Melanie Asmar

Melanie Asmar covers Denver Public Schools. Asmar previously worked as a reporter for Westword newspaper in Denver and for a daily newspaper in her native New Hampshire. She joined Chalkbeat Colorado in 2015.

In a recent report, a White House memo misspelled "attacker" or "attackers" as "attaker" or "attakers" 27 times, San Bernardino lost its second "r," and "Denmark" became "Denmakr."

Denver district violated federal rules, delayed services to students with disabilities, state investigation finds

August 7, 2018 at 2:27 p.m.

Denver Public Schools violated the rights of some students with disabilities in the way it made decisions about whether they would get support from a teacher鈥檚 aide, an investigation by...

First-year teacher Krista Trofka fills in her class calendar at Denver鈥檚 North High School in 2007.

Denver experiments with a new teacher training approach for high-poverty schools

July 7, 2018 at 7:00 a.m.

Denver Public Schools has launched a pilot program to better prepare new teachers to work in Denver鈥檚 many high-poverty schools.

Denver’s South High School principal leaving due to health concerns

June 20, 2018 at 8:18 a.m.

The principal of Denver鈥檚 second-largest school, South High, has said she won鈥檛 return this fall. In a letter to families, Jen Hanson cited 鈥減ersonal health concerns鈥� as the reason for...

College View Middle School work on a reading assignment during an English Language Development class.

Denver鈥檚 largest charter network wins $250,000 national prize

June 19, 2018 at 11:22 a.m.

Denver鈥檚 largest homegrown charter school network, DSST, won a $250,000 prize Monday for its success educating students from low-income families and students of color.

In 2013, 55 percent of all Jeffco 11th-graders were below the minimum ACT math and reading scores for "college and career readiness." (Seth McConnell, The Denver Post)

Denver鈥檚 school board is taking a break from its school closure policy

June 14, 2018 at 11:57 a.m.

The Denver school board will hit pause this year on a controversial policy that calls for closing low-performing schools, as board members embark on a citywide listening tour that has...

DSST: Cole High School freshman Jayr Cardenas is the first to arrive for the school's morning meeting.

Denver鈥檚 largest charter network is up for a $250,000 national prize

June 8, 2018 at 4:33 p.m.

For the second year in a row, Denver鈥檚 largest charter school network, DSST, is a finalist for a prestigious national prize worth $250,000.

Far from reaching its ambitious literacy goals, the Denver district plans to ask for community input

June 1, 2018 at 7:44 p.m.

At the current pace of progress, it will take 13 years for the Denver school district to reach its goal that 80 percent of all third-graders be reading and writing...

Thousands of teachers gather wearing red ...

Against a backdrop of protests, teacher contract negotiations in Denver get heated

May 31, 2018 at 1:25 p.m.

Buoyed by the energy of recent teacher protests, plus a sizable increase in state education funding, the Denver teachers union is renewing its push to get the school district to...

Colorado students hold steady on national exams, but achievement gaps persist

April 10, 2018 at 6:11 a.m.

Colorado students improved slightly last year on the standardized tests known as 鈥渢he nation鈥檚 report card,鈥� bouncing back after聽a dip in scores in 2015, according to data released Monday.

Alejandro Moya, left, and Salvador Garcia

Large achievement gaps in Denver highlighted by new national test data