Schools Question (Denver: home, construction, elementary schools)

[cactuschowdah]

Hi everyone,

A couple "basic" questions about Denver schools.

1. I am very familiar with the greatschools.org website, and have been using that to narrow down what district/schools we want to settle down in, however, I would like some more data points. I keep hearing about the school accountability report for Colorado, but the only data I can seem to find is for 2008- is there a centralized place where more up to date information is published? Are there other resources I should consider in addition to/instead of that?

2. Can someone explain all these tracks and schedules to me- in looking at the Douglas district, they have a million different calendar options- does this vary by school, can you elect which schedule you're own, is it chosen for you, etc.? It looks like this is only an issue with Douglas, whereas Cherry Creek has a more "traditional" calendar? Are schools in general in Denver moving to a year-round model?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[formercalifornian]

No, schools in the south metro are not moving toward a year-round schedule as a whole. In Douglas County, many of the schools that used to be on-track are now returning to a traditional schedule. It varies by area, and it's limited to elementary schools. For 2010-2011, only Frontier Valley and Northridge are year-round in DCSD. They remainder are traditional or modified trimester. See here for calendars. Cherry Creek has eight year-round elementary schools. See here for more information. Generally, you will be assigned a track if your children attend a year-round school.

For more information about schools in the Denver metro, try scanning the CSAP results available here at the Denver Post.

[2bindenver]

Colorado Department of Education Home Page

Elementary schools are stabilizing and moving away from needing year round schools.

[denver_hacker]

Anyone know why the year round schedule has fallen out of favor?

[2bindenver]

Student population does not demand the need for it.

[formercalifornian]

My understanding is that year-round school was implemented as a short-term solution to over-crowded facilities in fast-growing areas while new buildings were under construction. Now that many new schools are open, the year-round option is no longer necessary. I kind of think it's a shame, because the year-round calendar worked very well for my family.

[davidv]

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

My understanding is that year-round school was implemented as a short-term solution to over-crowded facilities in fast-growing areas while new buildings were under construction. Now that many new schools are open, the year-round option is no longer necessary. I kind of think it's a shame, because the year-round calendar worked very well for my family.

This is correct. Also: only elementary schools are on year-round schedules. This is hard on families who have children in both an elementary and a middle or high school. The children were not on the same schedules. While it is possible to put both middle and high schools on year-round schedules, it is very difficult at the high school level when you factor in the myriad of co-curricular activities (like speech and debate, choirs, bands, etc.) and extracurricular activities (sports and clubs) that meet after school during a specific time of year. There is also state, national, and/or international tests (state mandated ACT, Advanced Placement tests, International Baccalaureate tests) that must be taken on specific dates. If a student is off during those times, then he/she must either skip his/her vacation to participate, or not participate.