We know that students thrive when their school has the resources to provide consistent staffing, robust academics, whole child supports, and meaningful enrichment programs. Schools receive funding based on the number of students that attend each school, and this funding allows schools to provide these essential services for students. Unfortunately, DPS is on track to lose nearly 10,000 students in the next few years, down from our peak enrollment numbers around 10 years ago. Ongoing declines in enrollment have been caused by lower birth rates, gentrification, and rising housing prices.

Our students deserve consistency, stability, and the resources that they need to thrive. Due to the declining enrollment trend, several under-enrolled schools are unable to sustain critical supports for our students. Some important impacts of the declining enrollment trend are listed below.

• Due to fewer students in DPS, we receive approximately $97 million fewer dollars from the state each year.

• DPS is subsidizing small schools (defined as schools that enroll under 215 students) to keep them open. The amount of money that is needed to continue subsidizing all the small schools is financially unsustainable.

• DPS is struggling to fully staff school support teams, including food services, custodial staff and nurses.

• Most under-enrolled schools in DPS are located in historically marginalized neighborhoods. These schools tend to serve a disproportionate number of emerging bilinguals, students of color, students with disabilities, and students that qualify for free or reduced lunch.

In the spring of 2023, DPS began collaborating with an external provider, Marzano Research, to engage school communities most impacted by declining enrollment, along with additional engagement throughout our regional communities. The goal was to develop a shared understanding about the most impactful way to move forward with addressing our low student numbers and limited resources. Schools that were most impacted by enrollment declines were working with Marzano Research to identify potential community-informed solutions that consider both individual school needs and the broader community context. 

DPS was and still is working to develop community-informed options that consider the broader community, each school’s specific context, and student needs, as part of any recommendation that would potentially come forward in the future.

The community engagement process with Marzano Research began last spring and is tentatively scheduled to conclude in late autumn. Following this process, the superintendent will present recommendations to the DPS school board based on community input and analysis of each option.

Focused Community Engagement (Completed April-May 2023) 

• 11 school-specific surveys to solicit input on potential solutions.

• 24 individual school leadership team planning meetings (two at each school).

• 24 community meetings (two at each school).

• 11 staff meetings (one at each school).

• 11 days of community open listening sessions.

Community Feedback Synthesis and Analysis (Completed June-July 2023)

Considerations included:

• Programs.

• Costs.

• Structural changes, such as boundaries/enrollment patterns.

• Surrounding school partnerships.

Developed Final Report (Completed Aug.-Sept. 2023)

Marzano Research:

• Developed summary briefs for each school.

• Facilitated collaborative community input into each solution.

• Informed Board on each school’s process and viable options.

• Developed a final report.

Marzano Research is a locally-based, certified woman-owned organization that is led by experienced teachers, school leaders, researchers and evaluators. Marzano has extensive experience in community engagement and facilitates a unique community-based participatory research process which positions researchers and community members as equal contributors to the knowledge-production process. Learn more about Marzano Research at marzanoresearch.com.

It was important for the Marzano Research team to engage with school communities, school principals and staff, and school collaborative decision-making teams at schools impacted by enrollment across DPS. This report presents the methods used by Marzano Research for community engagement and feedback analysis, the comprehensive findings from the analysis, and limitations throughout the process.

You can review the findings as well as the appendices.

If you have any questions, please email FACE@dpsk12.org or call 720-423-3054.