SchoolChoice Season Highlights

Every January, students and families have the opportunity to select the school they’d like to attend the following year by participating in SchoolChoice. Run by DPS, this system helps empower families to select the best school for their student- not just the one that is closest in proximity. Choice helps ensure that a student’s academic opportunities aren’t solely determined by their zip code. Families choose their top 12 schools, and after a lottery in early Spring, they learn which schools they have a spot in for the following year. 

Why is SchoolChoice important for DSST? Since families choose which schools they’d like their students to attend, we don’t have a guaranteed stream of students attending our schools every year. We need to keep our schools at the top of their list, because if they don’t choose to enroll with us, there are critical repercussions. Fewer students enrolling in our schools means a loss of funding, translating to fewer resources plus staffing cuts. Most important: families understanding all of their school options and being aware of DSST schools as a high quality option is an equity issue. We also measure market demand, meaning how many more students select us as their first choice compared to the amount of seats available. This is an especially important metric that donors consider when deciding whether to support our schools. 

The great news is that thanks to the hard work and collaborative partnership of the student recruitment team at the Home Office and schools teams, we made our overall enrollment goals once again this year! After 2,627 initial calls and texts (this number doesn’t include the follow-up), and over 100 doors knocked, not to mention the countless emails and virtual events, we are proud to report that throughout our network, for grades 6-10, 2,011 students chose our schools as a number one choice! This translates to a 123% market demand, meaning there were 380 more students selecting our school as their first choice than we had seats offered, and we surpassed our network market demand goal!  

This was no small accomplishment, as we encountered some new challenges this year, and noticed a few concerning trends. 

Challenges

• Recruitment efforts suffered as return to school planning took priority for most of the Fall, and our actual return to school coincided directly with Round 1 of School Choice.  
• The absence of in-person interaction remained a huge obstacle, despite offering virtual school tours and live virtual open houses. 
• Without SPF data to point to, it was challenging to market how exemplary our schools are compared to others 

Concerning Trends

• 6th grade market demand dropped considerably for the second year in a row.  
  • While the overall DPS population decreased by about 3%, our demand for 6th grade decreased 9%.   All of our middle schools except for CV MS saw decreases in year over year (YOY) 6th grade choice numbers.  Even those that met their market demand and/or seat offer goals should take note of this declining demand, as it is a trend that could lead to future reduced enrollment and budgets
• Board Politics 
  
  • Going head-to-head with the DPS School Board during the fight for a Noel High School may have contributed to existing turmoil in the Far Northeast. Between the re-opening of the Montbello HS as well as the new Robert Smith STEAM Academy, the Far Northeast now has more alternatives than ever, and the competition was strong. 
  • Board politics and increased anti-charter sentiments can change how families view public charters, and it’s important to get ahead of that narrative whenever we can and continue to make strong inroads in our school communities.
• Evolving Neighborhoods
  
  • A significant number of families reported they were moving, and it is possible that families who choose DSST make up a disproportionate number of those who have moved out of the district. 
  • In the Cole neighborhood, young adults without children continue to move into the community, reducing the amount of middle school and high school aged students. 
    
  •  Northfield has become more desirable to some families- while doubling their freshman class capacity last year, they have reduced their FRL cap, and wealthy families are starting to dominate the scene. Additionally, a strong feeder school pattern continues with McAulliffe and is emerging with the Denver Green School.
  • With these changing dynamics, it’s more important than ever to build meaningful relationships with surrounding community leaders and partners, including feeder schools 

We’ve learned a lot during this recruitment season, and our next focus is welcoming the new students into our community through a strong onboarding season. This is an essential part of empowering our families to learn about our culture and values that create school communities where their students can thrive.  Plus, they can become our biggest advocates as we continue to bring new students and families into the DSST community!