program, which will provide extra help for up to 40 percent of the district’s students, is being expanded, and students who are struggling with math and reading will see their course load in those important subjects doubled.
Those who follow education in Colorado say there’s a palpable optimism at DPS this year. It will be mixed with a sense of urgency. The challenges at DPS have been defined, and the system’s resources have been sharpened. The mission now is to engage Denver students so they go the distance.
