The Future of Denver Public Schools: An Interview With Michael Vaughn, DPS Chief Communications Officer
Posted on 02. Sep, 2009 by JM in Posts
The Future of Denver Public Schools
An Interview with Michael Vaughn, Chief Communications Officer for Denver Public Schools
Three months ago, Michael Vaughn came to Denver Public Schools from Chicago, the third largest public school system in the country, where he held the position of Director of Communications. As the new Chief Communications Officer for DPS, Vaughn works directly with Superintendent Tom Boasberg on efforts across the board. One of the primary goals they’re focusing on is the progress of student success within DPS and minimizing the achievement gap between Denver and the rest of Colorado. Vaughn is charged with effectively communicating this progress to the public. We were afforded an opportunity to sit down with him and discuss the future of DPS from an inside view.
Many of you may not be aware of something called “The Denver Plan” that was created in 2006 by former DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet and his team. Since 2006, DPS has worked to execute The Denver Plan, which is an evolving roadmap working toward the relentless pursuit of student achievement in Denver. “We want to create composers and engineers; artist and scientists; multi-lingual citizens and leaders of our democracy”, the Mission Statement reads. For Denver’s 150 public schools with approximately 75,000 students, this is likely a welcome challenge.
This September, you will see the next draft of this document come to life. A tight focus on the classroom and the working collaboration between DPS, teachers, parents, and community partners shape the three core values that are at the heart of The Denver Plan 2009. Michael Vaughn shared them with us.
- Develop Great People – This goal is to be achieved by creating excellent instruction within the classrooms and providing effective leadership in every school with support from the DPS central office. Some things DPS will do to achieve this is to encourage and support staff mentorship, focus on better internal communications and empower school principals and teachers.
- Community Engagement – Communities and schools need to support one another to create successful schools. It’s critical the communities surrounding a school become invested in activities such as school fundraisers, mentoring and tutoring programs, and donation of materials and resources to support the schools curriculum. Likewise, parents and children attending the schools must support community businesses and programs.
- Strategic Investment of Resources – Right now, 94 cents of every dollar that is spent by DPS goes toward the classroom. DPS is doing an excellent job of making sure that, whatever the budget, it is spent strategically. DPS is working diligently on applying for grants that will directly impact public education in Denver. A recent application for a large grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation didn’t result in the district being chosen for top-tier funding, but DPS is still eligible for an “accelerator grant” from the foundation to improve teacher effectiveness. It could amount to as much as $10 million over three years, which would be the largest philanthropic grant the district has ever been awarded.
The Denver plan for 2009 is taking a ‘broader strokes’ philosophy with an emphasis on cultural priorities, strong academic content, effective staff and leadership in every school, and support from the central office. With these things in place, success in our schools can and will happen at a faster pace. To do this, DPS plans to focus on customer service, empowering school leadership and holding those leaders accountable for the outcomes.
DPS Administrators feel strongly about serving their customers – the schools – by way of the principals, teachers, and staff members. They also plan to support the content they teach and the programs they choose to run. Empowering school leaders to develop programs and curriculum that are unique as well as applications for Beacon status and Schools of Innovation are supported. Mike Vaughn made it clear that, given this empowerment, school leadership will be held accountable for the outcome of the school. They will be asked to show growth in student proficiency, an increase in test score results, a drop in teacher turnover and rise in parent and community involvement.
The city of Denver offers its inhabitants a multitude of choices when it comes to schools. They include public, private, charter, home, alternative and faith-based options. Many feel that it’s a burden to find the right school and many simply opt for their neighborhood school no matter what the circumstances. What’s important to remember is that all schools are not created equal but you do have a choice. What is right for Johnny might not be right for Susie. For Denver Public Schools, Mr. Vaughn made it clear that one size does not fit all. If your neighborhood school is not a good fit for your child, you do have the state-given right to choose a different one. The problem is that there may not be a vacancy in the school of your desires, so you must choose carefully.
Mr. Vaughn has many goals as the new Chief Communications Officer for DPS. One goal is to strengthen outreach to schools and show more appreciation for our teachers and students by highlighting the many success stories that are taking place around the city. Beach Court Elementary is one such story where the school has experienced off the charts growth in the past several years. In 2009, the school posted double-digit gains in all four core-content areas. Beach Court now has 75% of its students scoring proficient or above in reading and math and has seen 30% gains since 2006.
Another goal for Mr. Vaughn is to enhance the DPS Website by making it fresher with more compelling content for all members of the Denver community. By breaking down barriers and providing information that is more approachable to all families, DPS feels that it will encourage the parents and community to be more involved with the schools. DPS employs translators in many different languages to aid with outreach at school and community events as well as to assist with the Website.
We look forward to seeing The Denver Plan executed as well as learning more and more about the successes of all of our schools here in Denver. The news is so often negative because that is what seems to make an interesting story. What is more valuable and newsworthy, is knowing that things are progressing faster than we thought. Parents would like to see how their children, their community and their schools are working together to turn past failures into successes. We will be looking for those stories.
The truth is that Colorado has been consistently ranked as one of the most educated states in the nation. But this is not because of the public school systems here – specifically Denver. It is because Colorado is a great place to live and work. It has enticed highly educated people from other metropolitan areas here as transplants. What we need to do is to generate highly educated individuals with involved parents and communities on our own ground. We need composers and engineers; artist and scientists; multi-lingual citizens and leaders of our democracy to be home grown and build businesses locally that will employ and keep them here. Are you ready?
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