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Denver Public Schools will not close any schools this year under a new policy that calls for shuttering persistently low-performing campuses.
Four schools that were at risk under the policy boosted their state ratings, saving them from a closure recommendation, according to preliminary data released Monday by the Colorado Department of Education. The ratings are largely based on state test scores.
The higher ratings are a boon for those schools. They may also be a positive sign for Superintendent Alex Marrero’s carrots-and-sticks strategy of providing extra support to a cohort of struggling schools but threatening closure if they don’t improve.
“Yes, the threat prompted a response,” Marrero said in an interview. “But I wouldn’t say the threat by itself is the reason.”
Rather, he attributed the progress to how the threat mobilized the community to get involved and the district to deploy “the who’s who” of leaders to help the schools.
Only one of the four schools, Oakland Elementary, was part of last year’s extra-support cohort, called the Elevate Schools Network. Oakland improved its rating from orange, the third-highest of four ratings, to yellow, the second-highest, preliminary data shows.
The largest of the four schools, John F. Kennedy High, increased its rating from orange to green, which is the highest possible rating. Kennedy wasn’t part of the Elevate Schools Network, but its leaders participated in another district improvement strategy called the Data MINE that is part help desk, part accountability hearing.
Two independently run Denver charter schools were also facing a possible closure recommendation. Rocky Mountain Prep Noel boosted its rating from orange to yellow. Academy 360 earned a green rating for the second year in a row. Because Academy 360 has a history of low ratings, it could have been at risk for closure if its rating had dipped.
Marrero introduced the School Transformation Process last year as a way to beat what’s known as the state accountability clock, which ticks toward intervention. After five years of low ratings, the State Board of Education can order an intervention.
Marrero doesn’t want the state to step in. Instead, his policy calls for Denver Public Schools to take action after four years of low ratings, preempting any state orders.
Although the four schools are safe for now, three of them — John F. Kennedy High, Oakland Elementary, and Rocky Mountain Prep Noel — could be at risk for intervention next fall if their ratings were to backslide to orange or red, which is the lowest.
The preliminary ratings show another three schools could be at risk next fall, too: Ashley Elementary, Cheltenham Elementary, and Traylor Academy. All three earned preliminary orange ratings this year, marking their third year of low ratings.
Schools can appeal their preliminary ratings to the state by presenting additional academic data. The state will finalize the ratings later this fall.
But if those orange ratings stick, and if the three schools earn orange or red ratings next fall, they could be subject to closure under the School Transformation Process.
Under the policy, a school with one to three years of low ratings could be “renewed” or “reconfigured,” which means the principal could be fired, the teachers could have to reapply for their jobs, or the district could cut some grade levels from the school.
After four years of low ratings, a school could be “reimagined,” a euphemism for closure. The school could be permanently closed or replaced with another school.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
