Start with the Facts Strengthening Denver Public Schools’ Education Pipeline A+ Denver Colorado Children’s Campaign Metro Organizations for People

Background-Denver’s Public Schools: Reforms, Challenges and the Future, 2009 ➡ Project of A+, CCC and MOP ➡ Focused on results and strategies ➡ Compared DPS performance indicators to state, other urban systems ➡ Little change in student outcomes from but began to see positive changes in recent years ➡ Instruction strategies and programs began in 2002 and 2003 ➡ Denver evolved from centralized system to more “portfolio” managed in

Achievement highlights ➡ Small improvement in most grades and most subjects CSAP ➡ Large achievement gaps with all groups ➡ strong ACT gains in short time ➡ About half do not graduate in 4yrs, bottom third of urban districts ➡ Difficult to compare to other urban districts because of no national test in Denver 3

State of improvement strategies-2009 ➡ Overall strong commitment to reform from district and board “DPS deserves credit for willingness to to tackle so much all at once” ➡ Denver Plan- “Positive but not conclusive” ➡ ProComp- “Positive 1 st year evaluation” ➡ New Schools, Performance and evaluation- “Awaiting higher achievement in general” 4

Comparison Urban districts NAEP 2009 Reading (was not in report) Urban District4 th grade change since th grade change since th grade change since th grade change since 2007 Chicago9*200 DC13*6*00 LA6*27*3* NYC11*4*NA3 San DiegoNA3 4* 5

“Start with the Facts” 2011 ➡ Continued collaboration A+, CCC and MOP ➡ Focus on student outcomes ➡ Did not evaluate or compare DPS strategies (little change from 2009 except for implementation on some like new schools) ➡ ECE to college data ➡ Pipeline data better today but still not complete particularly at ECE-grade 3 and at end of high school levels ➡ Best data for measuring quality of pipeline is college success not easily available! 6

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Enrollment: More Denver students attending DPS schools, but many choosing other districts ➡ Preschool increased 30 percentage points from 2005 to 2010, rising from 3,403 to 4,530 students ➡ Full day K increased 80 percentage points, rising from 4,048 to 7,297 students. ➡ 81,431 students in Denver today (high mark since 1974) ➡ 4,317 out of district students choice in while 7,732 DPS students choice out (net loss of 3,415) ➡ About 51.8% do not graduate in 4 yrs. Improvement for grad rates for those that start w DPS high schools and for 5 yr and 6yr grad rates Number of Children (3 to 5 Years Old) Attending DPS Preschool and Full- Day Kindergarten 8

Denver CSAP “Growth” 9

Elementary Reading 4 th grade 10

Middle School Reading 8 th grade 11

High School Writing 10 th grade 12

Dropout and graduation rates ➡ Dropout rates have dropped significantly ➡ 4yr graduation rates have slightly improved ➡ 4yr graduation rates for students starting in DPS high schools have improved ➡ 5 and 6yr grad rates have improved 13

DPS college matriculation 14

DPS college preparation and remediation 15

Reminder of why it matters ➡ Each student that fails to graduate will cost the state $524,000 in lost taxes and increased social/health costs (DPS class of 2010 will cost CO $1.2 B) ➡ 70% of CO jobs in 2020 will require a career certificate or degree ➡ Of 100 that enter CO 2 yr colleges, only 6 graduate in 4 yrs ➡ Of 100 that enter CO 4 yr colleges, only 31 graduate in 8 yrs 16

Recommendations Data and Reporting ➡ ECE to 2nd grade achievement should be tracked and reported publically ➡ Student growth and achievement should be given equal weight in reporting ➡ It’s not enough to send kids to college if they are not prepared (remediation rates are major concern) ➡ College matriculation and success rates should be tracked and reported for the district and each high school program 17

Enormous Range in School Quality 18

Good enough? How do we change curve? What’s working? What’s not? 19 ?

Correlation is not Causation: Next Steps ➡ Many strategies…from human capital, instruction, portfolio management, etc ➡ Some strategies like ProComp have specific evaluations, most do not ➡ There is no comprehensive evaluation related to big picture improvement ➡ What’s driving improvement, what’s not working? Why? 20 ???