Spring | Issue 22 | Date: May 26, 2022
Funding Great Schools. Rooted in Community. 
Celebrating 20 Years at KIPP Colorado
On May 19, KIPP Colorado Public Schools celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first public charter school in Colorado. At a celebration at the Denver Art Museum, parents, students, alumni, educators, and community members joined together to acknowledge the impact of KIPP Colorado over the last 20 years and look forward to the future. Now with six schools spread across Southwest Denver and the Far Northeast—KIPP Colorado serves a diverse population of students and sets the bar high for all learners. In 2022 alone, graduating seniors received more than $6 million in scholarships to higher education institutions. CEO Tomi Amos is the first Black, female CMO leader in the state of Colorado and recognized her teachers and community growing up, stressing that they motivated her to pursue a career in education. Congratulations to KIPP Colorado on the last 20 years, we are looking forward to what you do in the next 20! Read more from Boardhawk. 
DSST Senior Signing Day Celebrates all Seniors
On April 28, DSST Public Schools celebrated the Class of 2022 with over 5,000 DSST students, staff, parents and community members at the Denver Coliseum. Over 700 graduating seniors from DSST: Montview, Green Valley Ranch, Cole, College View, Byers and Conservatory Green high schools shared their post-secondary decisions on stage in front of the crowd. 

According to STRIVE, “Senior Signing Day is about the aspirations and persistence of our students. We hope the event inspires every one of our students to see themselves walking across that stage, celebrating themselves, their families, and their DSST community, as they share their post-high school plans.” 

Seniors from the Center Program at DSST were also able to share their post-graduate plans, some on stage. These students have a range of disabilities and often face additional barriers not only to learning, but also to finding postgraduate support programs. DSST was determined this year to help these students find additional assistance after graduation to support them on their career journey. Elijah at DSST: Green Valley Ranch was accepted to Teaching Autism Community Trades (TACT) where he will be in the auto mechanic program and two students, Aidan and Johnny, were accepted into Project Search at the Anschutz Medical Campus where they will learn job readiness skills, independence and will have assistance finding jobs afterwards as well. 

Congratulations to the Class of 2022! Watch the Senior Signing Day coverage on CBS4 and Denver7. 
Make Your Voice Heard!
District 5 Board of Education Candidates
Five candidates have applied to fill the District 5 Denver Board of Education seat Rev. Bradley Laurvick will vacate in June. Adeel Khan, Julie Bañuelos, Leonard Darnell, David Diaz and Charmaine Lindsey submitted applications to represent northwest Denver. 

The candidates fielded questions from community members during a recorded public meeting on May 16. They were asked about student-based budgeting, declining enrollment and the district’s diverse family of schools. 

Chalkbeat noted that Khan, the former principal of DSST Conservatory Green High School, was the only candidate to express support for Denver’s portfolio of schools. According to Chalkbeat:

It doesn’t matter to most families whether their child’s school is run by the district or by a charter organization as long as it serves their child well, he said.

“While bureaucrats can get caught up in these different things, for families it’s about, ‘Is my kid getting the education I want for them?’” Khan said.

Additional information about the four other candidates can be found in the Chalkbeat article. The board of education is scheduled to interview the candidates live on May 26 and host public comment after. The board is expected to hear public comment and appoint the new board member on June 9.
*Photo credit: Melanie Asmar, Chalkbeat Colorado
Centering Students this Mental Health Awareness Month
In support of Mental Health Awareness Month, join RootED Denver for our next Facebook Live featuring Chanelle Jones, Y Incubator and Public Health Intern with Young Aspiring Americans for Social and Political Activism (YAASPA). Chanelle will be discussing healing justice and how it has led to greater relief in student-led conversations around mental health. See you on Tuesday, May 31 at 5:00 p.m. live on our Facebook page!
Student Summer Programs
As the school year comes to an end, we hope this summer brings a reset and rest into your households! Looking for something to do this summer, check out what some of our grantees and partners are up to! We will be sharing more summer resources on our social media channels.
CREDO Research Shows DPS Growth Pre-Pandemic
Pre-pandemic data shows students in all Denver schools—regardless of the school model—made stronger learning gains in reading and math when compared to the state average. 

The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University has shared analysis of Colorado assessment data that shows Denver’s traditional, innovation and charter schools showed progress toward improving academic outcomes for all students in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The analysis is part of CREDO’s City Studies Project, which examines the performance of schools in select U.S. cities, including Denver. It studies the academic progress of students as the measure of school performance. Notably, CREDO’s analysis of state assessment data shows:
  • Denver’s Hispanic-Latino students demonstrated stronger growth in reading and math than the average growth for Hispanic-Latino students statewide.
  • Denver’s English-language learners made greater learning gains in reading and math than the average gains for English-language learners statewide.
  • Denver’s Black students made similar learning gains to other Black students in Colorado in reading and math. However, Black students enrolled in Denver charter schools showed greater growth in reading and math than the average growth for Black students statewide.
  • Students living in poverty and students receiving special education services also posted greater learning gains than their peers statewide.

And, while all schools contributed to improving academic performance for students, the data shows some notable differences in learning gains for students in Denver charter schools. For example, Hispanic-Latino, Black, English-language learners and students receiving special education services enrolled in charter schools made greater progress or showed greater growth than their peers statewide.
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