Denver Public Schools

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Denver County School District 1
Denver Public Schools
Type School District, Government Owned
Industry Education
Founded Denver, Colorado (1859)
Headquarters Denver, Colorado
Key people Mary Seawell,
School Board President
Tom Boasberg, Superintendent
Employees 13,087
Website www.dpsk12.org

The Denver County School District No. 1, more commonly known as the Denver Public Schools (DPS), is the public school system in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, United States.

History

The first school was a log cabin on the corner of 12th Street between Market and Larimer streets that opened in 1859. The school district was created in 1902 by a constitutional amendment that created the City and County of Denver and consolidated five school districts into today's School District No. 1.

Organization

DPS' mission is to provide all students the opportunity to achieve the knowledge and skills necessary to become contributing citizens in our society.

Denver Public Schools is committed to meeting the educational needs of every student with great schools in every neighborhood. DPS' goal is to provide every child in Denver with rigorous, enriching educational opportunities from preschool through high school graduation. DPS operates 162 schools, including traditional, magnet, charter and pathways schools, with a current total enrollment of 81,870 students. Of those, 58.0% of the school district’s enrollment is Hispanic, 20.3% is Caucasian, and 14.5% is African American. Sixty-eight percent of the district’s students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

Under the leadership of Superintendent Tom Boasberg and guided by the tenets of The Denver Plan, DPS has become the fastest-growing large school district in Colorado in terms of enrollment and student academic growth. DPS is committed to establishing Denver as a national leader in student achievement, high school graduation, and college and career readiness.


In total, DPS educates 81,870 students as of October 2011. The ethnic/racial composition of these students are:

  • American Indian: .8%
  • Asian: 3.3%
  • Black: 14.5%
  • Hispanic: 58%
  • White: 20.3%
  • Other: 2.9%

According to the DPS website, the graduation rate of DPS students is 56.1%.[1] The district's dropout rate is 6.4%.

Although Denver is about 40% non-Hispanic White, minority groups represent double the regular Denver population. The reason for this has been white flight over the past few decades and extremely strong Hispanic school-age growth due to relatively high birth rates. The predominant heritage in the Denver Public School system is Mexican American. Denver has a high Hispanic percentage of roughly 40% and they are a majority in the public school system. In addition, Denver's African-American percentage overall is half that of Denver Public Schools.

There are 13,087 employees of DPS; 4,555 of them are teachers.[1]

Elementary schools

Middle schools

High schools

Charter

Intensive Pathways

K-8

New

Other

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Facts & Figures". Denver Public Schools. Retrieved 2008-08-12. 

External links

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