• Set high expectations for students, parents, teachers, principals, and all other staff of DPS and the community it serves
• Improve the performance of all students
• Close the gap between better and poorer performing students

2004-2005 Board of Education Priorities & Staff Action Steps:

• Recruit, support, and retain high quality teachers, administrators, and other district employees for all levels at DPS.

Action Steps

• Establish an annual budget and staffing process that supports a competitive teacher recruitment process.
• Conduct a market survey regarding full-time and substitute teachers and other personnel, including administrative staffing.
• Aggressively pursue the merger between DPSRS and PERA.
• Design and implement infrastructure for ProComp, including new technology requirements, student growth measures, knowledge and skills requirements, market incentives, and evaluation.
• Implement a new administrative evaluation model.
• Recruit and hire qualified teachers and principals who better reflect the diversity of our student population and can meet the unique needs of new school models.
• Make changes to ensure more equitable distribution of highly qualified and experienced teachers across the district.

• Develop a plan to reform and restructure secondary schools to improve student achievement, close the learning gap, and increase the graduation rate.

Action Steps

• Review, revise (as needed), and approve Secondary Reform Commissions recommendations.
• Develop a timeline and action plan to implement approved recommendations.
• Address textbook needs at the secondary level.

• Improve the performance and image of the district through a responsive, customer-oriented, user friendly organizational culture.

Action Steps

• Develop a marketing plan aimed at promoting the district as well as individual schools.
• Utilize Principals' Advisory Council and other groups to offer recommendations to district departments to improve customer service and make appropriate adjustments.
• Develop information to facilitate understanding among Board members and the public of DPS's financial condition.
• Challenge departments to more efficiently and effectively meet customer needs.
• Develop a process to survey students and staff who are leaving the district about their perceptions of DPS.

• Provide a safe and secure learning environment for all students and staff.

Action Steps

• Expand after school programming.
• Continue implementation and refinement of the district's Emergency Response and Crisis Response Plan in coordination with public safety organizations.
• Utilize the aspects of the character education model that emphasize strong learning cultures to foster environments of shared learning and best practices in an increasing number of schools.

• Establish consistency in curricula across the district through continued implementation of Denver's Literacy and Mathematics Programs and other subject areas and grade levels.

Action Steps

• Expand implementation of Denver's Literacy and Mathematics Programs, in collaboration with teachers and principals, to include interim assessments of progress and a clearly defined teacher objective setting process.
• Expand implementation of a consistent curriculum to the following high school courses: biology, American History, American Literature, Introduction of Literature and Composition, and geometry.
• Ensure that English language learners are held to the same high content and performance standards as other district students.
• Ensure that schools have the textbooks needed to implement new instructional initiatives.

• Develop a plan to expand choice and begin implementation with the goals of increasing achievement and satisfaction and growing district enrollment.

Action Steps

• Develop a near term and long term strategic plan to implement the Board of Education resolution on choice.
• Initiate necessary changes to improve middle schools, including different grade configurations.
• Ensure that the revitalization process results in high performing schools that meet community needs.
• Intervene in schools that are unsatisfactory or otherwise failing to meet state, federal, or district accountability guidelines.
• Implement multiple indicators of student and school success, including "value added" measures of student achievement.