March 30, 2017
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DENVER Since 1926
spring 2017
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DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
Report shows academic progress in DPS But a nonprofit agency that did the research also found challenges remain BY ERIC GORSKI CHALKBEAT.ORG
Sophie Lawrence from Conifer pets her Fjord horse named Starfire Malin Jambette on March 11 at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo in Denver. PHOTOS BY STEPHANIE MASON
Horse enthusiasts gallop to expo Training clinics and entertainment wrangle audiences across state BY STEPHANIE MASON SMASON@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The National Western Stock Show Complex in Denver recently hosted more than 150 events for thousands of horses and horse lovers alike during the 2017 Rocky Mountain Horse Expo. Throughout the weekend of March 10-12, nine arenas and event spaces simultaneously hosted horse-related clinics and events. Classes regarding riding, SEE HORSES, P2
Paige Osborne, from Breckenridge, rides her horse, Tucker, at Cody Harrison’s clinic about how to create and handle speed on March 11 at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo in Denver.
Top-to-bottom efforts to reform Denver Public Schools are showing positive results, helping the district post the second highest rates of academic growth among large U.S. districts, a new report says. The mostly laudatory report from Education Resource Strategies, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit, also noted continual challenges facing the 92,000-student district, including widening achievement gaps separating students living in poverty from their better-off peers. Between 2009 and 2013, DPS trailed only Lincoln, Nebraska, in academic growth among U.S. districts with more than 25,000 students, the report said, citing federal data. Across all grades and subjects, DPS performance improved almost an entire grade level, the report said. Academic proficiency increased across all groups of students, and in both district-run and charter schools, it said. The report credited DPS for how it manages schools with different governance structures, saying DPS has avoided “the unplanned under-enrollment and performance degradation in district schools that too often accompanies charter growth.” However, the report also notes that DPS has taken steps backward in trying to achieve its goal of having 80 percent of students in highquality classrooms by 2020. For DPS, high quality means schools that rank “blue” or “green” on its color-coded performance system. As of 2013, DPS was on track to achieve its SEE SCHOOLS, P2
THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL
‘It is an exciting time in Denver, and I look forward to being a contributing member to its success.’ Leon Mason, new city council executive director | Page 5 INSIDE
NEWS: 2 | VOICES: PAGE 4 | LIFE: PAGE 6 VOLUME 90 | ISSUE 23