DPS Board of Education Update for Sept. 1, 2016 
for Senior, School Leaders

Please share with your teams and communities as appropriate -- DPS Communications

Board Focus on Achievement: Early Literacy Plan Update

Tonight, the Denver Board of Education talked with panels of teachers and school leaders to better understand the needs of school-based teams in successfully implementing the district's Literacy 2020 Plan to achieve the Denver Plan goal, A Foundation for Success in School.

"How do we, as central, support your work the best we can?" asked Board President Anne Rowe.

The focus is improving literacy skills in the early grades to achieve the Denver Plan goal of 80% of students reading and writing at grade-level by grade 3. Research shows students who meet this benchmark are four times more likely to graduate from high school.  

As part of the effort, DPS educators in grades ECE-3 attended a weeklong Foundations in Early Literacy training in July to help create common practices and vocabulary across the district's schools. Board members quizzed panel members about the effectiveness of the training as well as challenges and needs moving forward.

" What could we do to make it easier to get the teachers you need?" Board Member Mike Johnson asked principal panelists.

Board members also received materials about a complimentary ongoing effort, the  Birth to 8 RoadmapReleased in June 2016, the roadmap was created collaboratively by community organizations in Denver, including DPS. It articulates eleven recommendations intended to support and align the development of children from birth through their early years of school.

Additional materials:
Board Approves Sale of Emily Griffith Opportunity School

Board members met briefly following tonight's Focus on Achievement Session to vote on the final transaction in Operation Unite, the district's 2012 plan to consolidate and update facilities. The board approved the sale of the Emily Griffith Opportunity School at 1250 Welton St.

This sale is the final piece of a larger plan that has resulted in facility upgrades for about 9,000 students, consolidation of administrative functions, yearly operating savings of more than $1 million for DPS and Emily Griffith, and a net gain for taxpayers of about $8 million.  

Emily Griffith started her school "for all who wish to learn" 100 years ago.  She grew her school on Welton Street, adding buildings through the years. But several years ago, as enrollment continued to increase and as learning spaces became more antiquated, it became clear that the facility on Welton - though historically important - was not up to the task of serving Emily Griffith students for the next 100 years.

DPS partnered with Historic Denver, among others, to obtain local landmark designation for the historic school and to require the buyer preserve the most important historic aspects of the site. Meanwhile,  Emily Griffith's legacy continues to thrive today, with some 5,000 students in two state-of-the-art campuses - Emily Griffith High School and Emily Griffith Technical College - a couple of miles from the original site.