A+ Denver serves as a member-based organization that promotes permanent, sustainable, and constant improvement in Denver Public Schools. Our goal is to consolidate a consensus around education reform at the leadership level of the community. A+ leverages that consensus voice to create broad support for transformative policy and practice changes that improve academic performance in Denver.
We simultaneously collaborate with DPS leadership and the school board as we hold them accountable for urgently needed improvements. Our vision of systemic reform is one of a broad and long-term effort; therefore, A+ remains committed to this work even as DPS’ leadership and the elected school board members change. We carefully forge every partnership and project to best support our objective to improve the quality of education available to all Denver children.
Recent accomplishments include:
School quality: raising the bar for new and turnaround school proposals.
Since the district (DPS) began implementing reforms over five years ago to increase school autonomy (through Innovation schools and new charters) and reinvent the lowest performing schools in the district (turnarounds), few outside groups have kept watch to ensure that the strategies are working. As millions of dollars are at stake, we felt it was important to take a close look at what was and wasn’t working. We have been a leader in raising the bar for quality proposals for new innovation schools, and advocating for clear and data driven turnaround plans for failing or replacement schools.
Attaching accountability and transparency to increased funding.
While A+ Denver recognizes the need to fund public education and generally advocates strongly for resources, we are not naïve to the waste and inefficiency inherent within the education bureaucracy. Even while supporting measures to increase funding at the district and state levels, we have taken a strong stand to demand outcome driven metrics for spending priorities. Van Schoales chairs the Denver Mill Levy Committee and advocated strongly for transparency and accountability in SB 213.
Insisting on a clear district strategy for raising student achievement.
Without a road map, it is impossible for the public to know where the district is going or how it will get there. The 2010 Denver Plan was written as a strategic plan, but many of the tactics have been abandoned, benchmarks missed, and goals revised. Further, it is not a useful document for district policy makers. After A+ pressured the district for over a year, the board has hired a firm to help create a new strategic plan. This work has recently started, after being on hiatus due to the election, and will give the new board a framework from which to launch a plan for re-energizing the district’s reform agenda. A+, through thought-leadership and research, has sought to inform this plan by putting forth recommendations and exposing the problems the district may be tempted to gloss over.
Improving parents’ ability to choose high-quality schools for their kids.
A+ has been a leader in examining the mechanics of DPS’s new enrollment system to ensure equity and usability for parents, confirming that the new system results in easier and more fair access to schools. A+ has evaluated the system and convened a SchoolChoice transparency committee to monitor the implementation and results of the new system. This will be a multi year effort, but we are one step closer to guaranteeing every student has access to a high quality school.
Read our Principles to learn more about what defines A+ and our work.
Check out our Reports section for more information and data about the status of Denver Public Schools and some of the work A+ Denver has done and continues to do to push for the highest quality education for students in Denver.
