The schools in Colorado are bad? (Denver, Aurora: school district, college, salary)

[Nadine]

The was recently a article in the Pueblo paper about some of the schools problems there. Because there are so many Hispanic people that do not speak English and many don't have any intention of learning it. Their children are at a disadvantage from the get go. True the schools have special class but without support from home of how important learning English in an English speaking society or education etc is. It is a losing battle. Now don't get me or the article wrong. That is not all Hispanic by no means but those that fall in that category do bring down the stats. Also the drop out rate is higher. I don't know about other states but we do have this problem in several places in Colorado. The article was only speaking of the language problem. Not that there were not others that do not back their kids. Goodness knows all nationalities have those but most do not have the language problem.

They have proved that getting kids into extracurricular activities in school helps keeping kids wanting to go to school. Whether it be sports, cheer leading, debate teams, band, choir etc. All of this helps them want to hold their grades up so they can participate in something they think is fun.

[BigCheeze]

No comment about Cherry creek...

But the schools here are what you make of them. I know we came from Ca, and the schools there were much less impressive than what we have seen here. While the districts seem to all be a bunch of bureaucrats, the teachers still care and try. That is what makes a big difference.

We also put all kids in a charter school, and think they are getting some of the best education money can or can't buy. Remember, the schools are a direct reflection of the parents. They are your kids, your responsibility, do something about it.

[NovaTen]

I was wondering abou the Fort Collins schools- my DH and I are thinking about moving to FC. I'm a reading teacher and want to know what the school system is like or any great schools to apply to. Thanks so much!!

[gpraceman]

In our experience, the schools here are far better than the San Diego area schools we had to deal with. There, we felt the need to pull all 3 of our kids out of public school and home school due to the poor quality of education.

Here, our kids are back in public school and are doing far better than when in SD public schools. Teachers here (in Douglas County) seem to care more about education and work with kids that are struggling in some areas. For our kids, that has been in reading. In SD, they seemed more interested in having placid pupils (had one teacher demand we drug our daughter because she didn't like dealing with a high energy child) and just teaching kids to pass the CA standardized tests.

A friend of mine who moved here recently had his daughter in a Poway elementary school. Poway schools have a very good rep, but he had little good to say about that school.

[Katarina Witt]

Please see this thread. Depending on the way school funding is calculated, Colorado is somewhere in the lower half of the country for support of K-12 education. However, most kids feel well-prepared for college if they have taken the standard college prep courses. Kids from districts all over Colorado get into top colleges.

//www.city-data.com/forum/denve...nver-area.html

[gpraceman]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Please see this thread. Depending on the way school funding is calculated, Colorado is somewhere in the lower half of the country for support of K-12 education. However, most kids feel well-prepared for college if they have taken the standard college prep courses. Kids from districts all over Colorado get into top colleges.

Throwing money at something doesn't always mean that will improve anything, so you can't simply look at funding levels. Some school districts can waste tons of money without any affect being seen in the classroom. So, look at performance as well.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by gpraceman

Throwing money at something doesn't always mean that will improve anything, so you can't simply look at funding levels. Some school districts can waste tons of money without any affect being seen in the classroom. So, look at performance as well.

Well, that was my point. I agree to a point. I do think without proper resources, the schools can't do a good job. And performance is so linked to parents' SES that it is difficult to draw any conclusions from the "report cards". Kids in the high end schools will learn regardless of the teaching methods, etc, so you can't judge the quality of the teaching from those scores.

[Charles]

Our experience near Colorado Springs is that there are a lot of caring, proactive parents in the community. There is a high percentage of high school students that enroll in college. The CSAP scores and ACT scores are very high. Many of the parents are Air Force Academy graduates or scientists/engineers working at various locations in the the COS environs. My gut feeling is they do not tolerate mediocre educational performance. School districts D12, D20, and D38 usually rank near the top of the academic performance metrics - and that's just in COS - Denver and other cities have many excellent school districts too.

We try hard to be a good parents; Both my wife and I spend our evenings working with our kids' homework - and we burn out, sometimes its tough, we get tired and sometimes testy.

But that's what it takes.

[elemental]

Coming from a school district in NY with three Blue Ribbon schools, I was terrified after reading some of the commentary on school districts, underfunding, blah, blah, blah.. In the schools back in NY, the extent of parental involvement was PTA meetings where they flexed their muscles of influence. Here in CO, they actually want volunteers to come into the classroom and assist in any way the teacher needs you. This is fantastic! Someone above said that you are the parent and the schools are a direct reflection of your involvment! Absolutely.

While they might not be throwing 3x the gross tax receipts for your county into the schools like they do in NY, the teachers have been nothing but outstanding. All of those we encountered went far beyond their call of duty when there was a shortcoming in a student, just as those making 2x the salary in NY. NY had about 40% more homework on average and I wonder whether the impact of that in preparing the children for college was to inundate them since it was in excess of their capacity, or was it the correct amount and Colorado is on the low side? This I do not know, but the stress level of the children in NY mirrored the adults who killed themselves to pay $12-15k in taxes alone.

You can get your hands dirty to improve a situation or throw money at it. In NY, no one had the time due to the aforementioned expenses with both parents working in most households. Here, we actually have the time to volunteer, chaperone class trips and be involved to a greater degree. If that doesn't make the difference, no amount of money will.

[Deltagolf]

How about the schools up in the Evergreen area k-12/HS? Anyone have any experience firsthand?