Denver Public Schools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | School District, Government Owned |
|---|---|
| Founded | Denver, Colorado (1859) |
| Headquarters | Denver, Colorado |
| Key people | Tom Boasberg, Superintendent |
| Industry | Education |
| 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.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Organization
Currently, DPS operates 73 elementary schools, 15 K-8 schools, 17 Middle Schools, 14 High Schools, and 19 Charter Schools. They also operate other school programs including the Denver School of the Arts, the Center for International Studies, Emily Griffith Opportunity School, DPS Online High School, an International Baccalaureate program, a Highly Gifted and Talented Program, and CEC Middle College of Denver. DPS also operates the Balarat Program, an outdoor education, western history, and environmental studies program at a 720-acre (2.9 km2) site in the mountains northwest of Boulder.[1]
In total, DPS educates approximately 73,000 students. The ethnic/racial composition of these students are:
- American Indian: 1.2%
- Asian: 3.1%
- Black: 19.1%
- Hispanic: 57.3%
- White: 19.3%
According to the DPS website, the graduation rate of DPS students is 76.9%.[2] Other sources report far lower graduation rates, for example with a rate of 42.6% being reported for the year 2002[3] by The Civil Rights Project. The difference is explained in that the numbers reported by DPS use a cohort system that tracks a specific group of students from 9th to 12th grade (including students that leave the district) whereas the other statistics only report students that graduate within DPS. Thus, 76.9% of DPS students graduate from high school, but only 42.6% of DPS students receive a diploma from DPS.
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 which has been the case all over the country. Although Denver has a Hispanic percentage of 34%, 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.[2]
[edit] High schools
- North High School (Denver, Colorado) - School Web Site
- South High School - School Web Site
- East High School - School Web Site
- West High School - School Web Site
- Thomas Jefferson High School - School Website
- George Washington High School - School Website
- John F. Kennedy High School - School Website
- Emily Griffith Opportunity School - School Website
- Abraham Lincoln High School - School Web Site
- Denver School of Science and Technology - School Website
- Manual High School (no website yet)
- Montbello High School - School Website
- Contemporary Learning Academy - Alternative High School
[edit] Closed schools
Berkeley Gardens Elementary School opened on 26 March 1964 and closed during the summer of 2008.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "Balarat Outdoor Education Center". Denver Public Schools. http://balarat.dpsk12.org/. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
- ^ a b "Facts & Figures". Denver Public Schools. http://www.dpsk12.org/aboutdps/facts/. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
- ^ Horn, Catherine L.; Michal Kurlaender (2006). The End of Keyes—Resegregation Trends and Achievement in Denver Public Schools. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/deseg/denver-4_5_06.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
