Aug. 16, 2024

Dear DPS Community,

Can you believe that the start of the new school year is upon us? This time of year brings waves of excitement, fresh ideas (and haircuts!) and profound reflection. As we channel that energy into preparing for our first day of the 2024-25 school year, Team DPS has been engaged in professional learning experiences with our teachers and school leaders, aligning around the rollout of our Instructional Framework, and welcoming nearly 800 new educators to Team DPS! All of these meaningful experiences prepare us to welcome our students back to school on Monday, Aug. 19.

Today, our Office of Schools leadership is excited to highlight our team's mission-essential work. In the Office of Schools, our work is grounded in our core business of educational equity — teaching and learning — and positions Team DPS to make our commitment to Every Learner Thrives a reality by reestablishing the instructional infrastructure informed by our student data.

The Student Experience: Rigorous Learning Environments

Through the work of our DPS Strategic Roadmap, we have centered educational equity as our collective responsibility. DPS is firmly committed to creating student-centered learning experiences that accelerate the trajectory of historically underserved and underestimated students. It is our primary charge that every learner will experience instruction that is culturally and linguistically sustaining and that every learner will engage deeply with texts and tasks at their grade level or above. 

At the heart of our educational mission lies our newly developed Instructional Framework – a vision and bar for excellence shaped by the invaluable input of our teachers and leaders. This isn't just a strategy; it's our collective aspiration, refined through iterative feedback and dedicated collaboration. We continue to get clearer as we work tirelessly to increase our student achievement. Together, we establish a benchmark that embodies our highest educational ideals, guiding us toward exceptional teaching and learning.

We encourage you to familiarize yourself with our Instructional Framework. For now, we want to share with you our beliefs about instruction that we should see brought to life for each and every student in the Denver Public Schools:

Grade Level: We believe all learners should receive grade-level or above instruction. Educators expertly deliver content by employing high-impact instructional moves for high levels of student engagement while building skills and independence for 21st-century learning.

Joyful: We believe all learners should experience joy in the classroom. Educators design a learning environment that promotes positive classroom culture and climate empowering students to exercise agency in their learning.

Culturally Sustaining: We believe that all learners should be affirmed in their identities. Educators ensure that instruction is designed to leverage funds of knowledge, cultural relevance and the diverse backgrounds of students. 

Linguistically Sustaining: We believe all learners' linguistic backgrounds should be seen as assets. Educators ensure the instruction leverages the linguistic repertoires and backgrounds of students to support multilingualism and the simultaneous development of content knowledge and language.

We are confident that the work we are doing to make our vision for instruction clear is moving us in the right direction. We look forward to sharing more of our 2023-24 student data once it is made publicly available, and want to share some early successes:

• Team DPS welcomed and supported more than 4,000 New-arrival students and families.

• Early Literacy: From fall to spring 2023-24, DPS increased the percentage of students scoring "Grade Level & Above" by 12% and decreased the number of students scoring "Significantly Below Grade Level" by 7% with gaps narrowing for our historically underserved students.

• Graduation rates continue to increase as DPS students have achieved the historically highest graduation rates in the last two years.

• Total enrollment in Dual and Concurrent Enrollment courses increased to 16,815 (a 14% increase) compared to the prior school year.

• More than 1,000 students graduated with the Seal of Biliteracy.

As we gear up for the new school year, we are grateful for your unwavering dedication to our mission and vision. Together, we are creating the conditions and partnerships where students, families and team members belong and thrive. 

With gratitude,

Dr. Tony Smith, Deputy Superintendent

Dr. Simont Wright, Chief of Academics

Mr. Cesar Cedillo, Chief of Schools