A coalition of business, faith and community leaders concerned about public education in Denver have released a progress report intended to look over the Denver Public Schools’ Board of Education’s shoulder to provide accountability for the state’s largest school district.

The coalition, called EDUCATE Denver is comprised of more than 35 community leaders.

The organization’s March progress report includes more than two dozen measures tied to four focus areas that include delivering high-quality education to all students, maximizing safety, enabling parents to direct their child’s education and demonstrating leadership excellence.

EDUCATE Denver is of the opinion that the district’s improvement objectives are attainable for this school year. The report assigns a status for each objective whether “on” or “off track” or having made “some progress.”

“Denver Public Schools has experienced persistent race- and income-based academic achievement gaps, and has failed to return a majority of students to pre-pandemic performance levels,” Theresa Peña, co-chair of EDUCATE Denver, said in a statement.

“In that context, it is important that we, as community members, monitor board activity to evaluate the time and effort spent working toward high-quality supports and dramatically improved academic outcomes for all of our students.”

Peña previously served for eight years on the school board, four as president.

Among the findings:

• Half of the objectives showed “some progress” including closing the achievement gap and revising the discipline matrix to address problematic student behavior.

• About 40% of the objectives were “off track.” This includes post-secondary enrollment and special education students meeting or exceeding statewide academic performance.

• The only “on track” objective was participation in SchoolChoice with the goal, minimally, of 83% participation among families in transition grades.

Typically, transition grades include kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades.

“A strong focus on student success will always be our number one priority,” Rosemary Rodriguez, co-chair of EDUCATE Denver, said in a statement. 

“Foundational to that outcome, however, are safe learning environments; datasets for parents that encourage them toward high-quality programs; and a thoughtful strategic plan that has Board buy-in.”

Three more progress reports are expected to follow.

To read the full report, visit educatedenver.org.

Editor’s note: Class Notes is a recurring update on area school districts from education reporter Nicole C. Brambila.