The William Roberts School (aka Bill Roberts) in Denver is one of four finalists competing in the “Why My Classroom is Extraordinary” contest put on by NBC’s The Today Show. The winning classroom wins a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort.

Please be sure to click here to vote and learn just how extraordinary Cheryl Beckwith’s 4th grade classroom truly is. What an inspiring story about a courageous, young girl’s battle with cancer and the unique way she and her classmates have supported other children with the disease (click here to learn more about Allison’s Stink Bug Project). This is just one of the ways this classroom is extraordinary.

You must vote today, tomorrow, or Wednesday and the finalist will be chosen this Thursday, May 20th. Be sure to spread the word and remember to vote (on-line only) by clicking the bubble on the left of the class whose video you think is most deserving. I just did! What a great way to support this amazing group of children, the Stapleton Community, DPS, and make Colorado proud! Congratulations to Ms. Beckwith’s 4th grade classroom–BRAVO!

PLEASE NOTE: Go to the DPS website to view the video regarding Ms. Beckwith’s class that aired on The Today Show Monday morning!

UPDATE: The Today Show viewers voted the classroom from San Antonio, Texas as the winner of the contest but a special announcement followed. Universal Orlando was so impressed with all four finalists and invited ALL of them to the opening celebration in Florida! Congrats to Ms. Beckwith’s 4th grade classroom! We hope they have a fabulous time at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventures in Orlando.

The Board of Education has recommended changes for 6 schools within the Denver Public School system. The recommendations include transforming six low-performing DPS schools into successful schools, proposals for the overcrowding issues at the Stapleton schools, and proposed locations for new schools that would open for the 2010 school year. The board is expected to make their decisions at the end of this month.

Read the entire press release below:

DPS Announces Recommendations for 6 Low-Performing Schools

Denver, CO—The leadership of the Denver Public Schools today made a series of recommendations to the Board of Education for turning around low-performing schools and for locations of new schools that are scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.

“These are critically important decisions that are the result of long conversations, difficult discussions, and careful consideration,” DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg said. “Our absolute focus is on the decisions that will create the very best opportunities and the very best schools for the children and families of Denver.”

Boasberg also pointed to the Obama Administration’s investment in a broad range of turnaround strategies as another factor in the district’s recommendations. In announcing the contribution of billions of dollars of federal support for school-turnaround efforts, President Obama last week emphasized the importance of focusing on struggling schools. The federal government will be looking at “whether a state is focused on transforming not just its high-performing schools, not just the middle-of-the-pack schools, but the lowest-performing schools,” according to the president. “There’s always excuses for why these schools can’t perform. But part of what we want is an environment in which everybody agrees—from the governor to the school superintendent, teachers, principals, and most importantly parents and students—that there’s no excuse for mediocrity. And we will take drastic steps when schools aren’t working.”

There are now unprecedented resources available, through the multibillion-dollar “Race to the Top” program, to invest in struggling schools—approximately $13 million for DPS over the next three years, if the district meets the federal school turnaround criteria.

“This is some of the toughest and most important work we do—making very difficult decisions about dramatic school changes,” Boasberg said. “I understand the sensitivity of these decisions; they have great impact on our students and families, our teachers and our school leaders. In every school in the district we have wonderfully committed and talented teachers and school leaders working to improve opportunities for our students. We must recognize that commitment and talent and at the same time be willing to recognize some of our schools over the past several years have consistently failed to demonstrate satisfactory progress with their students. To recognize the latter is not to undermine the former. Rather it is to recognize that change is sometimes needed to allow our talented educators to establish and develop the kind of school cultures, atmosphere, and structures to best meet the needs of our students.”

In making the recommendations, the district’s leadership looked at the last four years of student growth data on the School Performance Framework. The six schools—three district-run schools and three charters—evaluated for turnaround strategies have each demonstrated student growth far below district averages over these last four years. The three district-run schools—Philips, Greenlee, and Lake—were the bottom-three performing schools out of the 130 schools on the district’s SPF rankings this year. The three charter schools—Northeast Academy, Skyland, and PS 1—are the three lowest-performing charter schools on the SPF.

Additionally, teams from the Colorado Department of Education performed an intensive diagnostic review on each of the schools. These qualitative diagnostics involve a week-long visit and conversations with school administrators, teachers, staff, students and parents and an evaluation of three areas: Academic Performance, Learning Environment, and Organizational Effectiveness. In each of these six schools, the CDE diagnostics emphasized significant shortcomings in each of these three major areas.

“It is essential that we engage the entire community in a discussion of the issues surrounding these decisions. Our strategies include turning around our lowest-performing schools in order to ensure that all of our students, in every neighborhood of the city, are graduating from our high schools prepared for college or career,” Boasberg added. “We have listened to the parents, students, teachers, and community members, beginning with regional meetings last spring and continuing this fall. We deeply appreciate their input and their commitment to our schools, and we believe these are the actions that will bring about the best outcomes for our students. We will continue to work with parents and the entire community going forward on these recommendations and more broadly on strategies to improve the performance of struggling schools elsewhere in district. ”

The Board of Education will hear public comment on these recommendations and those made last week at its Nov. 16 and Nov. 19 meetings, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Board is expected to vote on all of the recommendations at its Nov. 30 meeting.

DPS November 9 Recommendations: A Regional Summary

Far Northeast

Proposed Turnaround of Northeast Academy, Charter School—The district has recommended an intensive school transformation initiative, including a comprehensive reorganization of the school’s academic program, in consultation and partnership with an education-management organization.

Proposed Co-Locations of SOAR, DSST, Multiple-Pathway Center at new Green Valley Ranch E-12 Campus

SOAR (charter school): Grades K-5 (over time); would serve 428 students at capacity; will provide a holistic educational approach with rigorous academic instruction and an extended school day; replication of FLI Academy in Harlem, NY—a proven model that has a school-wide proficiency rate of 85% in English language arts and 84% in math; plans to start with about 230 kindergarten through second-grade students in fall of 2010.

Northeast

Proposed Replacement of Philips Elementary School—The district has recommended that Philips be closed and replaced in fall of 2010 with Odyssey Charter School, which currently resides in Westerly Creek Elementary School. Philips’ neighborhood students in grades K-4, would be offered seats at Stapleton schools (Roberts or Westerly Creek) or Park Hill for the 2010-2011 school year. Students who currently choice-in to Philips would return to their home school or choice to other district schools. The Autistic Special Education Center Programs would be re-located to Stapleton schools. Transportation would be provided according to district transportation policy. Boundary changes would be necessary for all students living in the Philips attendance area.

Proposed Closure of Skyland Charter School—The district has recommended that Skyland be closed and its charter contract be non-renewed. The majority of students live in the attendance areas of Manual, East, George Washington and outside the district. Better-performing options are available for those students in these high schools, as well as in Colorado High School Charter and Community Challenge School.

Proposed Solutions to Stapleton Overcrowding—Rapid growth in student demand requires provision of additional capacity; near and mid-term solutions were developed with strong community input and civic leadership, with a focus on high quality schools that reflect the diversity of the Stapleton ring community; relocation of Odyssey Charter School, construction of third elementary school, temporary ECE center in Westerly Creek facility, and boundary change with Philips would address capacity concerns for near and mid–term.

Proposed location of Denver Language School at former Whiteman—The charter school would serve about 470 K-8 students at full capacity and offer full immersion in Mandarin and Spanish; would open with about 200 K-2 students in fall of 2010.

Southeast

Proposed location of Denver Green School at former Fallis—The Performance School would serve about 550 E-8 students at capacity; will implement a flexible, student-centered, standards-based curriculum that will emphasize hands-on and project-based learning with an emphasis on environmental sustainability; would open in fall of 2010 with about 240 preschool-2 and 6th-grade students.

Northwest

Proposed Turnaround/Restart of Greenlee Elementary School—The district has recommended that Greenlee change from a ECE-8 school to a ECE-5 school and that a comprehensive literacy program be implemented for the 2010-2011 school year. Students currently in ECE through grade four would be able to continue at Greenlee next year without disruption. Students currently in grades five, six and seven would be offered seats at Manny Martinez Charter School, which will become a boundary school, or Dora Moore.

Proposed Turnaround of Lake Middle School and Co-Location with West Denver Prep #3—The district has recommended that:

Lake continue as the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (IBMYP) at Lake International School;
Students currently in grades six and seven be able to continue at the Lake International School in a combined IBMYP 7th and 8th Grade Academy next year without disruption;
The incoming Lake sixth grade class be part of an IBMYP 6th Grade Academy program; and
The Lake facility become a shared campus with West Denver Prep School #3, which would begin operating with sixth grade students in the 2010-2011 school year.

The Lake facility’s capacity is 1000 students, which provides plenty of space for both schools to thrive and grow. As part of this recommendation, Lake’s boundary for the incoming class of 6th-graders in the 2010-2011 school year would be changed. WDP is a charter school that provides a college-preparatory focus, rigorous middle grades education of high standards, structure, and accountability; it is a replication of a proven school model—the only middle school rated as “Distinguished” on the SPF and the only “Distinguished” school with more than 50% of its enrollment eligible for free/reduced-priced meals. The school will serve about 300 6-8 students at capacity. A new boundary would be phased-in starting in the 2010-11 school year for incoming 6th-grade students who live in the Lake attendance area. The Board of Education in June unanimously approved West Denver Prep #3 and #4 for a 2010 opening, with approval specifying that both schools be located in Northwest Denver.

Proposed Location of West Denver Prep #4 at Emerson Street facility—Another replication of the successful charter school at the building that currently houses the Emerson Street alternative school. If approved, the Emerson and P.R.E.P. alternative-education programs would be consolidated into one facility located at P.R.E.P.; each program would continue to offer the same educational and social services previously offered. WDP would have an attendance boundary and serve about 300 6-8 students at full capacity.

Proposed one-year renewal of PS 1 Charter School and replacement through the new-school RFP process—The district has recommended that because this school serves a significant population of students with special needs who lack a strong array of other educational options, the Board grant PS 1 a one-year renewal and replace the school through the RFP process with a new school that can serve the existing students in the fall of 2011.

Good news for Stapleton residents–A third school (K-8) is slated to open in the fall of 2011. Learn about who came together in finding the money needed for Stapleton’s new school. Click here to read more: Deal will put third DPS school in Stapleton in 2011

Reminder, tomorrow evening (November 10^th) at 6:30 pm, there will be a meeting at Bill Roberts to discuss mid-term, long-term and diversity initiatives in the Stapleton schools.

I knew there was an overcrowding crisis in the Stapleton Schools but didn’t realize just how bad it was until I read this article.  The schools are filled to capacity and Kindergarten classes have doubled in attendance from last year to this year. The building of a third school has been put on hold because the land is contaminated by asbestos. Due to the debilitating economy, Stapleton has seen a dramatic decrease of home sales these past couple of years, which means less tax revenues for schools. If I were a parent in this neighborhood whose child was attending school here in the near future, I would be very concerned. DPS is concerned with the Stapleton school situation and so are the hundreds of parents who moved there over the past few years. Who can blame them? Schools in this neighborhood were probably a big draw for a lot of these families. Hopefully, questions will be answered and problems will be solved sooner than later, or like one parent said in the article, people won’t be moving to Stapleton for the schools but moving away from Stapleton because of the schools.

Read the full article here: http://www.denverpost.com/education/ci_12986687

School: The Odyssey School

Type: Charter School (chartered by DPS)-Expeditionary Learning School

Website: www.odysseydenver.org

Tours: Monthly tours start in September. Some evening tours are available closer to the time of the lottery in February. See website or contact school for dates and times.

Main Phone: 303.316.3944

Executive School Director: Marcia Fulton

Location: *Update: new address 6550 East 21st Ave. Denver, CO 80207

Hours: 8:10 am- 3:15 pm

Grades: K-8

Average Class Size: Approximately 224 students attend. There are 24-25 students in each “crew.” In 6^th – 8^th grade, crews have fewer of students because they are divided into groups for certain subjects.

Before/After Care: Kaleidoscope Corner and My Enrichment-a program that provides afterschool enrichment classes to students at Odyssey, Bill Roberts and Westerly Creek.

Playground: Since the school is about seven years old, the playground area is in great condition. Any child would love this outdoor play arena. There is a very large blacktop for organized play, a basketball court, and a giant field which includes a baseball diamond. There is a small, thriving garden that is cared for by the students.

Special & Core Programs: The Odyssey School is a dynamic Expeditionary Learning community dedicated to fostering each child’s unique potential and spirit of adventure through exemplary standards of character, intellectual achievement, and social responsibility. The school draws its direction and strength from Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Design Principles. These educational principles provide a powerful framework for personal growth through physical challenge and service. The curriculum is designed around rigorous, purposeful, project-based learning expeditions tied to Colorado State Standards. Learning expeditions are long-term, in-depth investigations of a topic engaging students through projects, service, and fieldwork. This educational philosophy differs from a traditional approach where each subject is taught separately. There are generally 2-3 expeditions during the school year.

One example of an expedition 2^nd and 3^rd graders would engage in is the Cardiovascular System. During this expedition you might find the students dissecting cow hearts, creating heart healthy recipes, and visiting the Bonfils Blood Center. These are a few of the many engaging activities that occur while learning about this topic in-depth. At the conclusion of the expedition, the students present their findings to a panel of doctors. The children work both individually and in small groups. Daily reflection is a vital part of their day as well.

There are also the six “Habits of a Learner” that are an integral part of the culture.   Students are expected to be both academically brilliant as well as thoughtful people and life-long learners.  Every few years, the students go through a passage process whereby each student must prove in a portfolio and through a panel presentation that they are proficient in the “Habits of a Learner”.  The six Habits are: Revision, Inquiry, Perspective Taking, Responsibility, Collaboration/Leadership, and Stewardship/Service.

Impressions: The Odyssey School is located “smack dab” in the middle of the Stapleton Neighborhood. On my first visit about two years ago, I was surprised to learn that it shared the same building with another Stapleton neighborhood school, Westerly Creek. It’s unfortunate it doesn’t have its own building and grounds, but they certainly do make the most of it! The building itself is seven years old and that’s how long the Executive Director, Marcia Fulton, has been there. I recently spoke to her about the school. She was a pleasure to talk to and enthusiastic about what Odyssey has to offer children. I also attended a tour of this school about two years ago. The presentation tends to be somewhat corporate, like some say, complete with a Power-point slide show, Q & A forum, and tour of the facility. I thought it was a well-organized presentation and was the best way to accommodate a large audience. I counted more than 75 parents in attendance at my tour!

As stated above, this school shares the same building as Westerly Creek Elementary. Indoor space (such as the auditorium and cafeteria) as well as the outdoor space (playground), is common ground for both schools. When walking down a hall at the Odyssey school, you will be led directly into Westerly Creek. Overall space is therefore limited.

There is a diverse student body represented at Odyssey. As we made our way around the school, I remember the children being very engaged in their classrooms. A few students I spoke to were thrilled to chat with me about what they were learning and I was impressed with their candidness. It’s a far cry from a traditional school where classrooms of students are sitting at desks in rows with teacher led instruction. In most of the classrooms at this school, students were on the floor, working in groups, and conversing around tables. The teachers at Odyssey are highly qualified, passionate educators who are skilled facilitators guiding children through the learning expeditions. It was great to see a mix of both female and male educators. They collaborate with their colleagues, parents, and community members to ensure a rich, learning experience. Typical grade levels are not found here, instead, a configuration of classrooms consist of the following: Kindergarten/1^st grade are a loop, 2nd/3^rd grades  and 4th/5th grades are multi-age, 6^th grade is self-contained with a designated math teacher, and 7th/8th is multi-age.

The school is dependent on parent volunteers. Marcia told me that the volunteers help make the program possible. Volunteers are needed to help out with daily classroom activities and to assist on field trips (some which are overnight). It’s a real time commitment being a part of this school but at the same time, a testament to the program’s high expectations, standards, and achievements. There is a Family Counsel (a.k.a. PTA) that runs two big fundraisers a year. It feels like a real cohesive community.

It’s been said that children have to be very independent to be a good fit for this school, but contrary to that belief, Marcia feels that each child naturally adapts. She believes it’s the parents who must buy into the unique educational philosophy. Odyssey has become a very popular choice for Denver families especially those who feel strongly about the expeditionary philosophy. Marcia stated she has seen an upward trend each year in applications. This year alone there were 300 students on the wait list with 20 slots open at the time of the lottery. The lottery takes place in February and priority is given to those who qualify for free/reduced lunch, along with siblings of students that currently attend.

I am very impressed with Odyssey’s website. It is creative, informative, and current. The website describes in depth about the Expeditionary Learning model. One of the staff members, along with a parent is responsible for keeping it active.

We welcome your comments and impressions on your experience with The Odyssey School.

Here’s an interesting news clip about the impending shortage of Kindergarten and Elementary school space in the Denver neighborhood of Stapleton.  Apparently, a third school was supposed to be built, but due to lack of funding as a result of the failing economy, the school will not be built.  Bill Roberts and Westerly Creek are the two DPS Elementary schools currently available and The Odyssey School is a DPS Charter School that is open to all of Denver through the choice process.  With eleven Kindergarten classrooms between the schools,  parents with young children should be wary that they might need to look outside of Stapleton in a year or two.  There are a couple of Charter schools in the area but they have yet to be approved as well as other DPS and Private schools in nearby neighborhoods like Lowry.  Parents will also have a tough time getting children in to some of these as there are fewer and fewer choice and lottery spots available.  What is a Stapleton parent to do?