School Choice and Student Recruitment

Student recruitment at DSST is unique in that, unlike most charter schools throughout the nation, our enrollment processes look the same as all other schools within our school district.  All of our schools participate in a process called School Choice, a result of our strong partnership with Denver Public Schools (DPS). School Choice was developed by DPS in an effort to provide families with the opportunity to attend a school of their choice, even if it is outside of their neighborhood.  This system was created for students who are transitioning to any grade, with a large emphasis on the main transition times for students from 5th to 6th grade or 8th to 9th grade. Families participate by selecting up to five of their top school choices, which then goes into a district lottery, ultimately placing families in a preferred school for the following school year. Below are quick facts about what School Choice looks like in Denver:

• School Choice is broken down into two rounds – Round 1 & Round 2
• Round 1 is a month long, from February 1st – 28th
• In Round 1, there are multiple opportunities for schools to market to families so they know about what makes their school unique. For our network, we support student recruitment in Round 1 with the following efforts:
• Host Open House/Tours
• A variety of marketing efforts that include social media advertising, google hits, radio hits, texts/emails, bus ads, etc.
• Participate in DPS regional expos for all school in the region
• Outreach to elementary schools  
• 70% of families who have participated in Round 1 are matched with one of their top three choices which is why it is the most important round to engage families in
• Round 2 is over a longer period of time, from May 1st – August 31st
• Round 2 is only focused for our schools who did not meet their Round 1 enrollment goals and need to do additional outreach

Why is Student Recruitment Important?

Student enrollment determines each school’s budget and a school’s ability to ensure it is fully staffed. As the city of Denver continues to change and grow, schools have to be strategic about the way they connect with families and work to meet student enrollment goals. This includes not only ensuring students are filling our schools, but also shifting all of our schools to reflect a more integrated school model which is proven to have a positive correlation to student achievement. Therefore, each year the Home Office (HO) and schools collaborate to develop a plan that will help meet school and network goals to ensure that a diverse and representative range of families have an opportunity to be a part of our network.

What Does This Mean For You?

As a new employee at DSST, you will be asked by school admin to support with student recruitment. Those efforts might include making phone calls, reaching out to elementary schools and supporting at open houses. Ultimately, we want families to be able to connect with teachers and admin to speak about the great work that happens within our network and support their decision in finding a quality school for their student!

The Skinny - Enrollment Breakdown by Region

There is a lot that can be discussed regarding student enrollment. Below highlights the top facts to be aware of as you transition into the network:

Far Northeast (FNE) - DSST: Green Valley Ranch Campus, DSST @ Noel Campus

• Development wise, one of the fastest growing areas of the city, specifically in the Gateway neighborhood. Montbello and the Green Valley Ranch neighborhoods may have reached its peak, and will experience a decline and plateau by 2021.
• As a result of the growth in this neighborhood, there has been an increase of students attending a DPS school versus choosing to go to a school out of district.

What does this mean for you at a DSST school?

- Due to the continuous growth paired with a recognizable branding in this community, our schools continue to be in high demand. Recruitment isn’t challenging in this region as a result.

Near Northeast (NNE) - DSST: Conservatory Green Campuses, DSST: Stapleton Campus, DSST: Cole Campus

• One of the growing areas in Denver, primarily in the Stapleton and Greater Park Hill neighborhoods. This is in contrast to North Park hill, where there is a decline in enrollment trends.
• Due to a multitude of high quality school options in this region, families tend to get into and are satisfied with the schools they choose during the School Choice window.

What does this mean for you at a DSST school?

- Schools like Stapleton and Conservatory Green don’t have recruitment challenges as they are located in a continuous growing area of the city. Cole has more of a challenge with an overall enrollment decline in the North Park Hill Region.

Central Denver - DSST: Byers Campus

• There is an enrollment decline, resulting in more spaces (or seats) at schools versus the amount of students who are able to fill those seats.
• There is a high amount of families who participate in choice and get the school that they choose as a result of the surplus of seats in this region.

What does this mean for you at a DSST school?

- Byers middle school is one of our most sought out middle schools within the network and is not affected by this seat decline. The high school; however, has more recruitment challenges particularly because it is wedged between three top choice schools within DPS (East, South and George Washington high school respectively)

Southwest Denver (SW) - DSST: College View Campus & DSST: Henry Middle School

• The southwest has forecasted an enrollment decline which will result in a surplus of the amount of seats being offered to the amount of families who can fill those seats.
• This is seen the most at the middle school level. Between a shift in demographics paired with increased housing costs, there is a high decline of families enrolling at the middle school level that is forecasted to affect high schools within the next few years.

What does this mean for you at a DSST school?

- Schools have challenges with enrollment, having to compete with a variety of middle schools and not enough kids to equally be distributed amongst other schools in the region. This is seen most at our Henry campus, with our College View campus still struggling but able to meet enrollment goals.

If you would like to learn more about enrollment at DSST Public Schools, you can visit our website at https://www.dsstpublicschools.org/enrollment or connect with Brittnee Merritt, the Student Recruitment Coordinator, at brittnee.merritt@scienceandtech.org.