November 11 and 12, 2004 Retreat Summary
Denver Public Schools Commission on Secondary School Reform
November 11 and 12, 2004 Retreat Summary
On Thursday, November 11 and Friday, November 12, the Denver Public Schools Commission on Secondary School Reform held a retreat at the Denver School of the Arts. The primary focus of the two days was to develop the recommendations the Commission will deliver to the Board of Education on January 20, 2005.
Jeff Wein facilitated the retreat and began the day on Thursday by describing the agenda for the next two days. After taking care of some Commission business, including talking about recent Commission events, such as a dinner with high school principals and Dr. Bill Ouchi, and upcoming Commission events, such as the Community Forum, the Commission discussed possible principles to guide the district in improving high schools. After valuable input from Commissioners, the group decided to keep the focus on relationships, relevance, rigor and results. They decided that all recommendations should focus on ensuring that those 4 Rs exist throughout the district and in every high school.
The Commission then broke into two smaller groups to examine recommendations in the 4 main areas of the DPS High School Experience, Accountability, Revitalizing High Schools, and District Culture and Role. Each group was asked to respond to three questions: What do you like about these? What are your issues/concerns about these? What’s missing? Through these conversations, the Commissioners developed a better understanding of the direction their recommendations will take.
When the Commission reconvened on Friday morning, they examined revised recommendations that focused on the following three areas:
A New Experience for Denver’s High School Students
District Culture and Role
The Process for Revitalizing and Transforming Denver’s High Schools
A New Experience for Denver’s High School Students: This section focused on the ways in which schools and classrooms can provide a rigorous and relevant curriculum to students in an environment that fosters strong, positive relationships and ensures results. Among the issues discussed were the importance of having high expectations for all students and giving them the necessary support to reach them, providing a culture that values teachers and students and encourages positive relationships among them, organizing the school to support student learning, creating valuable professional development opportunities for teachers, personalizing learning for students, and holding people accountable for results.
District Culture and Role: This section focused on the way the District should change to support the improvement of Denver’s high schools. In general, it suggested that the district and the Board should revitalize and rethink the way in which they perform their functions. The Board and the Superintendent should set the tone for excellence by promoting a culture of integrity, teamwork, respect and accountability for school leaders, teachers, students, and parents and setting and enabling a clear focus on high expectations for all students and schools. They should make sure that throughout the system everyone knows that student achievement is job #1 and that every student will graduate. Among the discussed changes were giving more control to schools over their budgets and decisions, ensuring that choice is available for all students, and providing timely and relevant data to schools and the community about the success of its students.
The Process for Revitalizing and Transforming Denver’s High Schools: This section outlined a process by which the district could begin to improve Denver’s high schools. This document suggested that during the next 3 years Denver’s high schools, including all traditional high schools would be revitalized and transformed to create a variety of choice options for teachers and students in neighborhoods and across the district. New schools would be a part of these choice options. Each high school will have a distinctive program and character. Schools would be prioritized for redesign phase-in based on performance and need. Factors such as student attendance, the number of free and reduced lunch recipients, graduation rates, CSAP performance and School Accountability Rating would be used to set priorities for redesign. The reform process at each school, which could take on a variety of forms, would reflect that particular school’s current situation and needs. Teachers, parents, students, and community members would be involved in the process of reform at each school. Planning and implementation grants would be available to school sites, or if deemed necessary, new providers starting new schools. Issues such as how this process would be implemented, overseen and evaluated and what changes in the Collective Bargaining Agreement would help facilitate this process were also discussed.
Throughout the discussion of these issues, Commissioners emphasized the importance of community involvement and accountability. They strongly believe that in order for their recommendations to succeed, they must reflect the populations Denver’s high schools serve.
The next Commission meeting will be on Friday, December 10 at which the Commission will further discuss their recommendations.