At one recent Denver middle-school open house, the principal greased visiting fifth-graders’ palms with chocolate. Another dangled international travel before visitors. And one captivated recruits with classroom chairs that actually bounce, to accommodate fidgeting pre-teens.
Practically every Denver middle school now invites fifth-graders and their parents to an open house. Many host fifth-graders as they “shadow” an older kid through a middle-school day. And two share a full-time marketer whose job is to convince families that their neighborhood schools are worth a second look.
School choice is growing across Colorado. But perhaps nowhere is middle-school choice the complex exercise it is in Denver, a district where just a few years ago, failing middle schools sent many families fleeing to the suburbs.
Denver Public Schools set out to fix that flight, and the result is such a varied menu of middle schools that they are locked in competition and parents’ heads are spinning.
“Frankly, four or five years ago, it would have been very different. Middle-class parents would have been moving out of Denver” when their kids were about to enter sixth grade, said Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg.
Now, between the heavy recruiting and, at some schools, the required essays or entrance auditions, it can be easy to forget this is middle school.
“I feel like it’s college sometimes, like I’m trying to find the best college,” said Victoria Jaramillo, who has to find middle-school homes for her fifth- grade twins, Francisca and Francisco Salazar.
The differences among schools aren’t just cosmetic. In Denver, there is the Denver School of the Arts, Denver School of Science and Technology and Denver Center for International Studies. There is also Denver Green School and the Girls Athletic Leadership School, to name a few.
In Jaramillo’s case, what’s good for one of her twins won’t necessarily be right for the other. Francisco likes math and science, she said. For him, she prefers the Denver School of Science and Technology. Francisca, she said, “went with me to a school board meeting and heard about GALS. She plays softball, so she said, ‘Can you look into that school?’ “
But the Montbello mom said she won’t make any decision until she attends open houses.
The district also hosted a Middle School Expo in October, and next month will offer five mini versions of the expo in regions across the city. DPS is also taking the expo show on the road, to elementary schools.
“We’re bringing their options to them so the students can be actively involved in their choices,” said district marketing director Marissa Ferrari.
This is all in the run-up to the Jan. 31 deadline when parents must submit a list — in order — of their top five middle- school choices.
There is a lot at stake for students, but also for schools.
At an October open house, McAuliffe International School principal Kurt Dennis laid out a vision for an International Baccalaureate school offering rigorous studies.
But much of McAuliffe’s success depends on funding. And funding depends on how many parents have faith enough to enroll their kids in McAuliffe’s first-ever sixth-grade class.
“Dollars follow pupils, and schools have a very clear incentive to attract kids to their schools,” Boasberg said.
For years, middle school was the black mark in DPS’s performance gradebook.
Between the 2005-06 school year and 2006-07, district enrollment went up by 381 — propelled by a 924 jump in elementary-school enrollment. But the number of middle-school students fell that year by 586.
A look at 2005’s middle- school CSAP scores may explain the exodus: That year, 23 percent of DPS middle-schoolers were proficient or better in math; 32 percent in writing and 37 percent in reading.
By this past spring, 42 percent of middle-schoolers were proficient or better in math; 43 percent in writing and 50 percent in reading.
At the same time, Denver middle-school enrollment climbed 4.3 percent this year over 2010, to 16,343.
Last month, Boasberg announced that good news from Grant Middle School, where enrollment had grown 16 percent, and he credited the district’s Denver Plan for improvements that spark enrollment gains.
But, in the bid to woo parents, Grant got extra help.
“We actually did invest in a marketing specialist for Merrill (Middle School), Grant and South High,” Boasberg said.
“We’re investing in that southeast area,” he said. “And with per-pupil funding, it’s an investment that will pay for itself.”
Karen Auge: 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com
Staff writer Yesenia Robles contributed to this report.
