NW Middle Schools Help Drive DPS Student-Achievement Gains | Schools

Denver -- For the third consecutive year, students in the Denver Public Schools have posted growth scores at or above the state median in all subjects on the Colorado Student Assessment Program -- the state’s standardized testing system.

DPS experienced its greatest growth in writing, jumping four points on the state assessments, and recorded gains in math for the eighth consecutive year.  Progress is evident at schools across the city.  Particularly striking is the effect of reform efforts at middle schools in the Northwest region of the city in driving significantly higher achievement levels at Northwest middle schools.

Last August, DPS opened three new middle schools in Northwest Denver, each serving just sixth-graders and building one grade at a time. A new Lake International Baccalaureate program opened and was joined on its campus by a new West Denver Prep program. A second West Denver Prep opened at Highlands.  All three of these schools share an attendance boundary and are open to all neighborhood kids.  In addition, DPS invested with the Northwest community in a school improvement plan for Skinner Middle School. 

The additional middle schools in NW Denver include the existing Lake IB program, which served seventh- and eighth-graders last year and is phasing out, and Skinner Middle School, which has teamed with its community to build a comprehensive revitalization plan and has now posted two straight years of strong student-achievement gains.

Students at all five of these NW Denver middle schools – the three new schools, Skinner, and the Lake 7-8th grade continuing school – posted nearly across-the-board improvements in proficiency rates (percentage of students scoring proficient or above) on the 2011 CSAP, compared with the previous year’s scores in the region.

“We’ve seen a real resurgence in middle schools across the district in the past five years, and now we’re seeing that surge of progress gain momentum in Northwest Denver,” DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg said. “I know that changing the status quo is politically controversial, but it is truly changing opportunities for our students in Northwest Denver. And I’m confident that there is still a great deal of progress and improvement ahead at these schools.”

On 2010 CSAPs, sixth-graders at the existing Lake Middle School and Skinner Middle School—the two main middle school options in the region at that time—posted combined proficiency scores of 39% in reading, 26% in writing, and 34% in math. This year, sixth-graders at the new slate of middle schools (the new Lake International School, the two West Denver Prep campuses, and Skinner) posted combined proficiency scores of 45% in reading (a 6-point gain), 43% in writing (a 17-point gain), and 45% in math (an 11-point gain).

The achievement gains are coupled with huge enrollment growth in the region’s middle schools as a result of the school-turnaround decisions. Over the past year, the number of sixth-graders attending middle schools in Northwest Denver has increased by 50%--from 312 in the 2009-10 school year to 467 sixth-graders attending NW middle schools last year.

The growth in Northwest Denver this past year follows strong academic progress across middle schools in Denver since the start of the Denver Plan six years ago.  Since 2005, DPS middle schools have posted double-digit proficiency gains in all subjects: (See attached chart.) Reading proficiency has jumped from 37% to 50%; writing has increased from 32% to 43%; and math has climbed from 23% to 42%.

In terms of districtwide numbers on the 2011 CSAPs, median growth scores for Denver remained high for the third consecutive year (See attached chart.): math, 54; writing, 53; and reading 52. 

Districtwide proficiency scores on the 2011 CSAP increased in writing (from 35% to 39% proficient or above), math (39% to 41%), and science (27% to 28%), and dropped by a point in reading (50% to 49%). Taking into account the departure of Connections Academy, a statewide online charter school which moved its charter from DPS last year, reading scores were flat from last year to this year. 

Since the start of the district’s reform efforts and the launch of the original Denver Plan in 2005, the district has posted proficiency gains that far outpace the state’s. (See attached chart.) Math proficiency has jumped by 12 points, while the state (including DPS and its growth) has increased 5 points; reading is up 9 points in DPS and 2 points in the state; Denver’s science score has increased by 8 points, while the state’s has fallen 2 points; and DPS’s writing score has jumped 9 points, and the state score bumped up by a point.

“We continue to close the gap with the rest of the state in many areas,” Boasberg added. “At the same time, it is clear we have much farther to go, and we need to accelerate our Denver Plan reforms to reach our shared goals.”

Press Release