A Time for Change: Getting Better at Getting Better

For almost 20 years, the Denver Public Schools (DPS) has focused on developing great schools with strong, supportive staff and improved achievement for our students. While our trajectory has been upward, our progress has been incremental, and we have only moderately narrowed gaps between student groups. Our district has failed to provide the majority of our students with learning environments that allow them to thrive while they are with us, and accomplish their dreams after they graduate.

In this strategic roadmap, we begin a new era that allows us to get better at getting better. We will center our students, while also elevating the experience of our adults. We will recognize the role of our system in creating equity in education and justice in society. Thank you for being a part of this journey to turn our vision that Every Learner Thrives into a reality.

Access the Executive Summary.

Vision: Every Learner Thrives

Mission: Educational equity is our collective responsibility. We prepare students for career, college and life. We create conditions and partnerships where students, families and team members belong and thrive.

• Students First: With intention, we put our students' needs at the heart of everything we do.

• Integrity: We tell the truth, and we keep our commitments.

• Equity: We honor our diversity and provide the necessary resources and supports to eliminate barriers to success, and foster a more equitable future for all students.

• Collaboration: Together, as a team, we create and build by engaging in meaningful conversations where we listen, ask questions, and share ideas to honor our collective commitments.

• Accountability: We take responsibility for our individual and collective commitments, and we learn from both accomplishments and missed opportunities.

• Fun: We celebrate and foster joy and passion every day.

Click here to see a larger version of the graphic.

Why the DPS Experience

Historically, the approach to education built on the transfer of knowledge from one individual (the teacher) to another (the student) has not worked. So, we must recreate education to be a series of experiences that promote an exchange of ideas, the pursuit of passion, and a quest for justice. This is what we mean by Every Learner Thrives. This is the DPS experience.

Orienting to the Roadmap:

• Our goals tell us what we want to achieve, i.e. what will the DPS experience change for students, adults or for us as a system? 
• Our strategies tell us what we are going to do to reach our goals.
• Our progress measures tell us if we have met our goals.