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High-Quality Public Schools Mark

We focus on advocacy, policy, transparency, and collaboration to help improve school quality—especially for students who have historically been underserved in Denver.

Denver Families for Public Schools invests in the success of schools that reflect the local community and respond to their needs. We do this by ensuring that Denver schools have the conditions needed to thrive as high-quality responsive schools.

GALS Denver student
Girls Athletic Leadership School
Child playing piano
Wyatt Academy
Academy 360 Students and teacher
Academy 360
RiseUp Community School

What makes a great public school?

A high-quality public school exhibits a range of characteristics focused on fostering student success, mental health and overall wellbeing. Those factors include:

  • Personalized support: The "one-size-fits-all" approach doesn’t work in education. High-quality schools offer the personal attention, creativity, and passionate teaching that students need to succeed. These schools minimize restrictions that can negatively affect students, teachers, and learning.
  • Family and community engagement: High-quality schools actively involve parents and the community in the educational process, recognizing them as essential partners.
  • Accountability and data-driven decision making: High-quality schools monitor progress using various data sources - including academics - and use this information to make informed decisions that drive continuous improvement.
  • Safe and welcoming climate: A high-quality school fosters a positive and inclusive environment where students feel safe, respected, and connected.

How Denver Families Supports Schools:

  • School expansion - We prioritize support and funding for nonprofit schools serving low-income families and demonstrating a deep commitment to equity, excellence, and continuous growth through our school expansion efforts.
  • School advocacy - We advocate for fair, transparent treatment of schools and help communities engage with district leadership to make their voices heard.
  • Service-level advocacy - We work to ensure all schools—regardless of governance type—receive high-quality, equitable support and services from the district.
  • Ecosystem health - We lead and support initiatives that strengthen the overall health of the charter sector, including strategic projects such as charter renewal support, policy and contract guidance, and coordination of a collaborative council.
  • Learning and training - We build capacity for strong family engagement by providing training for boards and staff, supporting school-based coordinators, partnering directly with families, and strengthening regional family coalitions.
  • Transparent data - We publish and maintain tools like the Denver Education Explorer to highlight comprehensive Denver Public Schools data, covering citywide, regional, and school-specific details.

Questions about our support of high-quality public schools in Denver? Contact Carol Bowar at Carol@denverfamilies.org.