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LATEST SUBMISSIONS

Let DPS take charge of its destiny

Saturday, April 28 at 12:01 AM

By Peter Groff, President pro tem, Colorado Senate

The column in the April 25 Rocky Mountain News, written by the Denver Public Schools’ superintendent and board members, acknowledges that we can’t operate an effective and innovative Denver public school system using the antiquated methods of the early 20th century.

A patchwork of DPS educational reforms applied inconsistently, unevenly and, arguably, haphazardly over the past several decades has resulted in a product of doubtful quality. The Rocky’s series on DPS over the past few weeks, “Leaving to learn,” clearly points out the disconnect between what traditional DPS schools offer and what parents want. As a DPS graduate and parent of young children I had hoped could attend my alma maters, I am gravely concerned about their generation’s academic preparation.

The system currently in place, though effective for some, has failed far too many young people in DPS, leaving them educationally unfulfilled or intellectually malnourished, in short, left behind. The numbers speak for themselves:

• 76 percent graduation rate

• No higher than 46 percent proficiency in math in grades 3-10

• No higher than 36 percent proficiency in writing in grades 3-10

• No higher than 52 percent proficiency in reading in grades 3-10

Truthfully, most of the DPS children being left behind are young African-Americans and Latinos and otherwise low-income children. Is there any wonder that so many of these students end up being counted among the disproportional representation of people of color who fill our prisons?

Superintendent Michael Bennet and DPS board members should be applauded for the boldness, clarity and vision of their statement, as well as their unequivocal and enthusiastic desire to chart a new course for Denver’s students. Bennet and the board are absolutely correct.

We now find ourselves at an ominous fork in the road where our choices are stark and dramatic: We can continue down the road of declining graduation rates, poor test scores, children unable to attain the promise of a quality and preparatory American education or take the visionary and courageous steps on a path where all of our children are equipped with the necessary tools to find their own successes in a shrinking global society.

In order to provide educational stability for the more than 73,000 students in DPS and the generations that will follow, DPS needs to act quickly on the points outlined in the article:

• Identify the best and brightest principals and place them at the helm of our schools, meanwhile nurturing a bench of equally talented successors.

• Create a common curriculum.

• Increase professional development opportunities for teachers.

• Provide a wider range of career options for teachers.

• Ensure school-level decision making.

• Raise community expectations, monitor progress and open, transparent operations.

DPS should also request to be unshackled from the state’s educational requirements and be allowed to take whatever steps necessary to create a world-class 21st century school system.

We need to do what Bennet and the board ask and allow them to make this “Ultimate DPS Makeover.” Essentially, release DPS from trying “to compete with two arms tied behind its back.”

The Colorado General Assembly needs to work with the Denver community, DPS officials, the governor, the mayor and the state Department of Education to overcome obstacles that prevent the district from making these changes. We need to grant the necessary waivers, create the necessary policies and laws that will enable DPS to take charge of its destiny.

Everything — from bonding, retirement plans, property management to teacher licensing, administrative structure and technology — needs to be placed under a microscope and scrutinized for better ways, better outcomes and better futures for children.

As the column rightly pointed out, charter schools and other schools of choice have driven innovation, competition and diversity of educational programming in districts across the country, but these assets shouldn’t be available only to those students lucky enough to enroll in a DPS charter school.

We need to give DPS the freedom to create 151 options and opportunities — a charter district, if you will.

We cannot be so attached to the past that we can’t create a better path to a better future for our children, our state and our country.

Right now, today, 73,399 youngsters are counting on the creation of that path.

Peter Groff is president pro tem of the Colorado Senate. He represents Senate District 33.

READER COMMENTS

It's no accident that parents who take an active part in the education of their children end up with educated young adults.

It's also no accident that parents who expect the school system to do everything end up with social engineered kids who aren't prepared for real life and expect the government to think for them.

My parents worked their tails off, and we went without many things. Education was number three on the list after God, and family.

Thanks mom and dad!

Posted by Dennis on May 1, 2007 07:42 PM

I DO NOT TRUST PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!!! I went to school in Colorado Springs. I graduated from District 11 with a 3.8 but when I went into the military I found out I could not read about a 8th grade level. If it was not for the Marine Corp. I would never been able to go to collage. I had friends that went the first day and last and graduated. Teachers do not care the only time they do is when its time for a pay raise or state test. My kids spend more time getting ready for the state test then normal work. I have to suppliment their school work with real world education. they spend all their time being social engineered and learning how to take state test then how to do math or learning American history. If I could afford to put them in private school or charter I pull them in a heart beat. They learn more from Jepardy then from teachers.

Posted by JOE on April 30, 2007 07:39 AM

The fact that a disproportionate amount of illegal alien children are students at DPS compared to surrounding school districts could have some bearing on the failure rate of the school.

In 1999, the Rocky Mountain News reported that there were 14,000 illegal alien students in DPS; and, according to the Federal Observer, "A whopping 30,000 of their (illegal alien) children attend Denver Public Schools while speaking over 40 languages. They are functionally illiterate in English as are their parents. They cost Colorado tax payers $140.6 million annually over and above any taxes their parents may or may not pay. Denver classrooms suffer so much chaos and futility that one in five teachers quits or demands transfer out of the DPS system during the nine month cycle."

The federal government dictates that states educate all children regardless of legal residency, and now our state legislature (House Education Committee)has killed a bill requiring high school graduates to demonstrate proficiency in reading and speaking English.

I would surmise that if Colorado began their own form of school desegregation as experienced by the US in the late '60's and began spreading the student population of Spanish speaking illegal aliens to Jeffco and Douglas County schools, those schools would suffer the same fate, failure rate and mass exodus as experienced in DPS over the past decade.

Posted by Labas on April 29, 2007 06:10 AM